Radian Provide Energy Saving Initiative Of The Year

We have yet again been acknowledged for our leading expertise in sustainable development and retrofit, winning the Energy Saving Initiative of the Year award at Inside Housing’s Sustainable Housing Awards 2011! The ceremony, which took place at London’s Hilton Hotel, Park Lane on Friday, recognised our Retrofit South East project, in Petersfield, Hampshire as the deserving winner from a strong shortlist.

We set up the project in order to transform a small community of hard-to-treat social housing and use this as a catalyst for an innovative programme of research, business assistance & skills development, and to share the knowledge gained throughout the South East of England.

The 14 properties have been refurbished to an ultra low carbon standard (up to almost a 90% carbon emissions reduction), using a range of energy efficiency and renewable energy measures. We delievered the project using our own in-house Direct Labour Organisation (DLO), 'Radian Services', who have been trained to a high standard in a multitude of new retrofit skills. A show home was opened to organisations and the public and available for free hire, to offer business assistance, awareness raising and dissemination on the theme of low carbon refurbishment.

The award win comes just two years after we took home the Social Housing Provider of the Year - Innovative Approach to Green Homes Award at the 2009 ceremony. This year’s awards were presented by the comedian, writer, actor and environmental campaigner Marcus Brigstocke and attracted over 550 people, with a cross section of senior industry figures including representatives of government departments, chief executives of leading social housing providers and representatives of the main trade and professional bodies. The photo above shows from left to right the awards host, Marcus Brigstocke; Cathy Hough, Camco; Hannah Armstrong, Ocean Media; Jeremy Dickin, our Project Manager; Paul Ciniglio, our Sustainability Manager; Andrew Eagle, CEO of Sustainable Homes.

Paul Ciniglio, our Sustainability Manager, said: “This win reflects not only the great work by all at Radian in delivering an exemplar retrofit project but also the excellent wider research work undertaken by our project partners Camco, GESB and Parity Projects.”

A submission from Global Environmental Social Business (GESB), backed by us a Radian, was also a finalist in the Sustainable housing finance award for its Revolving Retrofit Guarantee Fund, part of the same Retrofit South East Project.

The findings and conclusions from the two year research programme will be published shortly in a Programme Summary Report prepared by Camco. A Lifetime Emissions report will be released at the same time.