13 November 2012: The GLA have approved a project to procure consultants to “develop a pipeline of social housing for energy efficiency retrofitting works that can be funded by the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) and London Green Fund.” The consultants will also make recommendations as to the role the GLA should play (and its partners) in developing projects that attract ECO and London Green Fund funding, and develop the business case for attracting energy efficiency funding into London ‘s social housing to 2015. The approval document sets out that “there are a number of funding streams in London that could be used to match and attract the ECO:
- London Green Fund – London Green Fund has £11m available for suitable social housing retrofit projects. The GLA is exploring how this funding could be expanded to £100m for retrofitting and new build. This funding could be used to retrofit social housing under the control of registered providers and attract ECO funding.
- Decent Homes – London has also received over £694 million of Decent Homes funding (over 50% of total Decent homes funding) from 2012-2015 for improving social housing. The programme of work under Decent Homes could be aligned with energy efficiency works under ECO to ‘match’ and attract ECO funding into London.
- Housing Revenue Accounts – HRA changes mean that some London boroughs have funding to improve their own stock. This could also be matched with ECO funding.”
A steering group for the project will be established. Its representation will ensure that the project can secure the buy-in from boroughs, ALMOs and Registered Providers, and will report into the RE:NEW sponsors board. The estimated cost of this contract is up to £50,000.