The Scottish Government has boosted the funding of Orkney Islands Council with over £1.25million for the delivery of the energy efficiency of homes scheme.
Warmworks, Kirkwall manage the scheme on behalf of the council. In this last year alone over 100 households in Orkney have been supported by this funding with more than £1m spent on measures such as loft, wall and underfloor insulation and modern high heat retention heaters.
After an initial survey by Warmworks expert staff, if the application is successful, local contractors are used to install the improvements at the property. It has been a great success all round. Since the home energy schemes were introduced back in 2015 over 800 properties have been improved in Orkney – a great help to householders facing rising fuel bills.
Ross Armstrong, Chief Executive of Warmworks said:
“We’re delighted to be able to build on the ongoing success of the scheme in Orkney. This will be our third year working on behalf of Orkney Islands Council to deliver funding where it’s needed and, at this important time when we’re all aware of the need to manage our energy bills we’d urge anyone keen to look at making their home warmer and more energy efficient to get in touch and find out more. If we can’t help you through this scheme, we can help you explore other sources of help.”
To contact the Warmworks team:
- phone 01856 881513 or Freephone 0800 038 6022
- visit their office at The Store, 5 West Tankerness Lane, Kirkwall, KW15 1AL (Monday to Friday, 09:00 to 17:00)
- email orkney@warmworks.co.uk
Click on this link to the website to find out more: Warmworks Orkney
Categories: Local News
Funding should be made available for material and/or DIY efficiency measures too. Not everybody is happy about the choices of insulation material more or less imposed upon householders by the scheme.
For example, sheepwool insulation isn’t possible under the scheme, costs for glass panels aren’t covered either if one would wish to create a mini greenhouse (i.e. by putting a removable glass panel over the frame of a fixed window to benefit from an insulating air buffer whereby this space can also be used to grow herbs and small veg indoors)…
There are so many creative and effective options to address individual energy efficiency shortcomings of island homes…but no funding is available for material although those measures sometimes would be far more beneficial than the current “one size fits all” approaches.
Alternatively, why not simply allocate an energy efficiency grant scheme for properties in band E – G and allow households to make their own choices?
DIY must be an option, especially during a pandemic. Not everybody feels comfortable with having strangers in their house who could introduce undesirable pathogens into what would otherwise be a safe space. It should not be the case that vulnerable households have to make a choice between infection risk or energy efficieny measures.