Novel way to do a building retrofit

ClickGreen provides a fascinating article about how several buildings in London are taking advantage of the Energy Company Obligation.

Specialist abseilers provide energy efficiency refit to London tower blocks

Dozens of London tower blocks are receiving energy efficiency refits with £500,000 worth of insulation installed by a specialist team of abseilers.

The residential buildings in the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham will benefit from the capital-wide programme and it is estimated that the cavity wall insulation will help residents in the 820 flats make significant savings every year on their fuel bills.

To complete the work, EDF Energy is partnering with Essex-based Avalon Sustainable Energy Solutions – a specialist cavity wall insulation contractor who employ abseilers to install the insulation.

The project with this borough has been in planning for the last three years and among the tower blocks that will be insulated are Parkside and Thaxted House in Dagenham and Highview House in Romford.

EDF Energy’s partnership with Avalon is part of the Government’s Energy Company Obligation (ECO) – an initiative designed to help people in low-income areas save energy, thereby saving carbon and money on their energy bills.

It is estimated that the insulation will help save around 18,000 tonnes of carbon emissions.

Work commenced on the project in April this year and is scheduled to be completed by Autumn 2015. By using Avalon’s team of specialist abseilers to install the insulation, it is estimated that the project length has been reduced and achieved significant cost savings as there is no requirement for scaffolding.

Eric Salomon, Energy Field Services Director at EDF Energy, said: “This project will make a significant difference to the lives of local residents, who will benefit from lower fuel bills and much warmer homes. We are proud that we are able fund improvements for Avalon’s installation team to help people living in cold and hard to treat flats.”

Darren Peacock, Director at Avalon, said: “Thanks to our funding partnership with EDF Energy, we are now in a stronger position to offer fully funded cavity wall insulation for blocks of flats, which have not been insulated previously due to difficult access or they need expensive scaffolding. Our award winning, innovative installation methods have ensured thousands of flats have received much needed insulation.”

Ieman Barmarki, Energy Efficiency Officer at the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham, said: “We are happy to be rolling out another batch of insulation works to residents in wards affected by fuel poverty with Avalon. In the current economic climate it is vital to be able to drive down access cost to enable more targeted measures to be delivered, helping the council save money and benefit its residents in one go.”