We’re continuing to work with residents on Project FutureFit, our rolling upgrade programme to improve your homes and make them fit for the future, even saving you money on your bills in the meantime.
And we’ve just launched our BRAND NEW resident retrofit journey document, telling you exactly what to expect and when, if your home is below EPC C.
Created with residents, for residents, this document is the first of it’s kind and will answer all your questions you may have about works to your home.
You can find the document here, and learn more about why retrofitting is so important.
On the Isle of Wight, more than 100 of our homes have benefited from a range of retrofitting efficiency measures, to make them warmer, healthier and cheaper to heat.
The improvements include cavity wall insulation, loft insulation, solar PV, new ventilation, low energy lighting and a switch to low carbon heating systems.
The work has been funded through the government’s Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, through Salix.
Hear how it’s making a change
The work we’ve been doing really is changing the lives of our residents.
Alan has lived on the Isle of Wight since 2004, and moved to his current home in 2013, where he lives with his wife.
Alan says before his home was upgraded, it was costly to keep warm: “This house doesn’t have gas, I was paying as much as £4,000 each year for my electricity”, he says.
However, since completing our works, Alan speaks highly of the upgrades.
“I can't tell you, we're just amazed at this”, he says. “I’m very thankful actually, because it has made an enormous difference to our lives.”
It was a similar experience for Deborah, who lives with her husband in the rural village of Shorwell.
“We had to rely on storage heaters to keep warm. They heat the room up to a point but as soon as they go off, it gets cold again.
"Since the work was finished, we’ve not had all of the heaters turned on, not even in the winter. We only use the one in the hallway just to take the chill off.”
85-year-old resident Lawrence, lives alone in Lake, close to the island’s costal resorts of Sandown and Shanklin. We’ve improved his home with insulation, solar panels and upgraded heating.
Lawrence estimates his energy bills have been cut by at least 20% and his house is warm all the time, even in the coldest months.
“My family are no longer worried about me being in a freezing home”, he says.
Alan, Deborah and Lawrence were kind enough to allow our partner, Salix, into their homes to talk to us about the improvements they’ve benefitted from. Watch the short film they kindly took part in.