The housing association, which is part of the ForViva Group, is to install a new energy efficient biomass heating system as part of the investment. This will replace existing storage heaters across the five residential tower blocks in Knowsley, Merseyside, UK.
Two biomass energy centres, of 500 kW and 300 kW respectively, will burn low-cost, sustainable wood pellets, thereby reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 22,200 tonnes over the lifetime of the system. The project will be supported by the UK government’s Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI).
“More housing associations are considering biomass to improve the value of their properties, become more sustainable and help their customers with rising energy bills” said Paul McCarren, energy director of Forrest. “We’re now able to deliver biomass on larger scales, which makes it perfect for providing renewable energy to local communities and passing on savings to tenants. As such, we expect biomass to be a growth area for us as housing associations, and larger commercial organisations, continue to make renewables a big part of their property portfolios.”
Paul Carhart, Managing Director of Villages Housing Association and Group Director of Customer Services at ForViva, added that the housing association is striving to ensure all its homes and neighbourhoods are of the very best quality as part of its Community Impact Strategy. By using clean technology to ensure all homes within tower blocks are environmentally friendly, the housing association is aiming to create an innovative solution that alleviates fuel poverty through reduced bills while also delivering improvements in residents health through warmer homes.
Village Housing Association manages properties across Merseyside and Greater Manchester. Work has begun on the improvements to the homes, and is due for completion in September 2016.
Image: Forrest
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