Green Homes Grants extended

Last week, the Prime Minister announced his 10 Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution, designed to help the country build back greener and help reach the UK’s key target for net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

As part of this initiative to make homes and public buildings more energy efficient, it was announced that the Green Homes Grant Scheme was being extended for a year to the end of March 2022. It was originally due to end on 31st March 2021. It is hoped that the extension will encourage more homeowners and tradespeople to benefit from the scheme, and "will create new work for accredited tradespeople in green construction, supporting 100,000 jobs across the UK". (source: gov.uk)

You can read our post from September here that explained what works will be covered by the Grants, and how to apply.

The extension is welcome news to those homeowners who were struggling to meet the March 2021 deadline due to the effects of Coronavirus and the qualified professionals who can carry out the work being booked up for months in advance.

Research carried out by money.co.uk shows that increasing the EPC value of your property can increase the sale value considerably. They give an example of making changes to your property that increase it from EPC band D to B, can add an estimated £16,000 to the average house price. You can read the full impact of the primary and secondary measures covered by the grant via the link above.

The ten points in the PM's Green plan are:

1. Offshore wind: Producing enough offshore wind to power every home.

2. Hydrogen: Working with industry aiming to generate 5GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030 for industry, transport, power and homes, and aiming to develop the first town heated entirely by hydrogen by the end of the decade.

3. Nuclear: Advancing nuclear as a clean energy source, across large scale nuclear and developing the next generation of small and advanced reactors.

4. Electric vehicles: Backing car manufacturing bases including in the West Midlands, North East and North Wales to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles, and transforming our national infrastructure to better support electric vehicles.

5. Public transport, cycling and walking: Making cycling and walking more attractive ways to travel and investing in zero-emission public transport of the future.

6. Jet Zero and greener maritime: Supporting difficult-to-decarbonise industries to become greener through research projects for zero-emission planes and ships.

7. Homes and public buildings: Making our homes, schools and hospitals greener, warmer and more energy efficient.

8. Carbon capture: Becoming a world-leader in technology to capture and store harmful emissions away from the atmosphere.

9. Nature: Protecting and restoring our natural environment, planting 30,000 hectares of trees every year.

10. Innovation and finance: Developing the cutting-edge technologies needed to reach these new energy ambitions and make the City of London the global centre of green finance.

If applying for a Green Homes Grant is something that you have been considering, you now have an extra twelve months to make the changes to your property, making it a more energy efficient home, saving you money while you live there and adding value to your house when you come to sell.