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DECEMBER 2013 PRO INSTALLER
PRO BUSINESS
www.proinstaller.co.uk
International Investment
Secured To Build 6,600
Homes In The UK
Business Secretary Vince Cable has welcomed a new
£700 million inward investment deal, which will be
delivered through UK company Sigma Capital Group with
backing from international investors, Gatehouse Bank.
The new joint venture will enable
Sigma Capital Group, a residential
and urban regeneration specialist,
to build up to 6,600 new privately
rented homes in the UK. Sites for
an initial 2,000 homes have already
been identified in Liverpool and
Greater Manchester.
The deal has been facilitated by UK Trade
and Investment’s (UKTI) Regeneration
Investment Organisation (RIO), which has
been set up to direct investors to credible,
industry-backed development opportunities
throughout the country.
Business Secretary, Vince Cable said: “The
announcement from Sigma Capital and
Gatehouse Bank will create thousands of
modern new homes as well as new jobs
in Liverpool and Manchester, with similar
plans in the pipeline for other regions in
the country.”
Sigma Chief Executive Graham Barnet
said: “Underpinning this new venture are
our Local Authority Partnerships and I am
extremely pleased that this agreement creates the conditions for us to help efficiently
deliver their regeneration objectives with
high quality new homes.”
Streamlining And Improving
The Green Deal
The Green Deal, which
is designed to work
alongside the Energy
Company Obligation to
make Britain’s homes
more energy efficient,
will be streamlined and
improved to boost take
up of energy efficiency
measures.
These proposed changes
are part of the Government’s
action to help hardworking
people with their energy bills,
announced by the Department of Energy and Climate
Change on 2nd December
2013.
“The Green Deal is an initiative for the long term. And
these are early days. It will
need to adapt as the energy
services market develops,
and as consumer attitudes to
energy efficiency change. We
are talking to industry about
their early experiences over
the last ten months, and researching how consumers are
finding the Green Deal.
“There are also opportunities to cut costs for the supply
chain, while still ensuring that
consumers are properly protected and can rely on work
done under the Green Deal
Quality Mark.
“So the market is already
seeing simpler documentation
available from the Green Deal
Finance Company (GDFC),
for example. And by speeding
up the processes through
which Green Deal Providers
are approved, then giving
those companies more support once they are approved,
we will help them to become
active quickly, giving consumers more choice in future.”
Starting from January and
then over the following
months:
The Green Deal will be
made easier for consumers
by:
• The introduction of a new
on-line tool that will give
consumers straightforward
advice on the steps they
can take to improve the
energy efficiency of their
homes, and how they can
get help.
• The improvement of the
Green Deal Advice Report
that gives householders
important information
on what an assessment is
telling them. The Re-
port will be clearer and
easier to understand, and
better signpost the range
of Government support
available.
• Giving consumers better
signposting to the companies that can provide the
services they want, both
through the Energy Saving
Advice Service and the
GOV.UK website.
The Green Deal will be
made easier for the companies operating in the market
by:
• Opening up access to Energy Performance Certificate
data, so that companies
can more easily identify
properties that will benefit
most from energy efficiency improvements.
• Adding more measures to
the list of those that can
be supported under the
Green Deal, and allowing
more flexibility over the
exact specification to which
companies install.
• Working with industry to
find ways to reduce the
cost of insurance requirements attached to Green
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