The allocation of £500 million towards reducing carbon emissions in 50,000 social housing and low-income households across England and Scotland have been welcomed by insulation specialist Actis.

The money, which is being distributed to more than 300 local authorities under the government’s Green Homes Grant, will fund energy saving initiatives for fuel poor households.

The measures include insulation in lofts, floors and in walls, as well as  renewables such as solar panels and heat pumps.

Actis UK and Ireland sales director Mark Cooper said the move was an important step towards helping improve the thermal efficiency of some of the UK’s poorest performing homes.

“Around 25% of Britain’s housing stock is more than 100 years old.  It is amongst the worst housing stock in the whole of Europe when it comes to energy efficiency, and is responsible for a third of our carbon emissions. Improving insulation is a pretty crucial element in enabling the nation to reduce its carbon emissions,” he said.

He stressed the importance of adopting a “fabric first” approach.

“It makes financial sense to ensure that the existing building fabric is as energy efficient as possible before spending resources on other measures. Insulation is generally among the most cost effective and long-lasting measures, and thus the best investment.

The Actis Hybrid range tackles U-values, thermal bridging and airtightness.

As the products are flexible and can bend round corners and be gently moulded into gaps, they are excellent at creating a thermal envelope, free of gaps through which heat could otherwise escape. The £500 million Green Homes Grant allocation, whose recipients were announced this week, will be augmented by the £62 million first tranche of funding from the government’s Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund.