Article date:18 October 2010
Written by:Jose Espinosa
A 16-storey apartment block in Bristol is the first project in the UK to be completed under the Government's flagship Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP).
The project, part funded by EDF Energy - the UK's largest producer of low-carbon electricity - successfully delivered energy saving measures to Rawnsley House, helping residents reduce their fuel bills and cut their carbon emissions.
The apartment block has now benefitted from a new external
insulated cladding system and a number of replacement windows, plus
a new insulated roof.
The project stakeholders include carbon reduction company Sustain,
which is managing the CESP delivery, Rok the principle contractors,
Bristol City Council which is the landlord of the property and EDF
Energy, which is promoting and helping to fund the energy saving
measures.
CESP is a Government initiative which requires energy generators and suppliers to fund energy saving measures in homes in low income areas.
Angus Wilby, head of energy services at EDF Energy, said: "This is a real milestone for CESP as it was the first project in Great Britain to get under way, and is now the first to be completed. EDF Energy is committed to helping its customers become energy efficient and will be contributing around £65m to the initiative over the life of the programme.
"We would like to thank our CESP partners - Sustain, Rok and Bristol City Council, for their hard work in delivering the efficiency measures."
Sustain's role in the project was to manage the funding application process, recommend appropriate energy efficiency measures and ensure they were delivered on time.
Jim Wrigley, senior associate at Sustain, said: "This project has set a high standard for other CESP initiatives.
"The work that was carried out, which included insulating the flat roof and external cladding, has resulted in a high quality energy efficiency solution and a fantastic facelift for this block. The carbon savings will enable Bristol City Council and the residents to become more resilient to future fuel price increases."
Sustain is working on two other CESP projects with EDF Energy which are nearing completion and a further four have been registered with Ofgem.
Councillor Anthony Negus, Cabinet Member for Strategic Housing and Regeneration, said: "I'm very pleased that Bristol has once again shown the way to the rest of the UK through its commitment to the green agenda by reducing energy consumption and cutting CO2 emissions.
"This project will directly benefit residents in Rawnsley House by helping them to heat their flats more cheaply, something which is particularly important in the current economic climate."
It is expected that nationally, CESP will benefit around 90,000 households from September 2009 through to December 2012.
The programme will encourage a whole-house approach to improving the energy efficiency of the UK's existing housing stock, with innovative measures like solid wall insulation, fuel switching and low carbon technologies.
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