What Is Next? Turning up the heat on fuel poverty

So, what is next for Lench’s Trust? During 2026 there will be an investment into Lench’s Close to make sure homes are more energy efficient for residents, this includes an upgrade of the heating systems. We have begun this year by replacing all the pipework to the communal heating into the homes a huge job by our Grounds Maintenance Team over the summer months making sure this was completed before the colder weather sets in.

We are pleased to report that we have secured £22,950 in revenue funding, to help residents benefit from lower energy costs and to gain insights to help other organisations improve energy efficiency.

We successfully applied for a grant from the Heat Network Efficiency Scheme (HNES).

This is a £77m grant support programme that provides funding to public, private and third sector applicants in England and Wales, to support improvements to existing district heating or communal heating projects for customers and operators.

The monies will be spent on commissioning independent heat network specialists Chirpy Heat to monitor the performance of the communal heating at Lench’s Close and William Lench Court.

Lench’s Close was built in the early1980s, and it is hoped the six-month review of the heating system will improve the comfortableness of residents, spot reliability issues so they can be addressed quickly, flag ways to save on energy use and identify where there are opportunities to further contribute to the region’s net zero targets.

Dominic Bradley, Chief Executive of Lench’s Trust, said: “We’re delighted to have secured this funding, which will benefit not only our schemes and residents, but also wider landlords across the city with similar communal heating.

“By better monitoring the performance of the heating, we can begin to realise fuel and carbon savings in our existing projects, increase our transparency and visibility on net zero performance and – most importantly – improve residents’ quality of life.

“Our residents are in later life and so proven to be more likely as a demographic to experience the health impacts of fuel poverty. Feeling colder as you are older is something we - and our residents - want to avoid, whilst also protecting the environment for future generations.”

Louise Singleton, Programme Manager at the Heat Network Efficiency Scheme (HNES), explained why the funding is so important and why Lench’s Trust was successful in its application.

“We are delighted to be supporting Lench’s Trust as they strive to create a more comfortable indoor environment for their residents, while reducing their energy consumption in the process.

“Heat networks offer customers a cost-effective and efficient supply of heat and will play a key role as we decarbonise the way we heat our homes. However, through projects such as this, we can increase confidence that any older infrastructure is operating as it should be or spot issues early, particularly as we move towards the winter months.”

We will keep you updated on our findings, as it’s our plan to get all properties at Lench’s Close to EPC C or above, we are working with the West Midlands Combined Authority on support and funding to make this happen.