Area Based Schemes
Since 2013, the Scottish Government has provided funding to Local Authorities to develop energy efficiency programmes that improve the energy performance of ‘hard-to-treat’ homes in areas of fuel poverty.
A ‘hard-to-treat’ home is defined as a domestic dwelling that is not suitable for lower cost insulation measures such as cavity wall insulation. Buildings are typically non-traditional solid wall construction or hard-to-treat cavity wall construction and require a more costly solution to insulate. The primary measure offered in these projects is External Wall Insulation where insulation is fixed to the exterior walls and covered in render or cladding.
The funding awarded to Local Authorities is used to provide grant subsidy to homeowners to assist with the cost of installation. This enables mixed tenure projects by complimenting the work the Local Authority is undertaking at its own housing stock.
Our Involvement
The Scottish Government has awarded grant funding to all Local Authorities to develop and deliver solid wall insulation The Energy Agency provides a holistic project management service to South Ayrshire, East Ayrshire, and Dumfries and Galloway Councils. This involves assisting the Local Authority in identifying areas of need, engaging with and supporting residents, procuring and managing specialist contractors, and undertaking quality assurance inspections at each address to ensure measures are installed to a good standard in line with the design specification.
An Area Based approach has proved to be an extremely successful way to achieve carbon reductions and promote sustainability in local communities. Our projects have won 13 regional, national and international awards including the Scottish Energy Efficiency Awards for Large Scale Project of the Year and the National Energy Awards for Residential Project of the Year in 2021. In 2023, our amazing team won Vulnerable Customer Support of the Year at the Scottish Energy Efficiency Awards 2023.
External Wall Insulation
As the name suggests, External Wall Insulation or ‘EWI’ is a term used to describe an insulation system that is applied to the external walls of the building.
The insulant (typically formed in 120cm x 60cm boards) is fixed to the external walls of the property. Depending on the system being used, this could be a mechanical fix (specialised fixing pins) or an adhesive fix (specialised bonding agent) or a combination of both. The insulant is then covered with a reinforced render base coat and topcoat, and finally a decorative finish such as dry dash chip (commonly referred to as roughcast). The application of the system requires scaffolding up to roof level and involves multiple trades such as EWI specialists, renderers, joiners, plumbers, electricians, heating engineers, satellite engineers and a retrofit design team. The systems have elements that are temperature and moisture dependant and therefore the weather can play a big part in the duration of the installation. Typically, an installation will take a couple of months to completes.
What are homeowners offered?
Any household invited to participate in an Area Based Scheme will receive a pack explaining what is included in the retrofit works.
Some energy efficiency measures can be cost prohibitive. For example, a typical External Wall Insulation system costs around £12,000 to £18,000. As such, the funding is used to subsidise the work to bring it more in line with the cost of installing cavity wall insulation (where possible).
The funding is applied in accordance with the maximum funding levels per household set by Scottish Government. The funding will typically cover around 75-85% of the cost of installation. There is additional grant available for households experiencing extreme fuel poverty which can cover up to 100% of the cost.
The Scottish Government also offers an interest free loan to finance the household contribution so homeowners can spread the cost of the works.
Contractor Selection
Energy Efficiency Retrofit Contractors are employed by the Energy Agency to deliver works at an agreed quantity of properties at agreed rates. We employ Contractors by following public procurement practices that ensure ‘best value’ – a balance of cost and quality.
We utilise Public Procurement Frameworks which set a minimum standard that installers must meet to be able to bid for the work. Our procurement methods align with each Council’s Standing Order for Contracts which is a set of rules governing how Councils procure goods, services and works.
Health and Safety
Contractors are required to ensure the safety of everyone on site at all times whether this be their employees, sub-contractors, residents, neighbours or general public.
Following the tragedy at Grenfell Tower in 2016, there has been a lot of media coverage regarding fire safety and perhaps at times some confusing and conflicting information has been released into the public domain. All systems installed under these schemes meet the requirements of Building Regulations (Scotland) Act and all systems are tested and certified by the British Board of Agrѐment.
Time Lapse Video
Case Studies
Since the inception of Area Based Schemes in 2013, we have successfully project managed installations at over 10,000 homes. Please see some case studies below for more detail on some of our specific projects completed in recent years:
