Meet Emma – she’s our new Sustainability Liaison Officer at Yorkshire Housing.
It’s her job to help our customers understand our journey to net zero and what this will mean for the almost 20,000 homes that we own and manage.
And for this International Women's Day, we want to share with you Emma’s own journey to starting in her brand new role and how she’s putting customers at the heart of everything we do around energy efficiency.
Emma's passionate about caring for the environment – she graduated in environmental management in 2022 and has previously worked across the public sector in housing, public engagement, and retrofitting.
She’s driven by being able to have a direct impact on our customers by helping them understand why we’re taking sustainability so seriously.
We’re focusing on achieving net zero across our existing and new build homes by 2050, and we want our customers to come with us on that journey. This is exactly where Emma fits in.
“Yorkshire Housing has a huge task ahead in decarbonising its housing stock,” Emma explained.
“It’s my job to sit down with our customers and talk them through our investment plans, and help put in place support measures for them.
“We know discussions around retrofits can sometimes be challenging, but by being a friendly point of contact, we can make customers feel comfortable asking questions and more often than not, they come away feeling much more positive.
“For me, that’s what the job is about – engaging, supporting and delivering for our customers.”
Emma joined our team in January and she’s already made a big impact on helping our customers understand how we’re working towards our three aims of achieving zero gas, enhancing insulation levels and using renewable technologies.
“It’s been a very exciting month so far,” she added.
“We’re currently working through our capital investment programme which involves changing out a large number of solid fuel and oil-heated properties, improving their insulation and then installing air source heat pumps.
“We’re also running some pilot projects with new technologies for underfloor insulation and infrared heating panels.
“It’s been an exciting time to join the team and I’m inspired by the challenges ahead.”
Want to find out more on our journey to net zero?
Then head to our sustainability page for more on our key projects, including the £1.3 million upgrades of homes in Staxton and £887,000 investment into the villages of Duggleby and Amotherby, both of which are funded by the government’s Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund.