Hackney Council's story
Hackney Council has declared a climate emergency and is committed to delivering net-zero by 2040. One of the schemes that is helping to increase energy efficiency across the borough is Hackney Green Homes. This initiative is focused on boosting household energy performance for private residents across our community by combining several government funding schemes with local investment. We target properties with low energy performance certificate (EPC) ratings and work to raise them to a minimum level of Band C.
Hackney Green Homes offers grants of up to £5000 for privately owned or rented households with an EPC of D or below and grants of up to £10,000 for low-income households. We launched the initiative with a fabric first approach which focused on loft and cavity wall insulation.
The scheme went live in February 2019 and we received over 300 applications. Despite the pandemic, we were able to survey and make improvements to around 100 homes as part of this initial phase and we have now launched phase two. In phase two, we are trialing some renewable technologies, including heat pumps, solar panels, and hydrogen cell boilers. Although we remain focused on increasing energy efficiency levels to a minimum of Band C, we are currently trialing bringing 10 properties up to Band B to explore the potential to push the scheme further.
Hackney Council partners with Hackney Shine to deliver the scheme. Hackney Shine is a fuel poverty advice hub and a well-known and popular service across the borough. We have also launched dedicated marketing and social media campaigns as well as writing to every resident we believe could be eligible for grants. By bringing together various funding streams under a single scheme and a single application process, we make it simpler for residents to access support and can lower carbon emissions faster.
Feedback on Hackney Green Homes has been extremely positive across the community and the scheme delivers an impressive carbon emissions saving of around 61 tonnes per year per household. We are continuing to look at new ways to evolve the scheme and to support local households to become more energy efficient.
Useful learnings from Hackney Council
Look at funding innovatively – By combining different government initiatives under one scheme, we have been able to have a larger-scale impact with a smaller amount of Council funding. The single application process has also made it much easier for residents to engage with the initiative.
Tackle household emissions – We know that across London housing plays the most significant part in carbon emissions, followed by transport. To reduce overall emissions, it's vital to tackle household energy efficiency and to tackle it fast. It's also important to consider private housing as well as council housing stock in any carbon-reducing initiatives.
Hackney Council's metrics
Reduction in carbon emissions per home.
Number of residents and households supported.
