Tag: external wall insulation

Warm welcome for council initiative to deliver warmer homes and lower energy bills to tenants

TENANTS in nine homes in Edinburgh will benefit from major energy upgrades to improve living standards and lower energy bills.

The homes, located in the southeast of the city, boast an Energy Performance Certificate ‘B’ rating after a series of improvements including External Wall Insulation (EWI) and window upgrades.

They are now undergoing monitoring to assess energy consumption, tenant comfort, and overall performance. Data gathered from the homes will provide valuable insight into the effectiveness of these measures and help determine the feasibility of rolling out similar upgrades across other Council housing stock.

Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Convener Lezley Marion Cameron said: “I warmly welcome what’s been achieved in collaboration with our partners, AtkinsRéalis and Anderson Bell + Christie, on this transformative retrofit project. The energy improvements are already delivering real benefits for tenants – lower energy bills, increased comfort, and more sustainable homes.

“The data we’re collecting will be instrumental in scaling up this work to happen across other Council homes in Edinburgh, contributing towards our Net Zero 2030 target. While the work involved is complex, the long-term benefits – for our tenants, communities, and our city’s environment – are undeniable.”

Anderson Bell + Christie Director Jonathan McQuillan said: “This project signals a real shift change in how Scottish social housing landlords are approaching their obligations to improve the energy and quality of homes ahead of the Scottish Government deadline – taking a co-ordinated, architectural viewpoint to ensure the measures put in place and undertaken are tailed to each and every building to ensure its effectiveness for many generations to come.

“The City of Edinburgh Council have been pioneering in their thinking and as a result of the pilot, on which we spent two years investigating and garnering the right data, the majority of their stock can now be retrofitted with confidence.

“The improvement works support future measures such as district heating systems, making them ‘net zero-ready’.”

The project adopted a ‘whole house approach’ to implement advanced retrofit standards for the nine pilot homes. The properties were selected following an in-depth review of 52 building types which involved comprehensive surveys, including asbestos checks, air-tightness testing, and extensive energy modelling.

Council and Changeworks insulate homes in Oxgangs

In partnership with the leading environmental charity Changeworks, the City of Edinburgh Council is helping homeowners transform the energy efficiency of their homes.

Making 166 homes in Oxgangs warmer and fit for the future by improving external wall insulation, more than 50 properties have already received major improvements with over a hundred others to be completed by the Spring.

Funding is provided by the Scottish Government through the Energy Efficient Scotland; Area based Scheme (EES:ABS). These area-based schemes are designed and delivered by councils with local delivery partners. They target fuel-poor areas to provide energy efficiency measures to a large number of Scottish homes while delivering emission savings and helping to reduce fuel poverty.

The schemes in Oxgangs are helping households make major improvements to their home at a significantly lowered cost. Some households even qualify to have the work done for free, completely removing the financial burden for households at a time when that relief could not be more needed. Installing insulation makes it cheaper and easier to heat the home, meaning householders can expect to save on their heating bills.

Oxgangs is an area that does suffer from a higher rate of poverty than other areas of the city and all houses included in the project are in Council Tax bands A to C. This project, with a total funding of £1.9 million, is targeted at reaching those most in need. The EES:ABS scheme is open to private householders and mixed tenure blocks have been targeted too, benefitting both social housing tenants and private householders. The Council is directly funding the works to Council homes. 

Councillor Jane Meagher, Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Convener, said: Most of the homes in the area are receiving external wall insulation which means their homes will keep more heat in. This is important because it means more Oxgangs residents are going to see their homes stay warmer for longer, at a time when temperatures are low but energy bills are worryingly high.

As people become more conscious of their energy use, these projects will have a real impact – both on the planet and Edinburgh’s net zero goals and on the lives of homeowners and tenants who need this support now, more than ever.

One resident who received the external wall insulation is Catherine Murray, who says she’s “delighted” with the difference it’s made. She said: “My house is warmer, much warmer, it’s really noticeable. I don’t need the heating on as much, I put it on in the morning and then the house is fine until I put it on again at about 7 or 8 until I go to bed. If I’m in the living room, it contains the heat.

“We’re on the main road and the people that pass stop and look, it’s amazing. People stop to comment on it.

“It really brightens the place up, I don’t get out much anymore but when I do, it makes you feel better when you do come into the area, you can really see the difference between the ones that have been done and the ones that haven’t been done, it’s great. I really appreciate the work that’s been done.”

Most of the homes in the area are receiving external wall insulation installed by contractor SERS. Not only does this mean that their homes will keep more heat in, keeping them warmer for longer and requiring less energy to heat, it provides a complete refresh of the outside of the property too.

With it being an external insulation measure, there’s no work done inside the house.

Alongside the Oxgangs project which is currently underway there are four other retrofit schemes in Edinburgh which form part of the EES:ABS 2022/23 programme.

These include an external wall insulation and solar PV scheme in Gilmerton, a fabric improvement programme in Murrayburn and Drumbryden, a citywide internal wall insulation roll out and hard-to-treat cavity and solar PV works across the EH16 and EH17 postcode areas.

To register your interest in similar schemes should they become available in your area, fill in this simple online form.