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Alex Hunt from the Green Building Partnership introduces the film by saying that Brighton
is one of the greenest cities in the UK. Views of the seafront, the Old Steine and the Royal
Pavilion grounds are shown. He says he has been working in the city for five years on
eco-refurbishment, helping people save energy and money by making their homes more energy
efficient.
Alex explains that in December 2012 Brighton & Hove City Council along with Brighton & Hove10:10,
the Green Building Partnership and the Low Carbon Trust successfully bid for a government
grant to run a scheme called Green Deal Pioneer Places. The purpose of the scheme was to show
residents how to improve the energy efficiency of their homes, and to promote the Green Deal
scheme which enables people to have such improvements made and pay for them through the savings
achieved on their energy bills. Green Deal Pioneer Places gave 100 residents free home
energy assessments. 10 properties were selected from the 100 to receive up to £10,000 of
free home energy efficiency improvements each. This film follows the progress of 3 out of
the 10 properties from the start to finish of the project.
The film introduces the owner occupiers of the 3 properties; Erin, Sarah and Rory, and
Terry Conway who in turn briefly describe the energy efficiency issues affecting their
properties, such as installing insulation to reduce heat loss, improving and modernising
the heating systems, and installing low energy lighting.
The film shows the work beginning on the properties. The first house featured is Terry's' and shows
a contractor describing the works required to install exterior wall insulation to the
property which has 'single skinned' exterior walls and so cannot benefit from conventional
cavity wall insulation. The second is Sarah and Rory's' and shows a contractor in the
loft space describing how the old loft insulation will need to be removed from the floor of
the loft due to its poor condition and new, deeper insulation installed in its place.
Finally, a contractor is shown outside Erin's property describing the work taking place
to install exterior wall insulation and shows a sample piece of the 100mm think insulation
material. Erin expresses her interest in seeing how the insulation is installed.
The film then returns to each property. Sarah and Rory's' property is shown where the contractor
is mid-way through installing the loft insulation, having laid one layer and now preparing a
second. The contractor comments on the loft space becoming hot as the work progresses
and Sarah, in the lounge of the house says she expects the work to be finished in one
or two days and that it has be going very smoothly.
Back in Erin's' property the old combination boiler has been replaced with an 'A' rated
condensing boiler, the contractor explains how a condensing boiler is an improvement
on the old type of boiler as it will save on gas and therefore money due to its improved
efficiency. The wall insulation is now installed; the contractor is shown carrying out the final
'making good' work.
The loft insulation has been completed in Sarah and Rory's house and the contactor explains
that the insulation material is made from re-cycled glass with a chip board cover. Wooden
boards have been fixed over this to enable the loft space to be used for storage again.
Preparation work is underway in Terry's property to replace the existing lighting with low
energy lighting. Terry explains that there will be fewer but brighter low energy lights
which will use less electricity and save money.
Sarah and Rory's' house is about to have cavity wall insulation installed. Sarah explains
that this will take a day to do and that scaffolding has been erected around the property to provide
contractors access to the whole property. The process involves drilling small holes
at intervals along the wall at various heights then insulating foam is injected into the
cavity to insulate the outside part of the wall from the inside part of the wall, thus
saving on heating and money.
Finally, Terry has had his external wall insulation completed with only the final wall coating
to be applied. He says the property looks like new if not slightly fatter due to the
100mm width of the insulation material.
Work at all 3 properties is now complete and the film shows Alex walking along a street
to visit all 3 owner occupiers to see how the work went in each property. First is Erin,
who is looking at her new boiler installed in the airing cupboard. She says the boiler
is much better as it does not make any noise like the old one which rattled and she does
not need to top it up for showers each morning either. She is happy as she does not need
to worry now about the boiler breaking down each winter as she did when she had the old
boiler.
Second is Terry who is looking at his new low energy lighting and explains to Alex that
he now has fewer bulbs producing better light. The new bulbs last longer and so don't need
to be changed as often as the old ones, saving money on energy and replacement bulbs.
Next is Sarah who tells Alex that the 4 days it took to clear the loft, install insulation
and the chip board and boarding went very well. They are very pleased with it as they
also have more storage space than before as the boards cover the whole of the
loft floor.
Alex then talks to Terry saying the biggest piece of work for him was the wall insulation
which is now done except for the scaffolding which now needs to be removed. Terry reply's
by saying that he is looking forward to feeling the full benefits of the insulation in the
winter, particularly as the rear of the property is exposed to the wind blowing from the sea.
Alex mentions that the wall insulation has a thickness which makes the
house stand proud a little from neighbouring properties and asks if Terry has any comments
from people about this. Terry says that it was entertaining for him to watch people who
stopped in the street and stared as the work was being done. However, now that it's finished
you can only see a slight difference at the side of the property but the front looks the
same.
Alex now speaks to Sarah again who says that people who have seen her new boiler have remarked
on its size but she has been able to explain why it is so big and what it can do. She says
she has told friends about Green Deal and they have been impressed to know how much
work you can have done through the scheme.
Erin then tells Alex how interested people are in the work she has had done and want
to come along to the ECO Open Houses event. Alex asks Terry if he has any advice for householders
now he has been through the Green Deal Pioneer Places project. Terry says he would recommend
Green Deal as they will gain if they intend to stay in the property for a number of years
as there are savings to be made in the longer term. There is some disruption when the work
is being done, which is the case for any building work, but that is only short term and can easily be
put right. Sarah says to Alex that any disruption is short lived and is outweighed by the savings.
Erin added that people should go for Green Deal, as it's good for the environment and
the bank account and will save lots of money.
The film then shows pictures of the various measures which have been installed at the
three properties and invites anyone who would like more information on Green Deal to go
to (web site) www.gov.uk/green-deal-energy-saving-measures