Homes and neighbourhoods
Over the last five years, the Council have built 458 new social rented homes and 940 new affordable homes in total. As of October 2024, there were over 410 social rented homes under construction and over 1,150 in the design or pre-construction stage.
We’ve also invested £215 million on existing homes and neighbourhoods over the last five years, which provided:
- 1,700 homes with new kitchens and bathrooms
- 4,700 homes with new modern heating systems
- 1,500 homes with new doors and windows
- 13,700 homes with electrical upgrades including rewiring or new smoke detectors
- 2,900 adaptation measures to help tenants to live independently
- 970 blocks of flats with new door entry systems
Around 99% of Council homes now have integrated smoke detection systems (LD2 alarm) and a plan is in place to get the remaining homes compliant. If yours is not installed yet, please get in touch with your housing officer and we’ll fit as a matter of urgency.
Energy Efficiency Scotland: Area-Based Scheme (EES:ABS) is a Scottish Government scheme which offers grants to assist homeowners in high fuel-poverty areas with the costs of energy efficiency upgrades. Where Council-owned homes are present in the projects, the Council would cover the share of the costs for Council homes.
Through the EES:ABS scheme, more than 1,800 measures have been installed in Council homes over the last five years and 3,500 measures have been installed in privately owned homes over the same period. Energy efficiency measures installed include cavity wall, internal wall and external wall insulation, draught proofing, loft insulation, solar PV, etc.
We’ve also bought back almost 350 ex-Council homes in the last nine years since the Acquisition and Disposal policy was introduced in 2015. This has helped to increase the number of available Council homes and consolidate block ownership, which in turn helps us to manage block repairs and improvements.
We’ve started to deliver improvements to mixed tenure blocks to make all blocks with Council tenancies warm, energy efficient and modern. The Mixed Tenure Improvement Service (MTIS) continues to work alongside owners to enable works to progress and moved into its final year of works in the pilot area of Murrayburn, Hailesland and Dumbryden. The original pilot programme is due to complete and is on target to deliver upgrades to 172 blocks, made up of a total of 1,325 homes, including 367 private and 958 Council homes.
The last time we asked, 81.6% of tenants surveyed were satisfied with the quality of their home, which was an increase from 73.2%. This is higher than the local authority average of 78.7% in 2023/24 ARC.
How we are improving - neighbourhoods
We are currently developing and implementing an improved model for neighbourhood management and maintenance across housing estates. We aim to:
- improve cleanliness and use of greenspace;
- increase resident satisfaction with their neighbourhood as a place to live; and
- use resources more efficiently.
The Estate Improvement Programme (previously the Neighbourhood Environmental Programme (NEP)) forms part of the HRA capital investment in HRA land and it aims to provide investment in estates driven by the needs and ambitions of local people for improvements in their local environment.
A new “Proposal Form” has been developed and will be used to encourage groups to provide details about their suggested project. It asks them to identify what category or categories best describes their proposal and to set out the project outcomes. The categories include objectives such as:
- improved biodiversity,
- community growing,
- wildflower meadow,
- children’s play equipment and
- improvements to dimly-lit spaces.
This will help to provide a better record and understanding of the projects proposed going forward.
How we are improving - making homes more energy efficient
We are also working to make our homes easier and cheaper to heat while lowering the amount of carbon they produce. A significant level of intervention in existing homes is required to deliver advanced whole house retrofit to meet statutory requirements for energy efficiency and net zero carbon. This presents the opportunity to also incorporate wider building improvements at the same time, for example:
- rewiring
- roof and gutter replacements
- kitchen and bathrooms
- fabric improvements
- new ventilation systems
- windows and doors
and will help to embed a more proactive approach to long term asset management to reduce future maintenance and repair risks.
The whole house retrofit pilot will focus on ten of the most common building types across the Council estate. Phase 1 of the whole house retrofit pilot programme commenced construction at the end of October 2023 and included sites at:
- Gilmerton Dykes Crescent
- Southouse Avenue
- Burdiehouse Drive
The work in phase 1 is now almost complete. Phase 2 of the project has already started and is due to be complete by the end of this year. Phase 3 is due to be on site in the new year.
The MTIS pilot in Murrayburn, Hailesland and Dumbryden is now in its final year and work has already started in the next area-based regeneration areas in Lochend and Restalrig and in Magdelene, Bingham and the Christians, which will form part of the 15-year investment plan to progress the whole house retrofit investment in low rise blocks.
Adopting the model developed in the MTIS pilot and an area-based approach, the investment plan for low rise blocks will ensure wider building and neighbourhood improvements are undertaken at the same time. The holistic area-based investment will help to rationalise the capital programme investment and reduce the requirement to revisit the same area for future investment.
For the Council’s high rise blocks, 12 blocks are now in various stages of design and development for full block retrofit and upgrade. Work is due to commence as follows:
- Oxcars and Inchmickery Court - due to be on site later in 2025/26
- Craigmillar and Peffermill Court - due to be on site later in 2025/26
- Cables Wynd and Linksview House - due to be on site later in 2025/26
- the six Moredun high rise blocks - due to be on site later in 2026/27