Ashman Bank wins £200,000 Green Home Finance Accelerator grant

Ashman Bank today announces it has been awarded a significant grant of £200,000 by The Green Home Finance Accelerator to support the UK Government’s Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP) and help homeowners decarbonise their properties and accelerate the path to net zero.

The award comes as part of the rollout of the Government’s £20 million scheme and will see the bank working in partnership with ThermaFY Eco Solutions, which provides specialist software designed to detect any heat loss, poor insulation or equipment failure in heating systems.

Ashman will leverage this solution to develop a first of its kind product for the buy-to-let (BTL) mortgage market, known as Impact Buy to Let (IBTL). The innovative new product, conceived internally at Ashman, builds on the team’s deep understanding of the real estate market and is an important step in its desire to be part of the future of the decarbonisation of real estate across the UK. The product will be the first in the market to go beyond EPC ratings, empowering landlords with granular property specific data to create a net zero road map and provide added value to the tenant with crucial energy consumption data.

Through the grant, Ashman is responding to the need for landlords to improve energy efficiency with new building standards set to move from EPC-E to EPC-B by 2030 – currently the median energy efficiency rating in the UK is band D. The product, which will be piloted in the second half of this year, will assess the retrofitting works needed to enhance the energy efficiency of a property now and in the future, providing landlords with verified data on how they can be improved based on Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) score protocol. Landlords will also be provided the evidence on the overall effect on decarbonisation of the asset, ensuring they have the knowledge to prioritise and manage the phasing of the required work.

Caroline Luxmore, Chief Commercial Officer at Ashman Bank, said: “Convincing landlords to invest in energy efficiency has been notoriously hard as it is often seen as a huge expense with little knowledge of the impact they could have or where to start. This grant will allow us to develop a digital product that will lead to property owners having the data and insight they need to manage retrofitting works and understand the impact on energy they will have.

“We are proud to have received this award and welcome the Government’s recognition of the critical importance of decarbonising the UK’s residential housing stock as quickly as possible. We look forward to working alongside ThermaFY as we continue to make better happen for landlords and buildings across the country.”

Lord Callanan, Minister for Energy Efficiency and Green Finance, added, “The government has put in place long-term commitments to ensure homes across the country have greater energy efficiency to reduce bills, drive down energy use and lower emissions. We are supporting these organisations to develop fresh and innovative ways of helping more people get better access to energy efficiency measures, such as loft insulation, double glazing and heat pumps.”

The product, which is currently in the development stages, is aimed at the non-regulated BTL market and is aligned to the risk appetite of Ashman Bank, which will in future fund retrofitting works subject to certain criteria. The product will sit alongside Ashman’s full product suite yet to be announced.