Hertfordshire Secures £50m to Build and Retrofit Homes
A Hertfordshire housing association have secured a £50 million loan from Lloyds Bank to build new homes and retrofit its existing stock.
B3Living, who operate in communities across Broxbourne and southeast Hertfordshire, currently support 12,000 residents in 50,000 homes.
Three KPIs will be utilised to assess performance
The housing association will measure their sustainability-linked loan facility against three Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
These will enable the housing association to receive discounted funding relative to their performance as against agreed targets.
The first KPI relates to retrofitting existing stock to B3Living are surpassing the current minimum regulations by bringing all their properties up to EPC C by 2028.
This would put them two years ahead of the 2030 milestone, as well as aligning to their wider strategic target to support residents reduce their energy bills.
The second KPI will see B3Living improve its SHIFT rating, a sustainability framework amalgamating 15 separate ESG KPIs into one overarching score. Currently, the housing association is rated Silver, but aim to improve this to a Gold rating by 2024.
Finally, the third KPI involves their aim to build at least 50 energy efficient, affordable new build homes a year by 2028, all of which will be EPC B and above.
Of these homes, 70% will be built in Broxbourne to tackle the shortage of affordable housing in the borough.
B3Living and Lloyds Bank each have sustainability and affordable housing goals
Alex Shelock, B3Living’s executive director for finance, said: “In this current operating environment of high inflation and interest rates coupled with political and economic uncertainty, organisations like ours have a tough balancing act in terms of protecting financial resilience whilst delivering for our customers and communities.
The transition towards net-zero carbon is a key strategic priority for B3Living, and this type of flexible and incentivised loan is an excellent avenue for us to stretch our ESG ambitions and deliver benefits for existing customers as well as those yet to be housed.
“It also strengthens a nearly decade-long partnership between Lloyds Bank and B3Living.”
The new homes B3Living will build through this loan also deliver against Lloyd’s bank target of supporting in the UK’s efforts to deliver one million new social homes by 2033.
Lauren Bailey, associate director of real estate and housing at Lloyds Bank, said: “The work that organisations like B3Living does is incredibly important in the UK’s efforts in tackling climate change and making our current and future housing stock fit for the future while addressing the supply challenges the residential property market currently faces.
“We’re proud to support them and help them achieve their ESG and housebuilding ambitions in the coming years.”
This loan will also help B3Living meet their overarching sustainability target, which is to make all operations carbon neutral by 2030.
To achieve this, the housing association have already allied with settle and Watford Community Housing to launch their ‘Greener Herts’ sustainability partnership.
Together, the three housing associations own more than 20,000 homes. Through their collaboration, they endeavour to engage residents in sustainability measures as well as working on joint projects including using thermal imaging cameras to assess insulation needs.
