• Housing associations secure £112m to improve 18,000 homes

• Extra £117m in home improvement grants for private renters and homeowners

• 30 public buildings, offices and town halls set for £30m upgrade

• Latest steps toward becoming net zero by 2035

Liverpool City Region is set to launch its biggest ever drive to make homes and public buildings more energy efficient.  

The Combined Authority is being asked to approve funding of up to £259m to fit energy-saving measures to 26,000 city region homes and more than 30 public buildings. 

The new investment includes £112m to help social housing providers retrofit up to 18,000 homes. A further £117m would be distributed via a local grants scheme to around 8,000 homeowners and private renters.   

£30m will also go towards retrofitting energy-saving measures at 30 public buildings, including historic town halls, across the city region. 

The initiative is part of a five-year carbon action plan to make the city region net zero by 2035 and investment in the scheme could rise to almost £400m over three years. 

Mayor of the Liverpool City Region Steve Rotheram said: 

“This significant investment demonstrates our ambition to lead the way in tackling the climate crisis while improving the everyday lives for people across the Liverpool City Region. 

“By upgrading thousands of homes and public buildings, we’re not only making them greener and more energy efficient but also helping to keep homes warmer and energy bills more affordable. 

“With our strong partnerships with housing associations and local authorities, we are rapidly scaling up our retrofitting efforts—putting more money in people’s pockets, creating good-quality local jobs, and delivering a cleaner, healthier future for local communities.”  

The Combined Authority (CA) has already secured £105m to retrofit 10,000 homes with typical upgrades including triple-glazed windows and doors, wall and loft insulation, new roofs and interior ventilation.   

Under this latest initiative the Combined Authority is looking to secure investment for home improvements under the Government’s Warm Homes scheme.A new partnership with 24 housing associations will benefit from a £112m grant from the Warm Homes Social Housing Fund. Match funding could make a total investment of £221m. This will retrofit energy efficiency measures in up to 8,500 homes in the city region with a further 10,000 delivered across the wider North-West.  

Individual homeowners and private tenants can invest in home improvements by applying to a £117m fund provided by the Warm Homes Local Grant Fund. This could include heat pumps, and wall and loft insulation. 

Private homes account for the majority of carbon emissions, while public buildings are responsible for 13% of the total.  

Together, the city region’s six local authorities and the Combined Authority (CA) own more than 600 buildings that emit almost 77,000 tonnes of CO2 

The CA is currently decarbonising eight public buildings and plans to use £30m from the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme to improve the energy efficiency of another 30.  

Cllr Anthony Burns, Cabinet Member for Net Zero said: 

“To successfully reach our target of becoming net zero carbon by 2035, we need to halve our energy use in the city region.  This means taking action to improve homes and public buildings.   

“We are working with our local authorities and social housing providers to retrofit energy saving measures to as many houses as possible, to save people money on their bills, tackle fuel poverty and help the environment. This investment will continue this important work.” 

Cllr Graham Morgan, Cabinet Member for Housing and Regeneration, said: 

“This is a sizeable investment which will have a real impact across the city region and the wider North West, making it easier for tens of thousands of people to heat their homes. Here in the city region we have demonstrated that with government support and partnerships with our social housing providers we are able to deliver large-scale projects such as this.”