Social housing residents are set to benefit from energy efficiency improvements in the north west, as the Golden Gates Housing Trust has called on Forrest to provide installation of sustainable energy solutions on a number of houses.

In a project worth £1.6 million, Forrest's environmental service division, Forrest Green, will conduct environmental framework on Golden Gates properties.

Work will include the installation of solar thermal panels installations, to help provide clean and free energy for the benefit of 252 households.

The second phase of the project comes after the successful completion of the first phase at the end of last year.

Funding for the first stage was provided in full by the European Regional Development Fund. The financial assistance is provided for homes and businesses across the UK to improve energy efficiency in their property.

Carbon reduction manager at Forrest Green Neil Carroll said that while solar technology is still relatively new to the market, it is becoming "an important environmental work stream" with a number of housing schemes looking to utilise the technology for the benefit of both current and future residents.

“At Forrest, our specialist environmental team has been specifically established to provide tailored carbon abatement solutions, to help our clients reduce the energy bills and running costs and improve the living conditions for their tenants,” he added.

It is worth contacting your local council to see if solar panel projects such as this are underway in your local area. Furthermore, funding can often be accessed for the purposes of domestic solar panel projects.

However, householders across the UK could also install renewable technology like solar panels by accessing the government's Green Deal, which offers to pay for energy efficient systems to be installed on or within a property without the householder incurring up front costs.

These loans are then repaid through savings made on future energy bills.

Households can further benefit from the feed in tariff, as energy created from solar panels can then be fed back into the National Grid, with the homeowner receiving payments for this.