Energy Savings for Bristol City Council households: Q-Bot to retrofit 160 properties under the Green Home Grant Local Authority Delivery Scheme
Bristol City Council successfully applied for the Green Home Grant - Local Authority Delivery Scheme phase 1B to deliver energy saving measures to low-income, low EPC rated households within Bristol and North Somerset. The council’s energy team has created the Bright Green Homes project and intend to install underfloor insulation to suspended floors to 160 homes with BEIS funding.
Bristol City Council is a unitary authority with an elected Mayor and a population of 437,500, and is the seventh largest English city outside London. Bristol City Council spends around £300 million per year on various works, goods and services to bring benefits to the City and its residents. Many of these are provided by external providers, such as Q-Bot.
Councillor Nicola Beech, Cabinet Member with responsibility for Climate, Ecology, Waste and Energy said: “We’re delighted to have been successful in our application for this much-needed funding to support our efforts to reduce fuel poverty and decarbonise Bristol homes.
“We know that tackling household emissions will have a big part to play in our continuing journey to become a carbon neutral city by 2030, and schemes like this can have a tremendous impact for reducing household energy bills.”
Acting as managing agent on the resident’s behalf, the project aims to fully fund measures for eligible homes up to the value of £10,000 per property by the end of September 2021. The team is already promoting the project through marketing activities to pre-select households that meet eligibility criteria suitable for the installation of Q-Bot’s underfloor insulation.
Q-Bot’s method of installing underfloor insulation is an innovative, minimally disruptive approach. More than 10 million homes in the UK have suspended timber flooring and very few have been insulated due to the disruption and cost of doing so. Older homes with timber flooring can lose a significant amount of heat. Installing suspended timber floor insulation without uplifting flooring is a challenge that Q-Bot’s underfloor insulation is designed to mitigate. Controlled remotely, a Q-Bot’s robot sprays insulation onto the underside of the floorboards, then verifies that the work has been done correctly. They are very powerful, allowing them to operate in the very challenging and inhospitable environment found under floors.
Q-Bot met key requirements providing a BBA certificate (British Board of Agrément) and a 25-year material warranty. The company is also required to carry out all relevant actions necessary for the works to qualify for Green Homes Grant funding. This includes providing any assistance, documentation, data and access to Bristol City Council for compliance.
“Bristol’s One City Plan is the sort of bold approach that will inspire action throughout the west country and beyond. Their specific commitments around retrofit as part of a wider Homes and Communities commitment, will see Bristol become a hub for the low carbon economy. Q-Bot is extremely proud to be playing its part in supporting this initiative, helping meet the needs of the local community, reducing carbon emissions, taking people out of fuel poverty, creating jobs and giving people warmer homes.” – Martin Jervis, Chief Commercial and Operating Officer, Q-Bot
Working in partnership, Bristol City Council and Q-Bot share strong social values to maximise benefits to households while minimising overall impact on the local and global environment. Climate change is one of the greatest challenges humanity faces today, and drastic decisions are being made to restore the planet. Through this project of insulating 160 properties, the installation of underfloor insulation will save a total of 2,890 tCO2e (based on the expected lifetime impact of 42 years). This equates to 43,351 tree seedlings grown for 10 years. Further to CO2 savings, householders will be able to save on average £110 a year in a gas-heated home or £255 in an electrically heated home (verified by Energy Saving Trust).
Bristol City Council has an excellent reputation for delivering consistently high service to clients and their customers. And so does Q-Bot, who has experience in surveying and installing its robotic solution in thousands of homes. This has led to the development of a customer focussed approach to delivery designed to keep clients, residents and tenants well informed and ultimately satisfied with the work we complete for them. Q-Bot has a referral rate of over 90% with private homeowners and 86% of tenants would recommend Q-Bot’s measure to others.
More information on Bristol City Council’s Bright Green Homes Scheme can be found on their Energy Service website: https://www.energyservicebristol.co.uk/funding/