Housing estate in Holt Park set for near £9m green refurbishment boost

A housing estate in Holt Park is set to benefit from a major new green refurbishment programme totalling almost £9m.

Part funded by Leeds City Council (£4.69m) and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS - £4.18m), this significant investment of £8.87m will now be used to deliver a host of whole house retrofits to 190 flats located on the Holtdale estate, in north west Leeds.

Forming part of the council’s continuing work to tackle fuel poverty and improve energy efficiency in its housing stock, featuring in the revamp, which is set to begin next month and be completed by December 2021, will include: 

• Installation of Air Source Heat Pumps and solar PV panels to reduce carbon emissions in each flat.
• Replacement of ventilation system, including Replacement of extractor fans with environmentally friendly Mechanical Ventilation systems.
• Fitting of internal and external insulation throughout each property, including high performance windows and external doors.
• Upgrade of lighting in all flats to environmentally friendly LED fittings.

Once completed, this work will not only provide residents living in the Holtdale estate with a number of significant building and environmental improvements, but also a warmer residential block through improved heating and hot water systems and also potentially a reduction in their fuel bills. It is expected that key benefits to residents will include:

• Reduction in average energy bills – expecting to achieve up to a 70% reduction for each home.
• Carbon emissions reduced across all properties.
• The Energy efficiency (SAP rating) to be improved, resulting in all properties being rated at or above rating C.

This initiative forms part of an announcement made by the council earlier this month, which outlined its plan to invest £100 million on measures to help tenants save money and cut carbon by improving energy efficiency over the next five years. The investment will also support the council’s commitment to reduce the city’s direct emissions to net-zero by 2030 and make Leeds a greener, fairer and healthier city.

Councillor Debra Coupar, Leeds City Council’s executive member for communities, said:

“It is fantastic news that we have been successful in our bid to BEIS for over £4m of funding, which will support our ambition to deliver a range of significant environmental improvements for people living in 190 flats on the Holtdale estate.

“This funding coupled with our own investment of over £4m will not only help us reduce carbon emissions and make the 190 homes on the Holtdale estate more energy efficient, it will also play a huge role in helping to cut energy costs for people in these homes by up to 70%. We know that unfortunately too many people suffer from fuel poverty in Leeds and its work like this that will help cut those costs and make real positive impact to people's lives. From a wider perspective, it also underlines our commitment which we announced last month to invest £100m over the next five years on ways in which we can cut carbon and improve the energy efficiency of our housing stock and in doing so provide a range of meaningful and positive benefits for our residents living in communities across the city. These type of steps must be done if as a city is to reach its aim of becoming carbon neutral by 2030, and as a housing team we are committed to exploring every option through our work to help make this happen.

“I would like to thank the BEIS for their continued support and we are looking forward to working with them again in the future on other similar future projects that can make a real difference to the people of Leeds.”