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Social housing at centre of major retrofit trial as authority strikes deal with Japanese firm
Up to 1,000 homes, with the majority for social housing, will be part of a major decarbonisation retrofit trial across Greater Manchester over the next two years.
The project is being launched as Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has struck a five-year agreement with Japanese manufacturer Daikin.
It will see between 800 and 1,000 homes fitted with low-carbon heating technologies, including air-source heat pumps. It is understood the homes will be predominantly social housing and housing associations will be involved in the trials.
The long-term aim of the trial is for it to lead to a large-scale roll-out of the technologies, Inside Housing understands.
It is part of Greater Manchester’s wider ambition to be carbon neutral by 2038.
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As part of the Daikin tie-up, Greater Manchester will also become what the GMCA called a “test-bed for new net zero technologies and services”, with the aim of boosting investment and creating jobs in the region.
The GMCA has already worked with Daikin over the past seven years, which has resulted in “several hundred” air-source heat pumps installed in social housing developments across Wigan, Bury, and North Manchester, the body said.
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham said the new agreement was a “vote of confidence in our ambitious, science-based plans to become carbon neutral by 2038”.
He added: “We want to connect the dots between decarbonising our homes and buildings, fostering net zero innovation, and developing skills in the green industries of the future.”
Masatsugu Minaka, president of Daikin Europe NV and senior executive officer of Daikin Industries, said: “We believe this relationship is a best practice approach to meeting decarbonisation targets in social housing.”
Osaka-headquartered Daikin is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of air conditioning units. Last year it announced plans to build a new €300m (£267m) heat pump factory in Poland.
The UK government has a target to be installing 600,000 heat pumps a year by 2028, as part of an overall bid to be net zero by 2050.
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