‘Energy efficiency work must keep abreast of best practice’
CAVITY and external wall insulation has been installed in unsuitable properties or without due regard for best practice, according to a new report.
The work was done as part of energy improvement work in homes across Wales.
The study by Constructing Excellence in Wales (CEW) highlights the requirement to ensure that surveys correctly assess a property’s building materials, its state of repair and exposure before any refurbishment recommendations.
Once refurbishment works commence, they need to be undertaken with appropriate materials, on-site workmanship and care as to detail, as well as handover to the householder and property managers, the report says.
Wales has some of the oldest housing stock in the UK, with one third having been built before 1919. Its characteristics contribute to high fuel poverty rates.
Ensuring that energy efficiency retrofit works are undertaken appropriately and with due care is critical to helping reduce household energy bills, as well as contributing to carbon emission reductions and a more sustainable environment.
It was to examine these issues that CEW commissioned the Building Research Establishment (BRE) to undertake a review of cavity and external wall insulation in Wales.
The report outlines potential issues and unintended consequences regarding the retrofitting of cavity wall and external wall insulation to properties in Wales.
A call for evidence provided responses from more than 30 sites across Wales, representing more than 300 properties. A number of sites were visited for more in-depth surveys to be undertaken.
The findings are indicative of work undertaken in the past 10 years and the report builds on the emerging body of evidence that efforts must be renewed to pursue best practice across the industry.
BRE identified two best practice case studies, the Peuwlys estate in Old Conwy and a Willmott Dixon Energy Services project at The Beeches in Llandysul.
The main recommendations of the are:
To undertake a larger and nationally representative primary data collection exercise in Wales to identify the extent of the issues;
To undertake an assessment of the competent person’s scheme, in particular the surveying and installation elements, with a view to providing specific guidance for improvements to processes such as the assessment of risks regarding the level of exposure to wind-driven rain, and
To develop a concise maintenance guide for installers, housing managers and occupants to help ensure that basic measures are taken to protect the insulation installation and thus make failure less likely.
Milica Kitson, chief executive of CEW, said: “We need to ensure that surveys correctly assess a property’s building materials, its state of repair and exposure before any refurbishment recommendations.
“Once refurbishment works commence, they need to be undertaken with appropriate materials, on-site workmanship and care to detail, as well as handover to the householder and property managers.”