SBC Climate Change Strategy (2020) has identified homes as one of the key themes of the action plan.
This initiative addresses the environmental impact of residential buildings within the social housing sector by aiming to make them more energy-efficient and sustainable. Decarbonisation methods can involve implementing a range of measures, such as improving insulation, upgrading heating systems to more energy-efficient alternatives, promoting renewable energy sources, and adopting technologies that minimise carbon emissions. Through decarbonisation, the Council can make social housing more environmentally friendly, enhance living conditions, reduce energy costs for residents, and contribute to wider efforts in combatting climate change by lowering the carbon footprint of the housing sector.
As part of its Climate Change Strategy, the Council has committed to achieving a minimum EPC band C for all Council's homes by 2030. An EPC is a certificate that rates the energy efficiency of a property on a scale from A (most efficient) to G (least efficient). EPCs are required when a domestic property is built, sold, or rented.
While it is essential for the Council to continue investing in decarbonising its social housing stock and achieving an EPC standard that ensures safe, warm, and quality homes, this is subject to affordability within the Housing Revenue Account (HRA), given the broader pressures currently faced by all social landlords.
The Council has been delivering projects under UK Government funded and co-funded actions to decarbonise its current social housing stock such as the Local Authority Delivery (LAD), the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, and more recently the Warm Homes Social Housing.
Running alongside dedicated decarbonisation funds, the ongoing Decent Homes programme will improve the energy efficiency of Council-owned homes during the 2026/27 financial year.
Delivered via appointed contractors, this targeted upgrade cycle focuses on window and door replacements, as well as heating, boiler, and insulation improvements where required, to directly reduce residential heat loss, improve thermal comfort, and lower fuel bills for tenants.
Further information at: SBC Decent Homes Works.
As the successor to the SHDF, the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund (WH:SHF) Wave 3 continues the objective of upgrading social housing to a minimum EPC Band C, tackling fuel poverty, and improving tenant well-being.
Funded by a £3.86 million grant alongside Council co-funding, the scheme runs until 2028 and will improve the energy efficiency of 379 Council homes.
Equans Regeneration Ltd has been successfully appointed as the delivery contractor to carry out the works over a three-year period, deploying measures such as wall and loft insulation, ventilation upgrades, windows, doors, and solar panels to enhance thermal comfort, contribute to warmer, healthier homes for residents, and reduce emissions.
Running from 2018 under a five-year term extended by an additional two years, Stevenage Borough Council’s town-wide Major Refurbishment Contract (MRC) has now concluded. The comprehensive programme focused on low- and mid-rise blocks of flats (excluding tower blocks), delivering a whole-block approach informed by detailed structural surveys.
Beyond general communal improvements (such as new roofs, windows, doors, structural work, fire safety upgrades, internal and external decorations, and energy-efficient lighting) the project integrated crucial sustainability measures like loft, cavity, and external wall insulation (EWI).
While major contract works have ended, contractors like Mulalley remain active on site to complete remaining pre-instructed works, handle snagging, and manage defect liability periods. Further updates and block-specific schedules can be found on the SBC Current Major Works.
Running from March 2023 to July 2025, the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) Wave 2.1 project succesfully retrofitted 237 properties (comprising 16 flat blocks and 100 houses) across Stevenage.
Funded by a £2.62 million grant alongside a £3.97 million Council contribution, the scheme applied a fabric-first approach to lift the Council's least energy-efficient homes to an EPC Band C or B standard.
Upgrades included external and cavity wall insulation, loft insulation, energy-efficient lighting, solar panels, and improved ventilation. These upgrades aimed to achieve EPC Band C, with some reaching EPC Band B.
The Council also installed Aico Environmental Sensors in some Wave 2.1 homes to monitor humidity, temperature, heat loss, and damp/mould risk, helping assess SHDF benefits.
Further information about the funding sheme: here.
The Council submitted an application for the Warm Homes: Social Housing funding (as a continuation of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Wave 3). Notification for successful bids were announced in early 2025.
Upgraded social housing properties with Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) below C, helping social housing tenants to cut their fuel bills as well as delivering warm homes and reducing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. The Council successfully secured funding to improve the EPC rating of 209 social homes.
SHDF Wave 1 involved a £1.84 million grant and a £1.60 million SBC contribution, upgrading these homes to EPC Band C or B using a fabric-first approach. Completed in December 2023, the measures included loft insulation, ventilation, and low-energy lighting at all homes, alongside 95 cavity wall insulations, and 105 solar panel installations. Find out more at Social Housing Decarbonisation Funding (SHDF).
Figure - External appearance of Mount Pleasant properties before and after SHDF retrofits.
Council's application for the second round of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund that was launched during the following financial year.
This funding was used to target properties in an EPC band D or below as per government criteria’s for the funding. 150 properties were included in this programme involving the installation of solar panels at 123 properties, loft insulation at 9 properties and cavity wall insulation at 45 properties.
The delivery of these measures increased the EPC score of all these properties to an EPC C or above. It is also estimated to have made a CO2 saving of approximately 142,643KG a year in total.