Decarbonisation Projects:Council Housing, Buildings, Heating

We received a special commendation at the 20/21 National Energy Efficiency Awards (Local Authority of the Year Category) for the works we’re carrying out on our housing stock to tackle fuel poverty and climate change and then in 2023 we received a commendation for Council of the Year . The works include the installation of new boilers and solar panels along with other energy saving measures and advice. We aim to bring all our properties up to at least EPC Band C by 2030. The commendation has also been awarded for the valuable advice and support provided by our Home Improvement Agency to improve the energy efficiency of the homes of vulnerable households too.  Thanks go to  Green Rose Community Interest Company  for nominating us for the awards. 

Lancaster is home to the first fully decarbonised leisure centre in the UK. The Council fully  decarbonised its Salt Ayre Leisure Centre . We were awarded Salix funding to install a two-stage air source heat pumps system to deliver heating and hot water for the building and swimming pool. We also upgraded the windows and insulation as part of fabric upgrades. To help power the leisure centre we put in a new 1.3MW solar array. Salt Ayre Leisure Centre is   Winner of the 2022 APSE Service Awards: Best Decarbonisation Initiative  .

Take a look at dashboard that showcases the savings due to the installation of Salt Ayre Leisure Centre Heat Pumps & 1.3mwp Solar Array below.

Also have a look at the  Decarbonisation Road Map and Progress Report 

Following the success of £1.9 million in external funding, Williamson Park, The Storey and City Lab will benefit from  heat decarbonisation and improved energy efficiency works  that are expected to annually save over 250 tonnes of CO2e, equivalent to removing gas from 110 homes.

An additional £1m of retrofit work was completed at 10 other council buildings including Town Halls, Museums and Offices. Work includes: 3,500 LED lights, secondary glazing, BMS upgrades, solar PV and insulation. We have more projects planned as we work to reach net zero for all council emissions by 2030.

You can find out more on our Building Energy Decarbonisation Plan for our civic buildings in addition to our fleet decarbonisation programme on our  Climate Action Plan webpage .

Did you know 100% of the electricity used by the Council is from renewable sources? We generate about 1.3 GWh/pa via a 1.3MWp solar farm at Salt Ayre and we have 27 sites with roof mounted solar arrays. These produce the equivalent to 21% of all the councils electricity demand. All other electricity imported across the council's portfolio comes from an independently audited REGO-backed green energy tariff with Npower. Energy from the incineration of waste continues to contribute to carbon emissions so the Council does not generate or use energy from waste.

 The solar farm which aims to provide cleaner, less expensive energy  has been approved by Lancaster City Council’s Planning Regulatory Committee at a meeting held this week [03.10.2024]

We have developed a live CO2 data dashboard detailing our corporate scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. The dashboard is updated on a monthly basis and contains data from 2018/19 onwards so that action can be measured, monitored and reported.  Emissions included are Gas, Electricity, Fleet, Staff Work Travel, Pool Cars, District wide Taxis, Water Supply/Treatment, Staff Commuting and Council Housing.

The council has a housing portfolio of over 3,600 properties.  About 75% of the housing stock is EPC C or above.   Utilising UKSPF funding some research has been commissioned to install solar panels and battery storage to a hard to treat council property to assess the impact on energy costs.

The Council is working to improve all of its housing stock. It has already undertaken a number of pro-active steps towards this and has a fully costed programme. The cost of bringing all housing stock up to EPC C by 2030 was originally calculated at £2.7M and, without any external grant subsidy, would equate to £400K HRA expenditure per year.

We have a range of ongoing work which covers a wide range of measures from installing PV panels across sheltered housing schemes to a programme of whole house improvements on Mount Avenue Lancaster which will provide 56 upgraded homes reaching EPC C once completed.

We have also received grant funding to help deliver these improvements. Twenty seven of the worst performing dwellings received measures under the Government's Green Homes Grant LAD 1B funding and a further bid has been made under the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Wave 2, to improve a further 100 properties.

Buildings are responsible for almost 40% of the UK’s energy consumption and carbon emissions. In the UK has the largest proportion of older homes in Europe, with 37.8% of housing stock pre Second World War compared to an average of 22% across Europe. A lot of our homes are also energy inefficient which leads not only to high emissions but also higher energy bills.

We measure the energy efficiency of buildings using the Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP). SAP is the UK Government’s recommended system for measuring the energy efficiency of housing. An SAP assessment results in the EPC ratings that you might be familiar with. These are ranked from EPC A or most energy efficient to EPC G, least energy efficient. The median EPC for a home in the UK is D. In Lancaster, 40.8% of homes are EPC D and only about 34% of homes are C or better. The full distribution is: A 0.2%, B 7.8%, C 26%, D 40.8%, E 18.3%, F 5.1%, and G 1.9%.

If you want to find out what the EPC Rating of a property is,  you can find energy certificates here .

You can check out the Council's webpage with Energy Efficiency Advice as a starting point if you are interested in how to  reduce your energy bills.  

If you really want to get into the numbers, you can look at the  live tables for Energy Performance of Building Certificates .

The Council forms part of a Lancashire Framework CHiL "  Cosy Homes in Lancashire  " which is a collaboration of all district councils and the current Managing Agent Rhea Project, and with Blackpool Council as the lead authority and responsible body. The scheme is the main conduit to draw down external/government funding for energy efficiency measures, with the Managing Agent establishing a framework of Lancashire based sub-contractors to undertake measures to Trustmark/PAS requirements. CHiL was established in 2015 with contracts entered into by each district council and the Managing Agent service is re-tendered periodically. Recognising the council's desire to utilise our own construction supply chain in Lancaster, a small pilot scheme took place in 2023 allowing two local contractors to gain Trustmark accreditation at no cost to themselves and with the support of officers. It is hoped that this will lead to other local contractors being able to install measures as part of the council's community wealth building and social value principles.

 Learn more about CHiL 

There is a lot of work to be done across Lancaster District to improve the quality of homes and improve their energy efficiency.

• We have staff within the Improving Energy Efficiency and Retrofitting Homes Service working across council services who are involved in retrofitting council housing and who work with vulnerable home owners on improving the energy efficiency of their homes.

• Within the Council Housing Service, there are a number of staff trained as Domestic Energy Assessors and one full time member of staff has been responsible for oversight of the Mount Avenue whole house improvements through to its completion. The Council Housing Service has employed a full-time Energy Support Officer to engage directly with new and existing council tenants and provide direct support to combat fuel poverty, managing fuel bills, practical guidance on heating systems/controls and support on retrofitting work.

• The Home Improvement Agency Service is there to help vulnerable residents who are elderly, disabled or on low income to repair, improve, maintain and adapt their homes. The Council now employs a Retrofit Technical Officer (who is a fully qualified Retrofit Assessor) and undertakes assessments for vulnerable home owners and private sector tenants to address fuel poverty, and will identify the most suitable funding stream to advance installation of energy efficient measures (including referrals to CHiL). Through UKSPF funding, the Retrofit Technical Officer will be undertaking the Retrofit Co-ordinator certification and once completed, provides potential for a locally based Retrofit Co-Ordinator to work on grant funded programmes to fulfil the PAS/Trustmark requirements. Through CHiL, Rhea Projects actively pursue potential leads targeting eligible properties.  Find out more about CHiL  and the   Home Improvement Agency.    
• Following adoption of the  Homes Strategy , in 2021, the council set up a Developing Green Skills Group to bring a range of organisations and professionals together to forge links and work collaboratively to explore opportunities to increase the local supply chain.  An early action was to engage with Lancaster University who ran an Eco-I construction programme for local construction companies.  A number of key actions were led fed into the Developing Green Skills Group to explore.  An Action Plan is currently in preparation which seeks to:
  • Strengthen links and develop a Training Providers Network and Lancaster Business support Providers Networks as a means of promoting retrofit skills
  • To establish a Consortium for Local Builders
  • Explore funding/opportunities to develop a Materials Bank for construction waste (with learning from the Rebuild Site in Carlisle)
  • Deliver a range of retrofit training following a successful UKSPF bid by skillsfix  https://skillsfix.co.uk 
  • Promote our partners Green Rose  Home - Green Rose CIC  who already provide a range of energy and money saving advice to low income and vulnerable households initially in Lancaster district which is now a county wide service, and currently seeking to develop an able to pay service for households not eligible for grant funded measures which would be piloted in Lancaster.
  • To explore opportunities for a Terraced Street project in Lancaster district.   

• The council has taken forward a pilot project with a local construction company to gain PAS2023/Trustmark certification for Internal Wall Insulation as the first critical step in increasing local supply chain capacity in Lancaster district. Funding was provided to cover the consultancy and application costs and the council earmarked a void property to allow the live audit to take place in a timely way as the final stage of the certification process.  The installers will will onboarded on the CHiL Framework and will go on to install measures under HUG and future grant funded programmes as well as delivering an able to pay service to those who do not qualify for grant.

Domestic private rented properties are legally required to have an Energy Performance Certificate. Since 1 April 2020, properties cannot be let if they have an EPC rating below E, unless there is a valid exception. Your Council has the legal powers to enforce minimum Energy Efficiency Standards.

Lancaster City Council was previously successful in receiving central government funding to undertake a targeted time limited project on MEES.  As a result of this additional funding, the council has investigated over 900 properties for compliance with the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards and as a result over 250 landlords have been contacted directly. Our investigation has resulted in 45 properties where the Energy Performance rating has increased to an E or above, three compliance notices have been issued and one penalty notice has being served.

If you want to find out what the EPC Rating of your rented property is,  you can find your energy certificate here. 

The Council sets out its housing and renovation ambitions in its adopted Homes Strategy 2020-2025. The Homes Strategy outlines that the council will embark upon a programme of new build developments to increase the supply of social and affordable housing through direct delivery. EPC A has been adopted as the minimum standard that all new build properties will achieve through the council's HRA.

Some small scale projects have already been completed. Examples include: the conversion of three redundant scheme manager dwellings which were converted into rented accommodation achieving a rating of EPC A; a conversion of a commercial unit into a special needs dwelling also achieving EPC A; and an old stable building has been converted into a special needs dwelling which will also achieve EPC A. And we have more on the way, in November 2022, a scheme of four dwellings was granted planning permission using MMC (modern methods of construction) and should achieve EPC A.  The project is currently under construction and will complete in March 2025. 

In line with the Climate Emergency Local Plan Review (see FAQ section on Planning and Land Use), all new homes will be expected to be net zero by 2028.

If you would like to learn view the  Council's Homes Strategy (2020-2025)  .

• Check out the Halton Lune Hydro, the largest community owned   hydro  in England.
• Some of our Electric Vehicle chargers in Lancaster are delivered in partnership with  Charge My Street  a community benefit society.
• You can learn more about  Community Energy in England .

  climate-emergency@lancaster.gov.uk