Home Hero: Private Homeowners to Benefit from Retrofit Initiative
Energy efficiency improvements are more easily accessible to households following the launch of a brand-new homeowner and landlord retrofit initiative, Home Hero, which is a consumer brand belonging to principal retrofit contractor Sustainable Building Services (UK) Limited (SBS).
Part of a vision to offer a viable solution for all households, and taking an area-based approach to decarbonise whole communities, the initiative will allow consumers to install energy efficiency and renewable measures to their homes, and plug the gap between grants, savings and the cost of green home improvements.
Home Hero provides an end-to-end retrofit customer journey, with a simple and easy process checking eligibility for grant funding and providing access to finance options to make energy saving improvements to their homes, right through to the installation of measures.
The benefits to customers include reducing energy usage and carbon footprint, increasing property value, and enhancing comfort and wellbeing, to provide a warmer and healthier home.
The retrofit decarbonisation work will be installed by SBS and retrofit advice and customer journey managed by Sustainable Energy Services (SES).
The first homeowners are currently taking advantage of the initiative in north Derbyshire, Coventry and north Wales, with plans to quickly scale up to reach other areas across England and Wales.
Energy efficiency and microregeneration measures available via Home Hero include solid wall insulation, cavity wall insulation, loft insulation, air source heat pumps, solar PV and battery storage.
The initiative will help homeowners access grants and tackle climate change
Derek Horrocks, chair of Sustainable Building Services and Sustainable Energy Services, said: “Home Hero is here to revolutionise the way that homeowners and private landlords can access energy efficiency improvements.
“Home improvements can be costly, especially in the current economy and with this particular line of improvement work, so it’s our mission to make it an affordable option for everyone through an easy access range of grant funding and finance solutions that will cover the remaining cost.
“It can also be a complicated process, so Home Hero has a dedicated team to take the customer through their retrofit journey.
“There’s a huge focus across the board on achieving better energy efficiency – particularly from the new government. One of the biggest things often overlooked in this conversation when it comes to energy efficiency and decarbonisation of homes is the hugely positive impact it has on the people living in the homes. The measures don’t just play a part in tackling climate change, but make sure that everyone has a living environment that fosters good physical and mental wellbeing too.
“Home Hero has been born from a formidable partnership between trusted and experienced businesses with comprehensive knowledge on the green homes agenda, making sure that it’s completely fit for helping homeowners and private landlords around the country. Together we will be able to offer an end-to-end solution to make their properties fit for the future and for today.”
Home Hero will help homeowners and private landlords to receive grant funding via schemes such as the government’s Energy Company Obligation (ECO4) scheme and Great British Insulation Scheme (GBIS), designed to tackle fuel poverty and help reduce carbon emissions at scale, as well as through the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) to transition the UK to clean heat and support the decarbonisation of heat in buildings.
The government’s Department for Energy Security & Net Zero has supported the initiative via the Green Home Finance Accelerator, part of the £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio. It aims to reduce barriers to funding and support homeowners and residential landlords enhance the energy efficiency of their properties.
