Date published: 24 March 2025
Leading housing provider, Stonewater, has been granted provisional allocation of over £18million in government funding as part of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) Wave 3 scheme.
Selected as one of 17 Strategic Partners in the government’s Warm Homes project, Stonewater will retrofit over 1,600 homes, primarily across Swindon, Wiltshire, Herefordshire, Dorset, Surrey and Sussex.
The funding forms part of the £1.8billion in government support that was announced earlier this week, helping to provide energy efficiency upgrades to 170,000 homes in England.
SHDF Wave 3 funding has been offered to 17 strategic partnership projects and 127 challenge fund projects, with Stonewater’s provisional allocation listed In the top 10 individual grant recipients.
Adam Masters, Assistant Director Environment & Sustainability at Stonewater, said: “We’re delighted to have been granted this funding to improve the energy efficiency of our homes. This work will be vital in helping customers to reduce their energy bills and ensure they have a warm place to live.
“We already have a strong retrofit programme in place, which has seen improvements to many of our existing homes. As part of our ongoing SHDF Wave 2.1 project, we have already installed 200 air source heat pumps and over 115 solar panel systems, plus many other measures focussed on making homes more comfortable and affordable.
“Enduring our existing homes are safe, warm and secure for the customers we already provide for is vital and a key strategic priority for us, alongside our support of the government’s ambitious housebuilding targets. This funding will enable us to scale up retrofit and go even further to making homes sustainable for many years to come.”
When commenting on the government’s £1.8billion announcement, Minister for Energy Consumers, Miatta Fahnbulleh, said: “Living in a warm, comfortable home should not be a luxury. It is a right that has been out of reach for too many people for too long. We are powering on with our Warm Homes Plan, upgrading cold and draughty homes so they are warmer, cleaner, and cheaper to live in.”
The Stonewater homes selected for energy efficiency improvements as part of the project will benefit from measures such as increased insulation, double glazing, solar panels and heat pumps.
In 2023, Stonewater was successful in bidding for more than £9million in funding to make improvements to over 700 homes as part of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ)’s Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) Wave 2.1.