Day: October 14, 2015

Civic alliance calls for end to cold homes ‘blighting’ Scotland

“Too many children across Scotland are growing up in cold homes, with fuel poverty affecting four in every ten households.” – Martin Crewe, Barnardo’s Scotland

cold

An alliance of civic organisations has called on the Scottish Government to end the blight of Scotland’s draughty, unhealthy homes by 2025. The call has been welcomed by the Scottish Greens, who say the government must go ‘further and faster’ to address the issue.

The Existing Homes Alliance, whose membership includes the Church of Scotland and the Federation of Master Builders, says the Scottish Government must take a long-term approach to improving the energy efficiency of Scotland’s buildings.

By doing so many benefits will be realised, including helping to reduce fuel poverty, cutting household fuel bills, lowering climate change emissions, creating jobs and preventing ill-health.

The call follows a June announcement by the Scottish Government that it intends to make home energy efficiency a National Infrastructure Priority.

The Alliance groups are calling for the Scottish Government to set an ambitious goal for that project, by committing to a goal that by 2025 all homes in Scotland are at least an Energy Performance Certificate band ‘C’.

Alan Ferguson, Chair of the Existing Homes Alliance said: “It was great to see the Scottish Government’s commitment to make energy efficiency a National Infrastructure Priority. This is vital if we as a nation are to end fuel poverty blighting our homes and step up to the challenge of climate change. However, we now need to see concrete proposals and clear goals from the Scottish Government to make this happen. These should include a goal of helping all homes reach a C energy performance standard by 2025, and a commitment to major long-term funding to support investment in energy efficiency.”

Martin Crewe, Director of Barnardo’s Scotland said: “Too many children across Scotland are growing up in cold homes, with fuel poverty affecting four in every ten households. The comprehensive Marmot review showed that this more than doubles their chances of suffering respiratory conditions like asthma, as well as impacting adversely on mental health, educational attainment and emotional wellbeing.

“Supporting all homes to reach a C standard will improve the physical and emotional health of families across Scotland and help to improve the life chances of Scotland’s most vulnerable children.”

Grahame Smith, STUC General Secretary added: “Improving the energy efficiency of Scotland’s homes is a huge opportunity to build a stronger economy and a more just Scotland. Research shows that bringing all homes up to at least a C energy performance standard would create 8-9,000 jobs a year distributed across communities in Scotland, new training and skills development opportunities and offer an excellent return on investment in generating employment and economic growth compared to other infrastructure investments.”

Alison Johnstone MSP, Health and Wellbeing spokesperson for the Scottish Greens, welcomed the call from the alliance to radically improve the energy efficiency of Scotland’s housing.

She said: “This call is very welcome and shows the need for government to go further and faster to tackle the blight of Scotland’s draughty, unhealthy homes.

“Last year Scottish ministers agreed with me that energy efficient housing should become a national infrastructure priority. During discussions on the 2015-16 budget Scottish Greens pressed for action, resulting in an extra £20million for fuel poverty measures. This was welcome but still way below what is required. 40 per cent of Scottish households are in fuel poverty.

“At the Scottish Greens conference at the weekend we announced our intention to push for 6,500 apprenticeships to support the delivery of this national priority. The Existing Homes Alliance aim that by 2025 all homes are at least an Energy Performance Certificate band ‘C’ is ambitious but necessary if we’re serious about tackling fuel poverty, climate change emissions and preventing ill-health.”

Need a home makeover? Visit the Design Doctor!

The doctor will see you now …!

-AW

A major eight-week social media campaign launches today to encourage Scots to try upcycling – and discover the joys of re-use.

‘Design Doctor’ – #DesignDoc – is run by Zero Waste Scotland to encourage and inspire everyone to try upcycling and discover the joys of re-use, with expert guidance from designers – both online and in person. The campaign will culminate in a range of interactive events at the end of November. 

Each week, three Scottish designers – Emily Rose Vintage and Treemendus from Glasgow and Very Vintage from Edinburgh – will completely transform one of seven items of furniture and post the details on Twitter and Facebook.

The pieces destined for upcycling will be sourced from a range of second-hand stores accredited by ‘Revolve’ – a re-use quality standard for shops who sell second hand goods in Scotland. The Revolve brand is only awarded to retailers who demonstrate a high level of excellence, both in service and product – making it safe, easy and inviting for everyone to buy second-hand items.

The Design Doctor designers will demonstrate a range of techniques and tricks to give people the creative inspiration to upcycle their own pieces of furniture, thus increasing the value of their item while lowering their carbon footprint.

Environment Minister Dr Aileen McLeod said: “The Design Doctor campaign is an ideal fit with the Scottish Government’s approach to creating a more circular economy in Scotland. The attraction of a more circular approach to our economy – where we keep materials flowing through the economy at as high a value as possible, for as long as possible – is that it tackles a number of economic, environmental, social and moral imperatives.

“Scotland’s Revolve programme is a great way to empower people to upcycle household items instead of throwing them away – and this is a concept that makes sense for business, industry, the public sector, and individuals. As we approach an expensive time of year in the run up to Christmas, this campaign is the perfect way to look at saving a bit of money and having the opportunity to be creative with some of your household items.”

Each week, Twitter and Facebook users who follow the #DesignDoc hashtag can see pictures of the piece of furniture waiting to be upcycled. Three ideas will be suggested by the designers as to how they might transform the piece and users will be asked to vote for their favourite design.

The winning idea will be used to create the final upcycled article, with an accompanying ‘how to’ guide uploaded online with pictures. The social media campaign will also include a competition to win the chance to have a piece of furniture upcycled by one of the designers.

Izzie Johnston, Reuse and Repair Manager, Zero Waste Scotland, said: “Our innovative Design Doctor social media campaign is all about encouraging people to overcome any uncertainties they may have about upcycling, and providing them with the skills and confidence to give it a try. The campaign centres around getting people involved and being interactive, so we’re really excited to see the results.

“Re-using things – whether that be through upcycling, donating unwanted items, or buying from re-use store – is one of the best options for the environment since it prevents waste going to landfill or simply being recycled.  Upcycling is a particularly exciting aspect to this because it can add both aesthetic and financial value to an item.

“Those who feel inspired to re-use and buy second-hand can visit one of over 40 fantastic Revolve-accredited stores throughout Scotland, where they’ll find high quality, excellent value goods. They can also join the conversation on Twitter by following @revolvereuse. We really want people to realise that second-hand need never mean second best.

“Equally, there is a wonderful sense of pride, achievement – and even surprise – to be gained from producing something beautiful, unique and valuable for your home by upcycling something you already have.” 

The campaign will also incorporate videos and blogs to engage people online, alongside five in-store upcycling workshops hosted by one of the three campaign designers at Revolve-accredited stores in Edinburgh, Irvine, the Isle of Bute, Dingwall and Dysart.

The Revolve-accredited stores donating furniture to the Design Doctor campaign are: Second Opportunities in Glasgow; Oskars in Paisley; New Start Highland and Everything Baby in Inverness; Cunninghame Furniture Recycling in Irvine, and Fyne Futures on the Isle of Bute.

There are now over 40 Revolve-accredited shops in Scotland. Customers with items they no longer require can ensure their goods are re-used rather than landfilled by contacting the National Re-Use Phone Line on 0800 0665 820. The facility allows callers to skip the hassle of taking large household items like bed frames, sofas and white goods to the local recycling centre, and instead have them picked up and taken to be re-used by someone else, free of charge.  Re-using rather than recycling 100 sofas, for example, saves 1.5 tonnes of carbon and is a much more environmentally-friendly option.

Follow all the #DesignDoc action on www.facebook.com/RecycleForScotland and www.twitter.com/ZeroWasteScot. 

To find out more about the Revolve programme, visit www.revolvereuse.com or follow @revolvereuse on Twitter. Businesses with an interest in becoming Revolve accredited can find out more here.

Peppa joins the Muirhouse Mini’s messy fun day

And everbody knows Peppa loves jumping in messy puddles of paint and dough!

As the kids piled in for their fun day at Muirhouse Millennium Community Centre yesterday, many of them wanted a photo of themselves with Peppa – yes, including Donna! (writes James McGinty).

With dough making part of the fun you can be sure mums have a heavy load in their wash today and the face painting would mean lots of baths too!

I apologise for the quality of some of the pictures, but we have had many difficulties after our faithful camera went to the scrapyard in the sky many months ago. Still, the main thing is that he kids had a brilliant day and a healthy feeding thanks to John and Peter in the kitchen!