About Places for People
PfP is plugged into a wealth of national initiatives and local partnerships and was represented on the working group that helped the Government develop its climate change policy statement. Closer to home, it has developed a strategic relationship to reduce its office energy costs with the Carbon Trust.

The partnership work yields many benefits for PfP’s 58,625 customers. During the past four years, for example, the Group has spent more than £3 million on energy savings improvements to existing homes, producing a whole-stock average SAP rating of 73 and providing affordable warmth all round.

The award-winning project
The way Places for People (PfP) has successfully moved environmental sustainability from the margins to the mainstream of its business struck a chord with the judges. It is a complex operation for the UK’s largest housing association. Chief Executive David Cowans champions the sustainable development strategy at board level, and a sophisticated sustainable development matrix has been created to identify key targets for each business area in the group’s seven companies. Head of Sustainable Development Nick Doyle runs a large programme of research and innovation to support and inform the group’s work.

 PfP’s Affordable Warmth Strategy delivers an average annual energy savings of £200 a customer, and the group is now working with National Energy Action on the development of fuel-poverty proofing. With a member of its customer liaison panel it is looking at the benefits of intensive action to reduce energy costs and environmental impacts. With the Tenant Participation Advisory Service and others it has spread a better understanding of energy efficiency among tenants and their organisations.

All PfP’s new developments are built to the EcoHomes ‘excellent’ standard. At Broughton Atterbury, Milton Keynes, the additional cost per home was £1,568, compared to the industry norm of £3,040. Lessons learned from this development are now being applied to another PfP scheme of 300 homes that will also incorporate wind turbines and grey water recycling. More recently, the group has turned its attention to the potential for community heating and combined heat and power.

This huge array of action on all fronts impressed the judges and their professional adviser who described PfP’s efforts as “a well-established Sustainable Development Strategy that is based on thorough reviews of impacts and opportunities, and that supports a range of innovative activities”.

Further information
Visit Places for People's website for further information about the organisation.