{"id":136303,"date":"2024-01-19T11:06:16","date_gmt":"2024-01-19T11:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/?p=136303"},"modified":"2024-01-19T13:45:16","modified_gmt":"2024-01-19T13:45:16","slug":"government-awards-1-8m-funding-for-home-retrofit-grant-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/government-awards-1-8m-funding-for-home-retrofit-grant-scheme\/136303\/","title":{"rendered":"Government awards \u00a31.8m funding for home retrofit grant scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"

A point-of-sale finance technology solution for home retrofit has been given a \u00a31.8m grant for its pilot phase after a successful discovery phase<\/h2>\n

The government\u2019s Department for Energy Security & Net Zero has enabled the home retrofit project via a grant from the Green Home Finance Accelerator<\/a>, part of the \u00a31bn Net Zero Innovation Portfolio.<\/p>\n

The home retrofit scheme Point-of-Sale Technology for Financing Retrofits & Energy Efficiency, or POST-FREE, is a collaboration between retrofit decarbonisation solutions provider Sustainable Building Services (UK) Ltd (SBS), retrofit decarbonisation consultant Sustainable Energy Services (SES) and fintech Scroll Finance.<\/p>\n

After a successful six-month Discovery Phase that utilised \u00a3136k in initial grant funding, the home retrofit scheme’s Pilot Phase will last for 14 months.<\/p>\n

Home retrofit efforts are currently limited by cost, say residents<\/h3>\n

Research undertaken showed that the most common barriers to prevent homeowners and landlords from pursuing retrofit work were the high upfront cost<\/a> and inadequate access to suitable finance options, experienced by 78% of participants who took part in the research.<\/p>\n

The Pilot Phase is anticipated to be executed across multiple local authority areas in England and Wales in close proximity to existing social housing decarbonisation projects being completed by SBS.<\/p>\n

By integrating the POST-FREE solution in the journey of SBS and SES customers, the pilot phase will enable the market to learn about eligible retrofit measures from expert personnel who will also advise on a PAS 2035-aligned \u2018fabric-first\u2019 approach<\/a> \u2013 which will ensure customers achieve their desired outcomes.<\/p>\n

Scroll Finance is assembling an initial lender panel that can offer finance options for both individual or a package of measures, and to enable deep retrofit upgrades. These categories were identified in the discovery phase and enable a wide range of improvement costs and customer needs to be met.<\/p>\n

Retrofit energy efficiency and decarbonisation should be available to all<\/h3>\n

Derek Horrocks, chair and owner of Sustainable Building Services, said: \u201cWe firmly believe that retrofit energy efficiency and decarbonisation improvements should be accessible to all, without the financial barriers faced by many consumers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re aiming to reach thousands of homeowners and private landlords during this next phase, which should yield significant feedback on the solution we\u2019re developing and establish positive community change in the process. We look forward to seeing the results obtained over the next 14 months and wish good luck to those also receiving government funding as part of this green accelerator \u2013 innovative solutions are needed now more than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finance solutions available at the point-of-sale could include:<\/h3>\n