Greater Manchester housing association secures £95m funding package with Santander for sustainable homes

Greater Manchester based housing association First Choice Homes Oldham (FCHO) has secured a £95m funding package from Santander UK to support its development programme and improve the energy efficiency of existing homes.

The funding from Santander UK enables FCHO, which has more than 11,300 homes in Oldham, Rochdale and Tameside and plans to expand into nearby Calderdale and Kirklees, to deliver on its ambitions to provide more affordable and energy efficient homes over the next three years.

These include creating 700 new, affordable, sustainable homes by 2026 to increase the amount of affordable housing available locally.

A mix of houses and apartments for affordable rent and shared ownership are planned. All will be built to achieve energy performance certificate (EPC) level B or above and use low-carbon heating alternatives to fossil fuels, helping to meet future net zero carbon targets and providing high quality homes that are cost effective to run.

The funding will also contribute to the social housing provider’s decarbonisation work to make existing homes more energy efficient, and support customers to cut their energy bills and carbon emissions.

Double glazed windows, heat pumps, smart metres, and loft, wall cavity and external wall insulation are among the retrofit measures that will boost the performance of some of the housing association’s least energy efficient homes.

Andy Ewart, director of finance at First Choice Homes Oldham, commented: “I am delighted to continue our long-standing relationship with Santander UK. Securing this funding allows us to build 700 much-needed homes across the area with a total investment of £110m.

“The funding package also supports the first phase of our sustainability strategy, improving the energy efficiency of our existing homes.”

Robert Simmons, relationship director at Santander UK, added: “Having supported First Choice Homes Oldham since it was first established in 2011, we are proud to provide it with this latest £95m funding package.

“This will not only enable it to provide hundreds of affordable new homes, both rental accommodation and shared ownership, to the Oldham community but also supports its work to enhance the energy efficiency of its existing properties.”

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