London to trial free green home makeovers

The roll out of a free green home makeover service for London's social housing developments could take its first steps next month with the launch of a pilot project in Lewisham, which if successful could be replicated across the capital.

The project, which is co-funded by Lewisham Council and the London Development Agency, will provide a block of 36 maisonettes with a free "green home concierge service" from G-Ten, the environmental arm of concierge services firm Ten Lifestyle Management.

Andrew Long, chief executive of Ten, said that the company would undertake an audit of the building, make recommendations as to the most cost effective way to help cut energy use, carbon emissions and water use, as well as deploy appropriate micro-generation technologies, and then project manage the makeover of the building.

He added that work to retrofit the building with cavity insulation was scheduled to start within three weeks and would be undertaken with no cost to the tenants.

"The aim is that instead of taking a house-by-house approach we focus on the whole building," Long said, adding that the company had estimated that the project could cut carbon emissions at a cost of around £12.50 a tonne, up to three times cheaper than for retrofitting a single house.

G-Ten is planning to follow up the initial pilot with a number of similar projects at up to four larger social housing blocks and then report to the Mayor's Office and London Councils in May on the potential for rolling out the scheme across other London Boroughs.

"The mayor is keen to understand the best service to roll out across London, " Long said. "We want to identify a model that can deliver big savings… and if we can demonstrate that for each pound that is put in we can show cost effective carbon cuts then the boroughs will look at [funding] it."

The service for social housing builds upon an existing part subsidised green homes concierge service that G-Ten runs in partnership with the London Development Agency and provides private home owners with green auditing and project management services.

In related news, Mayor Boris Johnson today committed London to work with other European cities to exceed the EU's targets to cut emissions 20 per cent by 2020 by signing up to the Covenant of Mayors.

Under the initiative, London will draw up a plan showing how it intends to meet its target to cut emissions by 60 per cent by 2025 and seek to share environmental best practices with other cities in the group.

By joining the group, London could improve its chances of receiving funding for green projects from the EU and enter into purchasing agreements with other cities that would allow it to drive down the cost of green products and services.

"By working in partnership, cities can share the best of our ideas and save money for our residents by take advantage of our collective clout when procuring new services and technologies," explained Johnson.