Berwick homes will be first in Bernicia £7m retrofit programme

A housing association says that hundreds of tenants will enjoy warmer homes and cheaper fuel bills now that a contract for a £7million project is in place.
By Andrew Coulson
Published 1st Aug 2023, 08:30 BST
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And Bernicia has announced that the two-year programme starts this month with work at 10 properties in Berwick.

The contract has been awarded to renewable energy systems specialist PHS Home Solutions. A total of 865 Bernicia properties will be improved to meet Government targets through a range of measures including better insulation, air source heat pumps and solar panels.

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Tenants will be informed by Bernicia via letter of any planned work to their homes, with opportunities for them to meet with representatives of Bernicia and PHS Home Solutions – 0800 Repair is the flagship customer facing brand of PHS – to discuss the energy efficiency improvements to their homes.

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From left, Mark Brewis, Bernicia commercial and programme manager, Michael Pallister, 0800 Repair operations director, Sharon Brookes, Bernicia head of asset and retrofit, Jason Oakes, 0800 Repair sales director, Gareth Wright, Bernicia retrofit manager and Ryan Irving-Carr, Bernicia assistant director assets.From left, Mark Brewis, Bernicia commercial and programme manager, Michael Pallister, 0800 Repair operations director, Sharon Brookes, Bernicia head of asset and retrofit, Jason Oakes, 0800 Repair sales director, Gareth Wright, Bernicia retrofit manager and Ryan Irving-Carr, Bernicia assistant director assets.
From left, Mark Brewis, Bernicia commercial and programme manager, Michael Pallister, 0800 Repair operations director, Sharon Brookes, Bernicia head of asset and retrofit, Jason Oakes, 0800 Repair sales director, Gareth Wright, Bernicia retrofit manager and Ryan Irving-Carr, Bernicia assistant director assets.

Sharon Brookes, Bernicia head of asset and retrofit, said: “This is great news for our tenants.

“It builds upon our continued investment in measures which improve the energy and environmental performance of our tenants’ homes, helping to keep them warmer while cutting their energy bills and reducing carbon emissions.

“We are committed to investing £70million into wider major improvement works in our homes and communities by 2026.”

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Bernicia, a consortium member of The North East & Yorkshire Net Zero Hub, together with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero as part of the Government’s Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Wave 2.1, are investing £7million of an £80.6million project targeting more than 5,000 homes across the North East and Yorkshire – work which will not cost tenants a penny or affect their rent.

0800 Repair won the contract to carry out the upgrades as part of a competitive tender process.

Michael Pallister, 0800 Repair operations director, said: “We are immensely proud to be working with Bernicia to deliver this contract – improving people’s homes and making a real difference to the quality of their lives.

“Some homes may have up to six or seven energy efficiency measures taken, others maybe two or three.

“We will be looking at the whole house and arriving at the best energy solution for that house.”

Related topics:RepairBerwick