One of Herefordshire’s largest housing providers has “retrofitted” Hereford homes for greater energy efficiency while giving them a smart new look – and plans to do more.
Connexus, formerly Herefordshire Housing which took over Herefordshire Council’s housing stock in 2001, said its housing blocks at Hunderton Road, as well as flats above shops at The Oval, have been given a range of improvements.
The “fabric first” approach has meant installing new 20cm-thick external insulation, confirmed as fire-safe, triple-glazed windows and roof loft insulation, with the aim of saving residents energy and cutting CO2 emissions, as well as reducing condensation.
It has been done with funding from the European Regional Development Fund.
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The blocks are of the “Cornish unit” style, named after the company which built them from pre-cast reinforced concrete sections in the 1950s.
With distinctive hipped mansard (steeply sloping) tiled roofs around the top floor, they were part of a national programme to boost housing supply after the war.
A Connexus spokesperson said that a further 66 properties in six blocks of the same type across town at Riverview, Putson, where planned work was approved back in January, will be given “the same fit and finish”.
“We are just waiting for an ecology report to be finalised before work can start,” he said, adding this work is due to be completed by next summer.
Initiated post-Brexit, this phase is being supported by the UK Government’s Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund.
Connexus has now bid for the next phase of the work, funded by the same UK fund, to improve a further 150 homes across Herefordshire and Shropshire, which it expects to complete by 2025.
The company also has “an ongoing programme of boiler upgrades, air source heat pump installations, renewal of double glazing, loft and cavity installation and other improvements to increase energy efficiency”, its spokesperson added.
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