We’re committed to providing as many safe, affordable homes as possible through various types of homes that are also sustainable.
Improving your home's energy efficiency
We’ve started a range of home trials to research and develop how we can best improve the energy efficiency of some homes that are least economical to heat and run. This is part of our long-term commitment to make your home more efficient to run.
Our environmental commitments
Comfortframe
As an example of how we are trialling innovative and cost-efficient new practices, we fitted an air source heat pump and hot water solution, combined with internal wall insulation and heated panel system for the heating of a one bed maisonette flat in Bere Regis, Dorset.
The heated panel system placed behind the plaster board is called ‘Comfortframe’. It is easily controlled with the same type of controls as a radiator but removes the need for radiators. This, together with internal wall insulation on the external facing wall needs very little electricity to heat the property and supply hot water.
Benefits of the trial included:
- Property's energy efficiency improved from EPC E to EPC B
- Reduced heating costs as minimal energy needed to heat property
- Renewable energy source, making the home more sustainable and cost-efficient for the longer-term future
- More environmentally friendly, cleaner, greener source of energy
- Space saving as the heating system is housed within the walls.
Challenges of the trial:
- Better option for replacing night storage heaters in properties; however more labour intensive when replacing from Gas / Oil heating systems
- Initial fitting of heated panels is expensive.
In April 2023, our bid for £500,000 of Wave 2 of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) was successful. With the money, we’re investing in a new technology pilot to improve the energy efficiency of more than 100 customer homes in Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire as a starting point for testing the best energy efficient choices there are available. We’ve matched the funding, providing £1.1m for the works overall.
The money is used to make the homes more energy efficient by improving the fabric of the homes, including the installation of roof, cavity, and external wall insulation, more efficient windows and solar photovoltaic panels. The upgrades will help to lower energy bills by keeping the homes warmer in winter and cooler in summer and provide an EPC rating of C as a minimum.
We work with local tradespeople to deliver these projects. The SHDF project has been very successful and exceeded all targets this year, so next year we can apply for additional funding and add more homes to the energy efficiency upgrade project.
As of 31 March 2024, 3,407 customers lived in a home built using the proceeds from a “sustainability bond” funding stream. This was awarded based on our commitment to environmentally friendly and sustainable building practices that tackle the climate crisis and drive down costs for customers.
Our environmental commitments that demonstrate this include:
- Saved 2,570 tonnes of carbon dioxide pollution
- 78% of our operational waste was recycled, and 99.6% was diverted from landfill
- 1,000,000 fewer miles on average being driven annually by colleagues compared to before COVID-19.
The overwhelming majority of our new building developments are classed as Green Buildings, making a positive contribution to tackling climate change and avoiding greenhouse gas emissions.
During 2023/24, following the thorough process of stock condition surveys, the sale of some of our least efficient properties allowed us to build 131 new modern, efficient, more affordable homes for those who need them most.
Moving towards greener homes
Case study: Cherry Grove, Frome(SHDF)
Having been named as one of the best places to live in Britain, Frome’s rental and home ownership markets are expensive and unaffordable for those in need of affordable housing. Cherry Grove is the redevelopment of an existing housing site which replaced poor performing pre-cast reinforced concrete homes.
The 21 new affordable homes are a mix of one and two-bedroom flats, and two and three-bedroom houses.
Five of the homes were available for affordable rent and 16 for purchase through shared ownership.
In keeping with Frome’s rich history, Aster refurbished two distinctive Cockey Lamps, listed for architectural importance,
to incorporate into the new lighting scheme. All homes
have an EPC rating of B, meaning they are efficient and
affordable to run.
Adding value and improving environmental efficiency
We have been actively reviewing and engaging with more environmentally friendly, sustainable and more
cost-effective suppliers.
An example of this is Crystal Clear, who we work with in
some areas to repair windows. Our partnership has delivered:
- Cost savings. Since we began working with Crystal Clear
in 2021, we saved more than £293,000 by repairing windows compared to the cost of replacement. - Glass waste saved from landfill. A saving of 176 tonnes
of waste glass from being sent to landfill – enough to cover Wimbledon Centre Court 73 times over.
- CO2 reduction. By avoiding the production of new replacement glass, our CO2 footprint has reduced by 192 tonnes, the same amount that would be produced by a family size vehicle traveling 578,000 miles. Every 28 new double-glazed units that are manufactured generates 1 ton of CO2 in the production process.
- First Time Fix. The repair process is a first-time fix repair compared to at least two visits to measure up and replace a double-glazed unit. These two visits can very often become three or even four visits when mismeasures and non-access are factored in.