Gentoo to spend £44m upgrading 4,000 homes

Housing association Gentoo has announced it will invest £44m in modernisation works for more than 4,000 homes across Sunderland in  2025/26.

The home improvement works will include include external decoration, roof replacements and external improvements, the installation of new kitchens and bathrooms, electrical rewiring, the installation of new gas boilers and heating systems and energy efficiency upgrades.

The landlord said its investment plan focuses on improving the energy efficiency of properties to achieve an Energy Performance Ceritifcate (EPC) C grading and will carry out retrofit work on more than 1,300 homes.

Energy efficient upgrades will be part-funded by the government’s Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund. They will include fitting loft insulation, cavity wall insulation, low energy lighting, solar photovoltaic panels, air source heat pumps, heating controls and work to improve ventilation and draught proofing.

More than three quarters (78%) of Gentoo’s homes currently have an EPC rating of C or above, an increase of more than 1,600 properties since the same time last year, according to the landlord.

It said it aims for all of its homes to have a rating of EPC C or better by 2030.

Peter Akers, director of asset and sustainability at Gentoo said: “It’s extremely important that we continually invest in our customers’ homes, to ensure our customers are living in warm, safe and decent homes.

“We are committed to improving and modernising more than 4,000 homes across 2025/26, focusing greatly on improving the energy efficiency of our customers’ homes. We’re looking forward to working in partnership with our contracting partners to deliver the work and offer a brilliant service to our customers.”

Home improvement works will be carried out by Gentoo’s partners, including 0800 Repair, PHS Home Solutions, Bell Group, Esh Construction, RE:GEN Group, Anglian Windows and Isoler.

The announcement follows the launch of the housing association’s Gentogether partnership, which aims to deliver £170m of internal modernisation works to improve thousands of homes over the next ten years.