Greenoak Centre of Excellence puts the spotlight on innovation in housing sustainability

Held at the WWF Living Planet Centre in Woking, Surrey, ‘Driving Innovation for Housing – Shaping the Future Together’ was an opportunity to share emerging ideas and practical solutions in sustainable development and retrofit projects.

Stonewater shared examples of where technology has been used to improve the comfort of its customers and reduce their bills through enhanced energy efficiency.

Among the projects highlighted was its Mendip View development in Axbridge, where technology has been used to help reduce customer’s average energy bills by almost £240 between 2023 and 2025.

This is despite average consumption rising over 1,250kw during the same period given that residents felt more comfortable about putting the heating on.

Also presenting at the event were organisations Stonewater has collaborated with, including a session on decarbonising construction methods by the Ecofill Group, support in sustainable design from Travis Perkins and advice on planning retrofit at scale from Ridge & Partners.

“At Stonewater, our target is to meet net zero by 2050 across our operations and we want to share the challenges and learnings we’re experiencing along the way, from creating healthy, efficient and future-proof homes to how we empower customers to live sustainably,” said James Bradbury, Chief Investment Officer at Stonewater.

“We want organisations of all sizes to be able to learn from our experiences and have the practical support they need to replicate what works well as they work towards their own sustainability goals. Through the Greenoak Centre of Excellence, we have an opportunity to accelerate the provision of truly sustainable social housing by working together as a sector.”

For more information on the Greenoak Centre of Excellence (GCoE), including partnership opportunities, visit the GCoE webpage.