"It makes more sense to build a warm house than try and heat a cold one"
SKPPRA has a grant
SKPPRA has obtained a grant from the Local Energy Assessment Fund (LEAF) to externally insulate a pair of semi-detached houses on the estate to show residents how this will make the houses warmer and easier to heat.
Free Draw
On 23rd February SKPPRA held a draw to select the pair of houses to be externally insulated using this LEAF grant.
Public Meetings
We held two public meetings in February. The draw to select the winner took place on 23rd Feb.
Local Energy Assessment Fund
Seeding community energy action
The Local Energy Assessment Fund
LEAF is a government programme, which aims to help community groups like SKPPRA to assess energy consumption in their area and with specialist expertise identify solutions, which residents can have implemented, either through their own investment or when it is operational through the Green Deal.
The Green Deal
The government has a proposal to help residents improve their homes the Green Deal and there may be more house callers when the scheme gets going later this year (The government defines the Green Deal as a financial mechanism (that) eliminates the need to pay upfront for energy efficiency measures and instead provides reassurances that savings on the electricity bill should cover the cost of the measures
Report on how the work was done
FAQ
- How do I enter the draw to choose the house to be insulated?
- Why are gas and electricity bills required?
- I pay my utility bills by monthly debit and I do not get quarterly bills?
- How do I join SKPPRA?
- Do my neighbour and I both have to enter for our houses to be selected?
- I rent my house – can I enter?
- If my house is drawn what do I have to do to have the work completed?
- What will be in the legal agreement?
- Why do you need utility bills and gas readings after the work is done?
- Is the work covered by a guarantee?
- Who will do the work?
- I have various extensions to my house – will they be insulated?
- What if my neighbour refuses to agree to the work being done?
- Will my doors and windows be replaced, as I do not have double grazing?
- Will my boiler be replaced – it is very old?
- Will my house look different when the work is done?
- I have other finish on my house such as stone facing and tiles?
- What will happen to my rainwater pipes and satellite dish?
- What will happen at the doors windows and roof?
- Will my loft be insulated?
- I have the same house as the semis on the estate but it is in a terrace ~ can I still enter?
- I live in a block of flats – can I enter?
- When does the draw close?
Entry into the draw is by submission of one year’s gas and electricity bills and by being a member of SKPPRA. There is a form coming through your letterbox for you to submit your utility bills and confirm your membership of SKPPRA. Click here for entry form
The LEAF programme supports local energy assessment and part of the work of LEAF is to collect data on local energy consumption in the existing houses. This is most accurately done by reviewing utility bills.
Utility companies are required to provide you with an annual review showing how much energy you have used and paid for. This can be submitted in lieu of four consecutive quarterly bills.
If you need to pay your SKPPRA membership you can pay on-line at www.skppra.co.uk - click on ‘subscribe’, or pay your local road steward. Road Stewards are listed in the SKPPRA newsletter, which is delivered to all houses in the area. If you need any further help you can email Subscriptions@SKPPRA.co.uk.
No – only one of the pair of houses need enter the draw – but obviously if you both enter you have twice the chance of being selected. If you neighbour does not enter and you are selected – your neighbour will have to produce a year’s utility bills, enter into the legal agreement, and confirm membership of SKPPRA for the work to proceed.
Tenants of rented property are welcome to enter the draw, provided you supply utility bills and are members of SKPPRA. The legal owner of the house will be required to enter into a legal agreement with SKPPRA and LEAF to allow the work to proceed – so it may be sensible to consult your landlord in advance of the draw.
If your house is drawn, both you and your neighbour will have to enter into a signed legal agreement with SKPPRA and LEAF.
The agreement will cover the access and arrangements for the work and require you to supply utility bills and monthly gas readings for one year after the work is completed. It will also require you to allow access to the outside of your house for visits by arrangement by other residents and agencies, (access to the inside of your house will not be required). As the house is to be a demonstration for other residents you will be required to display a sign in the front garden for one year and allow pictures of your house to be used in the media and on the web to publicise the project.
Utility bills and monthly gas readings will be required after the work is done so that the effect of the insulation on your energy consumption is recorded. As part of the preparation work a forecast will be made of the effect of the insulation on your heating energy consumption and the monthly gas readings will help to assess the accuracy of the forecast computer model.
There will be a separate contract with the supplier and installer of the external insulation, which will include a guarantee for the work. SKPPRA will not be a party to this agreement, which will be between you and the installer as in any normal work done to your house.
SKPPRA is supported on the Project by a team of specialists – ICE Architects Ltd, RS Designs, Energy Solutions (North West London), Renderline Ltd. and Berrymans Lace Mawer LLP (Lawyers). Most of these companies have directors or employees who live in the SKPPRA area. For the work to your house – ICE Architects Ltd. will draw up the specification and building contract for the work, and also deal with any town planning or building regulation requirements. Renderline Ltd. will install the insulation and external finish and be the other party to the building contract with you to complete the works.
Many of the houses in the estate have been extended or have had new external finishes (stone etc.). As part of the initial stage of the work ICE Architects Ltd. are surveying the estate to identify the different types of modifications made to the houses, and the findings of this survey will be presented at the public meetings. The LEAF grant covers a set wall area of external insulation and if your extension means that the external wall area of your house is greater that can be insulated using the grant – then you will be offered the option to pay for the additional external insulation or not have the extensions externally insulated. Not insulating the extension will probably be appropriate in most cases since if the extension was built in the last 30 years it should have already been insulated as part of the original works. The specialist team will consider the performance of the extension if you have one once the selected houses are known.
If both residents to a pair of semis do not agree to the legal agreement and building contract then another pair of houses will be drawn. The grant is time limited and there will be a short time for a decision if your house is selected so it is best if you discuss any problems with your neighbour before the draw.
No your windows will not be replaced – the grant is for the external insulation only.
No – your boiler will not be replaced as part of this project. If your boiler is very old you should consider replacement to reduce your gas consumption.
The aim of the project is to alter the external appearance of the existing houses as little as possible. The proposed insulation can have a pebbledash or render finish and can take brick slips (thin bricks) where houses have brick facades. The grant provides for a limited area of brick finish and so if your house has extensive areas of brick finish the grant may be unable to replicate this, and you will be required to contribute to any additional cost.
Stone facings cannot be replicated and so if your house is chosen you will have to agree to the stone finish being removed. The cost of this may require you to make a contribution to the work. Generally tile finishes can have the insulation fitted underneath however there are many different conditions and these will be assessed and discussed at the public meetings.
Rainwater pipes will be refixed on the outside of the external insulation and the insulation will be cut in either side of the soil (toilet waste) pipe which will not be moved. If you have a satellite dish on the house or any other form of telecommunication or television box or device you will be asked to make arrangements to have these moved as a condition of the legal agreement and have them refixed when the work is complete.
There will be illustrations of what how the completed house will look at the public meetings though until the actual houses are known after the draw at the last public meeting, not all conditions can be illustrated.
No - loft insulation is not part of the work but there will be advice on energy saving in the home as part of the presentations at the public meetings.
Residents who live in a terrace are welcome to enter the draw, however only two houses in the terrace can have external insulation and one of those houses must be the end of the terrace where a gable can be treated. Work on a terrace house will also be subject to the agreement of Brent Council Planning Authority – (which has not yet been given), because the application of insulation to part of a terrace will create a step between the houses that have had the insulation applied and those that have not been treated.
This document has been issued to residents in the standard 1930s house type. If you live in one of the blocks of flats on the estate there is no point in entering the draw, as the LEAF grant cannot be applied to your home. LEAF is seeking to fund a project that can be replicated on other houses through private investment or the Green Deal. The standard semi and its terrace form represent about 85% of the houses in the area, while the blocks of flats are of various designs and are thus not capable of demonstrating a solution which can be repeated across the estate.
The closing date for draw entries is 20th February 2012 and the draw to choose the houses to be insulated will take place at the 23rd February 2012 meeting.