Community / Company appointed to speed up home insulation works
SHETLAND Islands Council has signed a long-term contract with a mainland-based company to speed up the installation of energy efficiency measures to local homes.
The five-year contract with Warmworks is designed to overcome the certification and accreditation obstacles currently preventing many smaller companies from carrying out government-funded home insulation works.
In the past years, the SIC has been struggling to spend the £1.1 million it gets from the Scottish Government annually for energy efficiency measures.
As result fewer homes have been made more energy efficient through insulation and/or the installation of an air source pump than could have been.
It also has resulted in long waiting times for people entitled to this publicly funded work.
The appointment of Warmworks as a ‘managing agent’ is set to attract more local companies to carry out home energy efficiency works.
The company, which has similar contracts with Orkney Islands Council and also in the Western Isles, is setting up a local base.
A company spokesperson said: “We will be working with local companies to develop the programme and will be looking to establish a local workforce.
“We have also established local premises in which our team will be based and will be sharing further details about this shortly.”
Warmworks’ chief executive Ross Armstrong said delivery of the scheme for Shetland is set to start this month.
“Today’s announcement means that Warmworks will now manage the area-based energy efficiency work for all of the major island-based local authorities in Scotland,” Armstrong said.
“We know and understand that these communities have some of the highest levels of fuel poverty in the country, which makes it critical for us to get it right for local people.
“This is a great opportunity for us to increase our impact and help more homes and families in island-based communities, as well as strengthening our long-standing relationships with the proven local firms that will support us in carrying out the work.”
Councillor Moraig Lyall, who chairs the council’s environment and transport committee, said she was reassured that Warmworks had considerable experience of working in island communities and that “they will deliver these improvements through a network of accredited local installers”.
She added: “We all want to ensure that more people benefit from warmer, more energy efficient homes and we’re confident that this new relationship will really make a difference.”
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