Agreement is the largest to date under the National Wealth Fund’s £1.3bn social housing retrofit guarantee scheme
Peabody has announced a £60m loan agreement from Lloyds Banking Group to fund the sustainable retrofit of thousands of social homes across London and the Southeast.
The loan, partially guaranteed by the National Wealth Fund (NWF) is the largest issued to date under the government-backed £1.3bn social housing retrofit guarantee scheme.
The funding will enable the G15 landlord to carry out energy efficiency upgrades, including wall and loft insulation, lighting, heat pumps, solar panels, flood resilience measures, and water-saving technologies.
Peabody is one of the largest housing associations in England, with more than 108,000 units across London and Southeast England.
Phil Day, chief financial officer at Peabody, said: “This additional funding is very welcome and will help us improve the energy efficiency of more residents’ homes, making them easier to keep warm and helping us meet our net zero targets.”
Jess Tomlinson, global head of real estate & housing, Lloyds Banking Group said: “Accelerating the retrofit of the country’s social housing stock is a critical step in the UK transition to a low carbon economy. We’re proud to be working in partnership with the National Wealth Fund to enable housing associations, like Peabody, to provide more energy-efficient and cost-effective homes across the UK – helping improve health, work and home life for thousands of social housing residents.”
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Stuart Nivison, head of portfolio management, National Wealth Fund, said: “We’re pleased to see our financial guarantee scheme in action, playing an important role in this significant transaction between Lloyds and Peabody. The scale of the retrofit challenge facing the social housing sector is clear, and by working in partnership with Lloyds we can help registered providers like Peabody access the financing they need to accelerate the delivery of warmer, greener homes for their tenants.”
Last month Peabody revealed in an unaudited trading update that its turnover has broken the £1bn barrier, increasing by 4.7% from £989m to £1.04bn, including a £31m increase in income from social housing lettings.
However, ratings agency S&P Global reduced the landlord’s credit rating from A- to BBB+ in early July saying its fiscal performance this year was “materially below” its forecast.
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