First schemes announced for pioneering Low Carbon Infrastructure Initiative

Details of the successful schemes for the first tranche of funding from the Homes and Communities Agency’s (HCA) low carbon infrastructure initiative, totalling £11.85m, were announced today.

The initiative, a partnership with the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and Communities and Local Government (CLG), will provide funding for schemes across the country to benefit from new and existing low carbon energy plants by creating the infrastructure needed to link them up.

The successful bidders for the first tranche of the national housing and regeneration agency’s initiative, are:

• Cranbrook New Community, Exeter – £2.5m to provide biomass CHP for the first phase of development of 2,900 houses.
• The Southside Regeneration Area, Nottingham – £1.5m to connect scheme to energy station providing heat from waste heat.
• Anaerobic Digester Gas Injection, Milton Keynes – £1.5m to provide a new biomethane plant sited with the city’s planned anaerobic digestion plant that will power households with green energy by injecting into the regional gas network.
• Mayflower Theatre and Gantry development, Southampton – £0.65m to connect scheme to Southampton’s deep geothermal district heating network.
• Woolston Riverside Growth point, Southampton – £2.5m to create two energy centres on site with transmission pipework that will be connected to the existing deep geothermal system.
• Cambridge & Crescent Towers, Birmingham – £1.5m to channel waste heat from neighbouring convention centre to heat homes that are currently heated by expensive electric heating.
• Riverside Dene Biomass District Heating Scheme, Newcastle – £1.7m to connect ten council owned tower blocks to biomass district heating plant, supporting households that experience high levels of fuel poverty.

Sir Bob Kerslake, chief executive of the Homes and Communities Agency, said: "These schemes use clean energy technologies that will be used innovatively to make a difference to people’s lives. The successful local partners have come together with energy providers to make low carbon energy work for communities on the ground, whether in new housing schemes or on existing housing estates."

"We are not simply looking to reduce carbon emissions but also for ways of reducing people’s fuel bills and to reduce dependency on expensive fossil fuels. The lessons we will learn from seeing these ground-breaking schemes in action will make it easier to achieve the zero carbon homes by 2016 and to upgrade the environmental performance of the existing housing stock."

The second tranche of schemes to receive funding will be announced in August.

Housing Minister John Healey said: “If Britain is going to be successful and safe from climate change in the future, we have to change the way we live now. More than a quarter of carbon emissions come from houses.

"That is why I have announced a package of green measures that will drive forward our ambitious zero carbon targets. This includes the locations of the first four eco-towns and new standards for zero carbon homes that means all new homes from 2016 will be cleaner, greener and cheaper to run. And I am also releasing the first tranche of money for areas to pioneer more responsible energy solutions."

"We are leading the way on the world stage with these developments and these innovative projects will be playing their part in full."

Energy and Climate Change Minister Lord Hunt said: "Heating our homes is responsible for almost half of the UK’s carbon emissions, so we need to look at ways of keeping warm in a more environmentally friendly way. These seven winning projects will now be able to build heating systems that use fuels like biomass or turn waste into heat which don’t produce as much carbon, which means they’ll be better for the planet and have the potential to significantly reduce heating bills."

This funding is part of a package of measures announced by Housing Minister John Healey including tougher new energy standards for all new homes from 2016 to be zero carbon and a review to combine the Government’s climate change and renewable energy planning policy statements. Mr Healey also announced the green light to the first four eco-towns in the country.

With more than a quarter of Britain’s carbon emissions produced from homes, the announcements are a major step towards meeting the Government’s green policy pledges and Britain’s transition to a low carbon country.

Ends

For further information please contact: Robert Davies in the HCA press office, on 020 7881 1054 or email robert.davies@hca.gsx.gov.uk

Note to editors:

Housing stimulus package
As a result of April’s Budget the HCA will receive an additional £635 million. This is broken down as follows: £400m to unlock developments; £50 million social housing grant to allow local authorities to deliver new social housing (complemented by £50 million capital cover for associated prudential borrowing); up to £80 million to support delivery of the Mortgage Rescue Scheme; £84 million to provide cavity wall insulation in the social sector; £21 million for investment in innovative low-carbon heating systems.

Building Britain’s Future
As a result of the Prime Minister’s recent announcement on Building Britain’s Future, an additional 20,000 new affordable homes will be funded by £1.5 billion over the next two years. This adds to the housing stimulus package announced in the budget and breaks down as follows: £750 million to be allocated via the HCA’s National Affordable Housing Programme; £500 million to unlock developments; and £250 million to allow local authorities to deliver new social housing.

Low carbon infrastructure initiative
Schemes selected were required to meet the following criteria:

• Exemplar status – for instance, size of scheme, support to new and existing homes, technologies deployed.
• Affordable heat and power – provisions to protect the fuel poor.
• Fuel diversity – use of renewables or extending the efficiency of fossil fuels.
• Readiness – ability to allocate and spend the fund within two years.
• Leverage – commitment of funding or assets from other project partners.

Projects were reviewed by an internal group and by our external sounding board, who will assess the technical and financial viability of all projects. In addition to the HCA, the board comprises representatives from:

• Communities and Local Government
• Department of Energy and Climate Change
• Energy Saving Trust
• Faber Maunsell
• Zero Carbon Trust
• Michael King (independent advisor).

The Homes and Communities Agency is the single, national housing and regeneration agency for England. We bring together the development and regeneration expertise of English Partnerships, investment functions of the Housing Corporation, and the Academy for Sustainable Communities, with major delivery programmes of Communities and Local Government.

Our role is to create opportunity for people to live in high quality, sustainable places. We provide funding for affordable housing, bring land back into productive use and improve quality of life by raising standards for the physical and social environment.

Over the current three financial years the HCA controls a budget of £17.3bn.

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