Working Together To Keep Southland Warm

Recently, the team at Awarua Synergy welcomed two new Southland Warm Homes Trust trustees to our office as part of their induction programme — highlighting the importance of strong local partnerships when it comes to creating warmer, healthier homes across the region.

New trustees Cr Lisa Tou McNaughton and Cr Donna Bruce visited Awarua Synergy to get a behind-the-scenes look at how insulation, heating, and healthy homes programmes are delivered throughout Southland communities.

It’s one thing to talk about healthy homes — it’s another to see the impact these programmes have in real homes across Southland. Because while terms like “energy efficiency” and “healthy homes” sound great on paper, the real impact is much more personal:

• warmer bedrooms on frosty mornings
• fewer damp and mouldy homes
• healthier living conditions
• and lower stress around heating costs during winter

14,000 Southland Homes — And Counting

Since the programme began, the Southland Warm Homes Trust has helped insulate and heat around 14,000 homes across the region. That’s thousands of Southlanders now living in homes that are warmer, drier, healthier, and more comfortable to live in.

And with many older homes still common throughout Southland, demand for insulation, heating, and healthy home support continues to grow.

Why Local Partnerships Matter

At Awarua Synergy, we’ve worked alongside the Southland Warm Homes Trust for many years, helping deliver practical home energy solutions tailored to local conditions.

Because Southland winters are unique.

What works in other parts of the country doesn’t always work here — and local knowledge matters when it comes to helping families stay warm and healthy through winter.

Southland Warm Homes Trust Chairperson Steve Canny summed it up perfectly:

“There is no better way for new trustees to understand the real and ongoing need for healthy, warm homes across our communities than by spending time with the teams who deliver this work every day.”

We couldn’t agree more.

It’s About More Than Just Warmth

Cold, damp homes don’t just affect comfort. They can impact health, wellbeing, energy bills, and overall quality of life — especially for households already feeling pressure from rising living costs. That’s why programmes supporting insulation, heating, and healthier homes continue to play such an important role across the region.

And it’s also why community partnerships remain so valuable.

Looking Ahead

The visit gave the new trustees a chance to better understand the challenges Southlanders are facing, as well as the practical difference healthy homes programmes continue to make in communities throughout the region.

For the Awarua Synergy team, it was also a chance to celebrate the power of local collaboration — and the shared goal of helping more Southlanders enjoy warm, dry, healthy homes for years to come.