The four-in-a-block former coal board homes at Wallace Crescent in Roslin were built nearly seventy years ago using solid brick, which has poor thermal performance. Today, half of the properties are owned by the Association and the rest are privately owned.

Castle Rock Edinvar put together the successful bid for £342,500 funding from the Home Energy Efficiency Programmes Capital Acceleration Programme (HEEPS-CAP) to install external wall insulation and engaged with other owners in the street who were able to take advantage of subsidised works. Now complete, the result is not just warmer homes but a much brighter and more appealing neighbourhood.

Managing director Richard Jennings said: “The post-war construction of these houses meant the solid brick walls were not suitable for more straightforward methods of improving the thermal performance, such as cavity wall insulation. The benefits of installing the external wall insulation are lower energy costs and enhanced appeal. Wallace Crescent looks like a new street as a result.

“We estimate that residents will save up to £200 on their fuel bills a year thanks to the insulation alone. Overall we had a very high level of owner engagement, which allowed 58 out of the 60 flats to be treated and although private owners had to make a financial contribution to the work, without the grant subsidy they would have had to shoulder full capital costs. It is a great example of partnership working for the benefit of a neighbourhood as a whole.”

The contractor for the project was E.ON Energy Solutions.