Our programme helps community organisations reduce energy use in their premises and plan changes to their buildings that will move them towards net zero. Many of our groups are concerned about climate change, but they are also worried about their heating bills, want to get energy efficiency grants while they are available, or need to know what to do when their boiler fails. The programme is designed to help groups understand the big picture and give consultants and architects the right briefs so they can make use of their time more effectively. Some groups do the programme because they have received consultancy reports and still don’t know what to do or feel the report doesn’t quite fit them.
To participate, you will need to have six people who want to be involved, plus permission from the building’s owners or management. It’s really good if you can include someone who understands how decisions are made. Not everyone needs to be current staff or volunteers, especially if your building is in low occupancy. It’s always good to include representative building users, and often good to have people who know what’s lacking locally but might not use your building.
The programme involves four two-hour sessions to answer questions like:
- Is our heating right for how we use the building?
- How can we make people comfortable without damaging the planet or it costing too much?
- What does the community need and is this building suitable?
- What energy efficiency and heating changes are appropriate for how we want to use the building, and how can we plan to make them happen?
- What can we do in the meantime to make better use of energy?
In the last session, you plan a community engagement event that will start you on your journey and help justify future community grants. You will be guided in the more technical matters by a volunteer engineer. This could be someone you find yourselves in your local community, but with the kind assistance of Engineers Without Borders, we can also try to find one for you. We will help you throughout and provide training for the group organiser and engineer.
For more information, contact us at join@heathack.org or read the Introduction to our programme Guide Book.
We provide the following information sheet and presentation for use with boards and other decision makers: