WISE Homes

Background

Traditionally energy saving campaigns have focused on lower cost, simpler energy efficiency measures such as loft insulation, cavity wall insulation and gas condensing boilers, but there are many homes where saving energy is more difficult. For example older houses with solid stone walls cannot accommodate cavity wall insulation, insulation of sloping ceilings is much more expensive than standard loft insulation and grants for efficient gas boilers exclude homes not on the mains gas network.

WISE Homes aimed to challenge that by providing energy saving advice and grants aimed specifically at measures for these “harder to treat” properties.

The project was run in partnership with Stroud District Council and Cotswold District Council, along with the districts’ home improvement agencies Anchor Staying Put (Cotswold) and Care & Repair (Stroud).

WISE Homes was part funded by the Energy Saving Trust’s Innovations Programme with grant funding provided by the local authority partners.

Aims

WISE Homes was designed to provide holistic advice covering energy efficiency, renewable energy and behavioural measures for residents of hard to treat properties. The majority of these properties are rural and have been excluded from many standard grants due to their built form and/or lack of access to the gas network.

Activities

The project was aimed both at households able to pay towards their own installations and low income households requiring grant support to improve their properties.

SWEA worked with the two local authorities to develop a grant aid package for upgrading insulation of solid walls and sloping ceilings and improving the efficiency of heating systems - integrating renewable energy technologies where appropriate.

This combination of grants, advice and support services was developed to provide a comprehensive support package for householders in hard to treat homes.

Hard to treat properties can vary considerably in terms of their construction, layout and heating systems so it was decided that a home visit including an NHER survey would be the best way to provide initial advice leading to appropriate and effective measures being installed. Including the NHER survey allowed the SAP rating of each property to be assessed prior to improvements and also allowed the householder to see the potential benefit of the suggested energy efficiency improvements.

Results

WISE Homes helped to raise awareness of measures available to address hard to treat properties, and this was evidenced by the number of home visits far exceeding the number planned at the start of project and the increasing number of grant applications received towards or just after the end of the project.

Stroud District Council has continued to provide grants through WISE Homes beyond the end of the Innovations-funded project. The range of measures available has been expanded to include more environmentally friendly insulation products such as sheep wool, hemp and recycled newspaper and a wider range of renewable energy technologies.