South London council approves £470m retrofit strategy

“The actions set out within the strategy seek to build on existing work, maximising use of external grant funding and developing the knowledge, skills and capacity that can scale up retrofit over time,” the report said.

The approval of the new strategy came as Lewisham announced it had secured £7.1m from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, which will be spent on retrofitting hundreds of council homes.

The government money will be added to £9.1m already committed by Lewisham to the project, said the council, which has had significant issues with damp and mould in its homes.

Last July, the Housing Ombudsman launched a special investigation in the borough after issuing Lewisham with 16 severe maladministration findings in a year.

And a year ago, the Regulator of Social Housing found that the council had failed to meet the consumer standards, partly as around 2,000 of its properties did not meet the Decent Homes Standard.

Brenda Dacres, the mayor of Lewisham, said the new £7.1m of funding will allow it to “make up to 800 council homes warmer, healthier, more energy efficient and cheaper for council tenants to heat, which will considerably improve the lives of many Lewisham residents”.

The council’s retrofit strategy commits to carrying out 10 other ‘core’ projects, which it says “build on the council’s current initiatives and existing funding commitments”.

Besides completing other grant-funded decarbonisation works to around 250 properties, these include developing opportunities around district heating, finishing stock condition surveys of council homes, and supporting low-income and vulnerable residents in private tenures to access retrofit funding.

Lewisham’s new strategy also lists 19 ‘stretch’ projects that require additional capacity and funding before they can proceed.

Among these aspirations are rolling out non-invasive insulation across council stock with a view to achieving an Energy Performance Certificate rating of Band C, upgrading existing communal heating systems and creating a social landlords’ consortium on retrofit.

The list also includes measures aimed at the private sector, such as developing the use of disabled grant funding to increase insulation for vulnerable residents, and promoting air-source heat pumps and photovoltaic panels to households.

“Officers will work towards finding opportunities to progress these projects but without a commitment that they can be delivered,” the March cabinet report said.

The retrofit strategy said Lewisham will also work on nine ‘innovation’ projects with a view to building knowledge that can then be used at scale as and when funding becomes available.

These pilots include demonstration work around external and internal wall insulation, and energy-efficient electric heating, in the council’s own homes.