Over 1670 privately owned homes in Kirkby have had External Wall Insulation installed as the primary energy saving measure, thanks to Wetherby Building Systems.
In partnership with Knowsley Council, the Kirkby Phase 1 project proved to be the largest private homeowner scheme in the UK and was funded via the energy companies as part of the Community Energy Savings Programme (CESP) initiative. As part of the CESP scheme, homeowners were also eligible to qualify for further energy saving measures. When this phase was concluded in December 2012, in total Wetherby had installed 1670 External Wall Insulation Systems, 632 new central heating boilers and had insulated 520 lofts and as a result of these measures, over 260,000 carbon tonnes of emissions will be saved over the next 30 years within the Kirkby area.
The works from start to finish were carried out in calendar year 2012 which saw the end of CESP in December 2012. As a replacement to CESP, it is hoped that the Energy Company Obligation ECO scheme offers a smooth transition, where
Wetherby are planning a further 2 phases of 400 homes each, to further assist in making these ‘hard to heat’ homes far more thermally efficient. The energy saving measures adopted will save home owners on average £400 per annum, together with the proven benefits of a warmer, healthier and more attractive home.
With ECO regulations still uncertain in January 2012, Wetherby joined forces with Energy Alliance, a Manchester based company who specialise in Energy Efficiency and Carbon Reduction programme funding.
Energy companies who failed to meet their carbon saving goals under the CESP programme are required to provide mitigating schemes (carbon tonnes) during the first quarter of 2013. Some of these mitigation carbon tonnes have been utilised by Wetherby to provide an identical scheme for a further 400 homes in Kirkby, this scheme has already commenced and should be completed by the end of March 2013. The result – over 2000 privately owned homes having had energy saving measures installed over a 12 month period.
The community has already benefited from a fresher appearance and over £700,000 per annum could be saved on energy costs annually by these residents alone, which should generate extra available discretionary spend within the town in general.