Social Housing: Support and Financial Resources

September 2023

Guidance, Resources and Reports

• See here the government’s website on Energy Efficiency in Social Housing.
• The Zero Emissions Social Housing Taskforce (ZESHT) (established 2021) acts independently of government, to advise on requirements in social housing to meet net zero targets. Their Achieving Net Zero in Social Housing report (Aug 2021).
• The Domestic Building Services Compliance Guide 2022 for Scotland (Feb 2023) provides detailed guidance for the installation of fixed building services in new and existing buildings in support of compliance with the energy efficiency requirements set out under standards 6.3 to 6.7 of the building regulations as set out in section 6 of the 2022 the Technical Handbook. It covers the design, installation, and commissioning of low carbon heat generation by heat pumps, solar thermal panels, biomass boilers, direct electric space heating and micro-combined heat and power systems as well as links to further practical guidance and UK and European Standards. 
• The Social Housing Retrofit Accelerator (SHRA) is a UK government funded support service to help social housing providers across England but is relevant to Scotland. Their Knowledge Hub provides tailored insights on all stages of a retrofit project with sections on preparation and delivery, as well as our latest news and retrofit toolkits.
• London Energy Transformation Initiative’s (LETI) Climate Emergency Retrofit Guide is useful for local authorities and social landlords, among other professionals looking for guidance about best practice retrofit.
• Passivhaus Social: Maximising Benefits, Minimising Costs is an ongoing campaign run by the Passivhaus Trust to assist Local Authorities and Housing Associations in adopting and implementing the Passivhaus Standard. This includes free Passivhaus Retrofit Masterclass lecture series
• Research Report - Passivhaus Retrofit in the UK
• Technical Guidance - Modelling existing dwellings in PHPP Periodic Heating
• BEIS sponsored research - Demonstration of Energy Efficiency Potential (DEEP) retrofit study
• A report by Element Energy and Energy Saving Trust for the Scottish Government on Technical Feasibility of Low Carbon Heating in Domestic Buildings (Dec 2020) analysed the Scottish housing stock and outlined the most suitable type low-carbon heating systems for different property types. It discusses the barriers to install energy efficiency improvements and low-carbon heating technologies. See here the 2017 and 2040 technical feasibility sheet.
• The Hab-Lab service (delivered by John Gilbert Architects and the Mackintosh Environmental Architecture Research Unit) provides detailed building performance monitoring and evaluation to help improve the energy efficiency and durability. The service supports social landlords to benchmark, measure and improve the performance of their building stock. Initial social landlord partners included Renfrewshire Council.
• The Centre for Sustainable Energy provides information of low carbon retrofitting.
• The Existing Homes Alliance is a coalition of housing, environmental, fuel poverty, consumer and industry organisations calling for urgent action to transform Scotland’s existing housing stock.
• Energy Savings Trust: Retrofitting the UK’s Housing Stock to reach Net Zero.

Financial Support

• The Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund supports social housing landlords across Scotland to take forward projects to deploy zero emissions heat, improve energy efficiency and reduce fuel poverty. Awards can cover up to 50% of the capital cost for these projects. The government has committed to investing £200 million until 2026.
• To help social landlords achieve the required efficiency ratings the government have compiled a table identifying potential EESSH funding sources, as well as some additional information for landlords on frequently asked questions around topics such as EPCs, building regulations and future-proofing policies. Updated guidance from Mar 2021 can be found here.
• The Home Energy Efficiency Programmes for Scotland: Area Based Schemes (launched in April 2013) aims to reduce fuel poverty by supporting local authorities to deliver energy efficiency programmes in fuel poor areas, focusing primarily upon insulation measures for 'hard to treat' properties. In 2021 the scope of ABS projects was increased to provide more whole house retrofits that include zero/low carbon heating and microgeneration, where this is technically feasible and will help to reduce fuel poverty.
• Housing Infrastructure Fund aims to provide registered social landlords (RSLs) and local authorities (LAs) with grant support for the unlocking of sites where the scale and nature of infrastructure costs would prevent it from being supported through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme.
• Rural and Islands Housing Fund aims to increase the supply of affordable housing of all tenures in rural Scotland.