Panasonic partners with social landlord
11th June 2024
UK: Panasonic has partnered with social housing provider Together Housing to switch homes across the North of England from gas boilers to heat pumps.
To date, Together Housing, one of the North’s largest social landlords owning and managing over 39,000 homes, has switched hundreds of homes from gas boilers to Panasonic’s J Series Aquarea monobloc air-to-water heat pumps. This year, the team is scheduled to retrofit a further 750 homes with many more to follow.
Panasonic is providing 5, 7 or 9kW units to a range of one- to three-bedroom properties, primarily located in Yorkshire and Lancashire.
Each home has an initial survey and ventilation assessment to check the home is suitable and if any additional insulation is required.
Go Green Together
Ensuring support throughout this transition period, Panasonic is working with Together Housing on an education initiative, Go Green Together, a portal providing learning resources for residents.
Guidebooks explaining energy bills, meter readings, available tariffs, smart meters, setting tenants’ heating, and financial support are available online.
Tenant liaison officer’s (TLO’s) are on hand to help with any questions and support with the behavioural change required for the transition. All residents are offered a standard thermostat and programmer for easy-to-understand controllability of their heating system, in addition to the support team’s remote smart diagnostic tool.
Lobbying
One of the biggest stumbling blocks preventing fast progression is the need to gain approval for heat pump installation from the area’s Distribution Network Operators (DNO). This process slows down installs not pre-approved on the DNO database. Together Housing has been lobbying the government to improve this process to ensure each installation can be delivered effectively.
