
The next wave of applications for the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) opens this November, and it’s time for housing providers and organisations to start preparations for their funding bids. SHDF is open to social housing landlords across England to improve the energy efficiency and environmental sustainability of social housing. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the process of preparing a successful bid:
Step One: Identify Your Eligible Homes for SHDF
Before embarking on your bid, you need to identify the eligible homes for SHDF funding from across your portfolio. This is the foundation of your application. You can simplify this process using Portfolio reports and our funding finder tool to identify your eligible properties quickly.
Step Two: Identify Your Measures
If using Portfolio, you’ll have access to our library of over 3,000 costed measures designed to improve energy efficiency. The good news is that eligible measures for each home are automatically selected based on your property data. However, it’s essential to note that the SHDF targets specific measure sets, so you’ll want to specify a shortlist of relevant measures and perhaps add in your own suppliers’ pricing to give you further confidence in what you can achieve for the budget.
Step Three: Set Up Your Investment Scenario
Creating the most cost-effective route to achieve your housing goals is vital. SHDF sets a complex target of SAP and heat demand metrics, as well as cost caps that restrict spend on certain measures. Our software can be used to test options and optimise retrofit plans for homes, at scale, with analysts on hand to answer your questions about the intricacies of RdSAP and unexpected results.
Step Four: View the Results
Running investment scenarios will provide you with retrofit plans to meet your performance goals. This step helps you maximise your investment while reducing risk during project delivery. Where there is uncertainty, due to the age or source of input data, then that is tracked from data entry to final reports so you can manage related deliverability risks.
Additionally, summary data will help you communicate the overall costs and benefits of your retrofit plans to different stakeholders. This includes a breakdown of costs, benefits, tradespeople required, and the ability to compare different scenarios to reach a consensus on the best approach.
Conclusion: Confidently Submit Your Bid
By following these steps, you should be well-prepared to submit a strong bid for the SHDF. By creating investment scenarios, you not only ensure the most cost-effective route to achieve your housing goals but also navigate the complex requirements of SHDF. This empowers you to make informed decisions and optimise your investment while reducing risk.
These advantages are not just about winning the bid; they are about streamlining the process, ensuring compliance, and maximising the impact of your efforts. We are here to help you leverage these benefits fully. Reach out to us to learn more about how we can assist you on your journey to create a more sustainable and energy-efficient future for social housing.