Upgrade for 48 city flats

One of Herefordshire’s largest housing providers will “retrofit” 48 more Hereford homes for greater energy efficiency while giving them a smart new look.

Connexus, formerly Herefordshire Housing which took over Herefordshire Council’s housing stock in 2001, has submitted a planning application for the work to four three-storey blocks, each of 12 flats, in the city’s Oak Crescent.

It will consist of external mineral wool wall insulation finished in grey and off-white render, new re-tiled roofs insulated with rigid foam, which will require removal of the blocks’ chimneys, and new double-glazed windows and entrance doors.

The four are of the “Cornish unit” style of prefabricated concrete-framed buildings widely put up in Hereford in the 1950s. The company has already made improvements to similar blocks elsewhere in the city.

The work is funded from the Government’s Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, as part of Connexus’ ongoing programme to upgrade its properties across Herefordshire and Shropshire.

Comments on the planning application numbered 230698, can be made until April 22.