Big names win places on £1.5bn social housing retrofit framework

A five-strong coalition of UK housing associations has appointed more than 100 firms to a £1.48bn framework to retrofit homes for energy efficiency. 

The Greener Futures Partnership (GFP) – whose members Sanctuary, Hyde, Home Group, Anchor and Abri operate a combined total of around 300,000 homes – has named 107 suppliers on the seven-year framework. 

Kier, Vinci, Morgan Sindall and Wates are among the firms that have won places.

Work involved will include installing solar panels, heat pumps, insulation and new windows. 

The initiative is aimed at helping housing associations meet the government’s target for all social homes to be EPC C rated by 2030. 

As part of this, the government launched a £3.8bn Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund in 2020, with money being allocated in phases to housing associations and councils over 10 years. 

The GFP said in the contract notice that its aim was to “create a truly collaborative framework where all parties contribute and continually develop best practice in the field of decarbonisation”.

At the time of the framework’s launch, the GFP said it was looking to overcome the challenge of “procuring services and goods against a backdrop of soaring demand and supply pressures”. 

Fears have been voiced over a lack of skilled retrofit workers to tackle the push towards decarbonisation of housing stock.

The new framework consists of three workstreams: construction up to £5m; construction over £2.5m; and consultancy. 

Sanctuary, Hyde, Home Group, Anchor and Abri collectively represent around 9 per cent of the social housing sector. 

A separate framework for retrofit works in Scotland will be procured for at a later date, the GFP added.