Green home owner invites Ayrshire neighbours to look through the keyhole

Ayrshire residents have the chance to look through the keyhole at one of Scotland’s most inspirational green homes this weekend when Beith homeowners, Sandy and Ann Dickson, open their doors to the public.

The open day is part of a series of ‘Green Designs’ open doors events showcasing a selection of properties on the Green Homes Network, managed by the Energy Saving Trust.

Visitors can look around, chat to the owner about their experiences, and get specialist advice about energy efficiency and renewable technology for their own property from Home Energy Scotland.

The homes taking part across Scotland this year include sustainable new builds, unique eco-homes and historic properties that have been modernised with green technology.

And the Dicksons’ aspirational self-build home, featuring complementary technologies ranging from heat recovery and heat pump systems, solar panels and enhanced insulation and glazing, definitely has the ‘wow factor’. Their journey started in 2011 when they decided to demolish their home of 30 years and build a new, more efficient home on the same site.

Sandy said: “The inspiration came from not wanting to have a draughty and hard-to-heat building with expensive oil-fired heating. And from my own research into energy saving technologies, we knew that incorporating these into the design would help us achieve our goals from the start.”

Anthony Kyriakides, renewables manager at the Energy Saving Trust in Scotland, said: “The Dicksons are great ambassadors for the Green Homes Network and will be more than happy to share helpful and honest insights with everyone who visits. What’s more, they will show that all homes no matter how big, small, new or old can be made greener, more comfortable and cheaper to run.”

The property will be open to visitors on 13 August 2016 from 10am to 3pm. For more information or to find details on other events visit greenhomesopendays.org.uk.