Building for the future
Prioritising sustainability
We’re committed to creating homes and communities that are fit for the future. We’re working hard to reduce carbon emissions, improve energy efficiency, and run our business in a more environmentally responsible way.
Here’s how we’re making a difference:
- Using greener, more sustainable building materials
- Improving the energy efficiency of our homes through our retrofitting programme
- Offering low-carbon heating and energy solutions
- Reducing our environmental impact across the business
- Building new homes that are fit for the future and meet national climate targets
- Committed to upgrade all homes to at least EPC rating C by 2028
- Secured £2.9 million from the Social Housing Quality Fund, matched by our own investment, to upgrade over 400 homes and cut carbon emissions.
Retro-fitting your homes
We’re working hard to make your homes greener and more energy-efficient. Through our retrofitting programme, we’re upgrading your homes to meet at least an EPC rating of C by 2028, helping to cut carbon emissions and lower energy bills.
If your home is selected for any improvement works, we’ll be in touch by letter to explain more about the planned work and what to expect.
A climate emergency
In July 2019, Manchester declared a climate emergency and set an objective for the city to be carbon zero by 2038. This is 12 years before the UK-wide 2050 target and will require emissions to be reduced by 13% every year until 2038. At One Manchester, we fully support this objective and are committed to developing sustainable homes as part of the objective. You can find out more about how we’re doing this below.
Reduced the need for energy through better building design
We’re increasing the insulation levels and airtightness of our new homes to stop heat and energy escaping from the homes. This also means we have to include different ventilation systems, such as mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, to ensure our homes are comfortable to live in.
Reduced carbon emissions in the build process
We’re adopting Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) on our latest developments, which includes using structurally insulated panels which help reduce the build time significantly. We’re also working to ensure the materials we use have a low carbon content, including using timber for the frames rather than blocks.
Put renewable energy in place wherever possible
On some of our developments, we’ve installed renewable energy sources such as air source heat pumps to replace the need for fossil fuels. Moving forward, all our new properties will have a mix of renewable heating and electric systems installed instead of gas. We’re also retrofitting many of our older homes to improve the environmental impact of their heating systems.
Blackrock - our low carbon development
In October 2021, we completed our first net zero carbon homes called Blackrock Street in Beswick.
