Developing a Net Zero Carbon Strategy for The Wrekin Housing Group

Objectives

The Wrekin Housing Group is a social housing provider with approximately 12,500 domestic properties in its portfolio. In addition to the housing portfolio, they also operate 27 sheltered/care home buildings, a large head office and many smaller buildings such as offices, shops, and commercial buildings.

Wrekin wanted to identify a strategy to move towards net zero carbon across the business. To achieve this, they needed to determine ways to reduce carbon and energy use within their buildings and business operations and identify potential funding options to supplement investment budgets.

Project

Anthesis supported The Wrekin Housing Group to develop a net zero strategy that determines realistic decarbonisation strategies across their building and housing stock portfolio.

The project involved modelling multiple decarbonisation scenario timescales and the impacts of changing “business as usual” practices, such as substituting the scheduled replacement of boilers with air source heat pumps.

Anthesis also identified multiple funding opportunities to supplement investment spend, such as ECO funding, the Renewable Heat Incentive and Clean Heat Grant funding.

Services

• Establishing the carbon footprint on commercial buildings
• Stakeholder engagement across different functions of the business to identify decarbonisation and investment priorities and constraints
• Energy modelling of heat pumps and alteration of stock disposal programmes
• Physical site audits across some of the largest buildings and the provision of detailed recommendations for each
• Production of a detailed Net Zero report, including a detailed strategy for decarbonisation

Impacts

• Potential of carbon reduction from 24 ktC02e down to 2.7 ktC02e before insetting/offsetting
• Access to theoretical grant funding of £57.2m through Clean Heat Grant funding and the Renewable Heat Incentive
• Modelling of a £1.25m energy bill saving per annum to residents across the portfolio