Sustainability

It is becoming increasingly important to make homes more sustainable to help the environment and stop climate change. Examples of sustainability include reducing the amount of carbon emissions that homes produce, reducing the amount of water they use or making them more energy efficient.

Whitefriars take a variety of actions to help limit our impact on the environment. As part of looking to the future, we will also be considering what sustainable materials and renewable technologies we might be able to use when repairing and improving our properties.

Current activities we do include:

• Most homes have some energy efficient measures, such as loft and cavity wall insulation, condensing boilers and thermostatic radiator valves that can control the temperature in each room
• We have used recycled materials in some of our improvement works, such as the balconies at Plantshill Crescent
• We recycle rubble from demolition works
• Chippings from trees we maintain are reused in gardens at our sheltered properties
• The materials from gas heating systems are recycled when they are replaced
• We introduced a more fuel efficient, lower emission vehicle fleet for our repairs service

In addition, we are now:

• Looking at how to insulate homes that cannot have cavity wall insulation
• Considering whether new generation communal heating schemes could be beneficial in certain areas
• Working with Severn Trent to fit water saving devices in some homes, such as restrictors on taps and converting older cisterns into dual flush
• Carrying out trials to test different renewable heating systems such as solar panels and ground source heat pumps
• Looking at how we might benefit from new grants, generation and feed in tariffs