Thirteen Group lands £30m NatWest funding deal
The Teesside-based social housing provider will use the money to support a green retrofit project across its property portfolio, which comprises more than 36,000 homes across the North East, Yorkshire, and Humber regions.
The project is in line with Thirteen’s ambitions to be 100% carbon emissions-free by 2050, in line with government targets.
The funding includes a new-to-market Housing Green Retrofit Loan, which forms part of a larger transaction through which NatWest will continue to be one of Thirteen’s main strategic funding partners, providing a total funding package of £211m.
NatWest is one of the largest lenders to the social housing sector in the UK and aims to provide £5bn in funding to support the social housing sector by the end of 2026.
This HGRL transaction forms part of an ambitious pilot programme in which NatWest has deployed £110m of green loan funding into the affordable housing sector.
Having now completed the pilot phase, NatWest is currently exploring opportunities to establish how these pilots can be scaled up more widely across the UK’s affordable housing sector.
David Horne, relationship director real estate finance at NatWest, said: “It has been great to work with a forward-thinking organisation like Thirteen in order to successfully complete the pilot phase of our Housing Green Retrofit Loan roll-out and, hopefully, this investment will help continue to provide their tenant base with affordable homes that are sustainable in the long-term.”
Andrew McColl, Thirteen’s interim chief finance officer, added: “This additional £30m funding will enable us to accelerate our retrofit programme, benefiting thousands of customers by making their homes more energy efficient.
“It’s a landmark deal for Thirteen, and one which reflects our reputation as a trusted housing association with a proven track record of investment in our homes and a clear commitment to achieving net zero.”
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