Aberdeen City Council has scooped the top prize in the prestigious UK Housing Awards.

The council was named as the best UK local authority for Outstanding Achievement in Housing, for an ambitious project which cut residents' fuel bills by up to 50%.

At the Chartered Institute of Housing's UK Housing Awards the council scooped two awards - both for its Combined Heat and Power project which slashed fuel costs and carbon emissions in the buildings involved.

The council won the Outstanding Achievement in Housing UK award, and the Increasing Environmental Sustainability award.

Lead Councillor for Housing Aileen Malone said: "To win the award for Outstanding Achievement in Housing out of all local authorities in the UK is really something to be proud of and it really does reflect the hard work and dedication of council staff. This truly is a fantastic plaudit for Aberdeen.

"Adding to this great achievement, we also won the Increasing Environmental Sustainability award, for the combined heat and power project, which has reduced the number of city residents living in fuel poverty by slashing their fuel bills.

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"I am absolutely delighted that the efforts of Aberdeen City Council to improve housing and make life better for residents have been recognised in this way.

"Anyone who wants to see the value of combined heat and power schemes need only come to Aberdeen to see what we have achieved. CHP has been one of our real success stories and our tenants are now enjoying much lower fuel bills and warm, comfortable homes."

Steve Benson, President of the Chartered Institute of Housing, which sponsors the awards in conjunction with Inside Housing magazine, said: "This ambitious project has successfully tackled two of the huge challenges we face in housing: reducing fuel poverty amongst our most vulnerable residents and reducing carbon emissions from our existing housing stock.

"With excellent work that can be replicated elsewhere, Aberdeen City Council is a very worthy winner of the UK Housing Awards 2008."

Work on the CHP project led to the council being shortlisted for, and ultimately winning, the Outstanding Achievement in Housing in Scotland award. The project, which has already been used as a case study by the WWF in its reports 'Carbon Countdown For Homes: How to make Scotland's existing homes low carbon', has almost halved the fuel costs and carbon emissions for the buildings involved, while nearly doubling their National Home Energy Rating.

The Increasing Environmental Sustainability award recognises organisations' efforts to minimise their environmental impact - for example, projects and initiatives that have been developed to address the energy efficiency of the existing stock; tackle the environmental impact of the whole organisation' and reduce fuel poverty.

(KMcA)