Written question WQ82876

Last year £19.5m was awarded to social housing providers through the Optimised Retrofit Programme (ORP), to allow them to test different approaches to retrofitting their housing stock in order to reduce carbon emissions, to support our goal to be net zero by 2050. A further £50m has been allocated this year for a second round of ORP.

Through participation in ORP, social housing providers have the opportunity to develop and test processes and policies as well as technologies to ensure that the right measures are being installed at the appropriate time, using the right material by skilled people. ORP is also helping to develop the skills and capacity in our local supply chains and SMEs, which is a key aspect of successfully delivering retrofit activity and creating the capacity, and opportunity to decarbonise all homes in Wales by 2050.

The social housing sector needs to reflect on the lessons learned from ORP, to assist them in planning a longer term strategy on how to successfully retrofit their whole housing stock.

The success of any long-term funding framework to support retrofit activity will need to be supported by the necessary infrastructure needed to successfully deliver the retrofit activity, which includes supply chain and skills, standards and regulation.