City Council and Santander partner to help residents improve energy efficiency

Milton Keynes (MK) City Council and Santander UK today announce plans for a year-long engagement exercise with local residents to understand the challenges they face in improving energy efficiency in their homes.

Through this 12-month partnership, MK City Council and Santander will work together to survey 500 Milton Keynes residents to identify the barriers they’re facing to improving the energy efficiency of their homes and create a citizen’s panel to understand what can be done to make the homes in Milton Keynes warmer and more efficient.

New research from Santander UK, highlights growing public interest in energy efficiency, with 52% of UK residents now considering it a top priority, up from 37% in 2023. However, Santander’s latest ‘Tomorrow’s Homes’ report also identifies key barriers preventing people from making improvements— with the upfront cost being the main concern. Delving deeper into these hurdles for the local Milton Keynes population – in the first survey of its kind - will be used by MK City Council to shape future sustainability initiatives and support the development of a local retrofitting ecosystem, as well as understanding climate resilience needs. This builds on work the City Council already has underway, including its partnership with MK Community Energy who provide advice for residents.

"We know that many people want to make their homes energy-efficient but face financial and practical barriers. By working with Santander, we can better understand these challenges and create real solutions that support local people, to build on and improve existing practical support we offer. We're working to make Milton Keynes a world-leading sustainable city and it's partnerships like these that help us achieve our goals and ensure our city continues to go from strength to strength."

- Cabinet Member for Planning and Placemaking, Cllr Shanika Mahendran

“Our research shows that despite the desire to reduce their impact on the environment, UK residents are facing real barriers to acting and improving their homes’ energy efficiency. We designed our own building in Milton Keynes, Unity Place, with sustainability at its heart and we’re now looking forward to working with the local council to unpick the struggles faced by residents, and work to find specific ways to address them to support our neighbours.”

- Fiona Hyde, Head of Sustainability, Santander

The research project funded by Santander connects the two organisations and supports MK City Council’s wider ambitions to create a more sustainable city. Santander officially opened Unity Place, its Head Office in Milton Keynes in September 2023, a BREEAM accredited building which incorporates air-sourced heat pumps and solar panels, reducing grid consumption.

Since opening, the bank has also introduced a number of sustainable catering partners to minimise waste, and found ways to maximise the resources available, for example through collecting rooftop rainwater to use as wastewater throughout the building.