Following the mix-up of roles across Government and some speculation about the rushed ‘billion-pound housing scandal’ last year overseen by Robert Jenrick, Michael Gove was confirmed in the top job at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).

He will also take on "cross-government responsibility for levelling up" and retains his ministerial responsibility for the Union and elections.

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More than one in six social homes said to be “uneconomical” to upgrade

A major annual Housing Sector Survey published to coincide with the Housing 2021 conference earlier in the month has revealed some interesting findings around stock investment, with a third of landlords willing to consider selling off inefficient homes due to high retrofit expenses.

138 social housing providers took part in the pool which found that 30% expect the need to increase spending in current stock to affect their development programmes.

It also revealed a shift in priorities within asset management. 85% more respondents believed the building safety and zero-carbon agendas are a top priority compared to the 2020 survey.

Respondents also revealed an expected average cost of £20,600 per home to achieve net zero in existing stock, but 37% of providers have not yet factored these costs into their business plans and almost half say that financial capacity is the biggest constraint on achieving net zero.

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John Fisher, Chief Executive of CHIC echoed the message that “We shouldn't invest a penny in poor housing if it’s not where people want to live” at the Net Zero session discussing the procurement and skills challenge. He also revealed how “The housing sector is data rich but intelligence poor" and without effective use of intelligent data, RPs’ aren’t going to be able to achieve the ambitious decarbonisation goals.

John explained that landlords need to really understand which housing is worth investing in – to achieve low carbon homes that people want to live in and be prepared to see the scale of regeneration increase over the next three decades.

£270m Green Heat Network Fund has been announced as part of a bid to heat more homes from green sources

The Government’s heat network pot will now, for the first time, only fund heat networks using low-carbon technologies such as heat pumps, solar and geothermal energy.

The fund replaces the Government’s Heat Networks Investment Project (HNIP), which provided more than £165m of funding for schemes across England and Wales.

Heat networks ensure heat is distributed to individual homes or workplaces from a central source via pipes, avoiding the need for homes to have their own energy-intensive source of heat generation, such as gas boilers, and play a major part in the plan to transition into net zero by 2050.

The Committee on Climate Change has estimated that around 18% of the UK’s heat supply will need to come from heat networks if the Government is to meet its 2050 net zero target. There are currently around 14,000 heat networks in the UK, which provide heat and hot water to around 480,000 customers.

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