A HOUSING association which has homes all over Cumbria has won a top industry award.

Home Group, one of the UK’s largest housing providers, was named 'Landlord of the Year' at the North West Energy Efficiency Awards.

They set up a project in 2019 which targeted some of its worst performing homes in the North West, and identified around 70 properties nationally, with a large proportion in Cumbria, that had energy performance certificate ratings at F and G, which they say has been reduced to a handful, and will help people move out of fuel poverty.

Jade O’Leary, sustainability manager at Home Group, said: “We’re really proud to win this award as it’s been a truly collaborative approach across the organisation.

“By working closely with our customers and taking a proactive approach towards our homes, we’ve managed to not only improve their energy efficiency but, more importantly, taken people out of fuel poverty or at least reduced the risk of people falling into fuel poverty.

“The next phase of our retrofit programme will target band ‘E’ homes for improvement by 2025, with the learning from this project helping to shape our strategy as we expand the scale of our work.”

Home Group says their work in the North West has been shaped by their research project at Gateshead Innovation Village.