Ecology Building Society has enhanced its range of green mortgages for renovations and whole house retrofit.

The society indicated the move is part of a drive to accelerate the improvement of energy efficiency of existing homes to help meet the UK’s net-zero carbon ambitions.

To address the challenge of retrofitting the UK’s 27 million homes to reach the specialist mortgage provider’s Paris climate change targets, Ecology has introduced a new variable rate renovation mortgage.

The renovation mortgage starts with an initial rate of 3.65% while renovation works are underway, and on completion of the works, borrowers will be eligible for a discount of 0.25% for every energy rating step improvement based on the (EPC) Energy Performance Certificate of the property – up to maximum discount of 1.50%.

“Now more than ever it’s important that lenders play an active role in a sustainable recovery, helping to build back better,” commented Ecology mortgage manager, Daniel Capstick.

“We’ve been leading the way on green mortgages for nearly 40 years and we hope that our new renovation mortgage will incentivise more people to consider retrofitting their home, which will be critical in the fight against climate change.”

As well as supporting the transition to a low carbon economy, Ecology suggested that retrofitting homes could create up to half a million green jobs.

The government’s Green Homes Grant Scheme, which was recently extended to 2022, may also be available for properties in England and Ecology suggested the scheme complements its renovation mortgage, where qualifying work is being undertaken and borrowers can secure a grant to help cover the costs of improving the energy efficiency of their home.
 
Retrofit Works, a not-for-profit co-operative which was established to design, manage and deliver energy efficiency and environmentally-friendly retrofit schemes for homes, welcomed Ecology’s new mortgage.

Managing director, Russell Smith, said: “The sheer scale of the retrofit task is huge requiring one home every 35 seconds between 2020 and 2050.

“Ecology has been a longstanding provider of mortgages for whole house retrofit and given the desperate need for innovative finance, it’s good to see them renewing their focus on supporting renovations. We’d like to see other lenders joining Ecology, as part of a government led National Retrofit Programme, to ensure that finance isn’t a barrier to improving the energy of our homes.”

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