The Scottish Parliament recorded the following questions and answers concerning energy efficiency and the historic Built Environment (BE), reported by BEFS, that cover matters such as Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) for stone built properties, to accredited assessors and construction costs in rural areas.
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The Scottish Parliamentary record states:
- Question S5W-11855: Graham Simpson, Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, Date Lodged: 06/10/2017
- To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers the Energy Performance Certificate to be appropriate for stone-built properties, and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.
- Answered by Kevin Stewart (25/10/2017):
- The Scottish Government is committed to improving the energy efficiency of all types of buildings across Scotland as part of Scotland’s Energy Efficiency Programme (SEEP). A key element of SEEP will be to ensure that we have a workforce with the right skills, including those for traditional buildings, in the right places and numbers to deliver the programme aims. We will publish a routemap on the future direction of the programme next year.
- With reference to grant aided projects improving traditional buildings, Historic Environment Scotland (HES) actively support professional body accreditation and also require a lead professional for grant schemes to be conservation accredited.
- HES continues to support the retrofit sector, contributing technical material for the development of skills and qualifications in this area, linking in with wider further education provision at all levels and the resources to develop qualifications at Trade, supervisory and assessment levels in thermal refurbishment.
(Question S5W-11855)
- Question S5W-11854: Graham Simpson, Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, Date Lodged: 06/10/2017
- To ask the Scottish Government how it can ensure that there will be a supply chain of professional accredited assessors for traditional buildings; how it will assess their accreditation standards, what steps it is taking to ensure that training and qualifications are developed to establish a qualified workforce to support the installation of energy efficiency measures.
- Answered by Kevin Stewart (25/10/2017):
- The Scottish Government is committed to improving the energy efficiency of all types of buildings across Scotland as part of Scotland’s Energy Efficiency Programme (SEEP). A key element of SEEP will be to ensure that we have a workforce with the right skills, including those for traditional buildings, in the right places and numbers to deliver the programme aims. We will publish a routemap on the future direction of the programme next year.
- With reference to grant aided projects improving traditional buildings, Historic Environment Scotland (HES) actively support professional body accreditation and also require a lead professional for grant schemes to be conservation accredited.
- HES continues to support the retrofit sector, contributing technical material for the development of skills and qualifications in this area, linking in with wider further education provision at all levels and the resources to develop qualifications at Trade, supervisory and assessment levels in thermal refurbishment.
(Question S5W-11854)
- Question S5W-11853: Graham Simpson, Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, Date Lodged: 06/10/2017
- To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that lessons learned from failing energy retrofit remedies to traditional buildings are made available to homeowners and assessors.
- Answered by Kevin Stewart (25/10/2017):
- In projects across Scotland, our ‘HEEPS’ Area Based Schemes programme is delivered by local authorities, and our Warmer Homes Scotland scheme is delivered by Warmworks throughout Scotland to a range of properties. Warmworks, local authorities and their agents always use only systems and methods approved by accreditation bodies for the type of property. For this reason, very few retrofit remedies fail. In the event they do, we work with councils, accreditation bodies and bodies such as the BRE to understand why, and encourage the development of appropriate solutions
- With projects grant aided by Historic Environment Scotland (HES), HES requires a suitably accredited professional to be employed to provide a service appropriate to the nature and scale of the project. Through the use of such accredited professionals, lessons learned are continually being shared and working practices improved.
(Question S5W-11853)
- Question S5W-11852: Graham Simpson, Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, Date Lodged: 06/10/2017
- To ask the Scottish Government whether it will put measures or exemptions in place in energy efficiency legislation to ensure that (a) important heritage, (b) listed and (c) pre-1919 buildings are protected from inappropriate adaptations.
- Answered by Kevin Stewart (25/10/2017):
- The Scottish Government is committed to improving the energy efficiency of all types of buildings across Scotland as part of Scotland’s Energy Efficiency Programme (SEEP) and we will publish a routemap on the future direction of the programme next year.
- The special characteristics of listed buildings identified under the terms of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 are already taken into account within the planning process when changes to the building in question are proposed.
- In reference to non-listed buildings, as part of the recent consultation on setting minimum energy efficiency standards in private rented housing, we sought views on an assessment which would recommend only technically appropriate measures to meet a standard, and on what skills would be needed of an assessor. Views were also sought on how to address situations where improvements were not technically appropriate for the property. Scottish Ministers are considering the response to the consultation, and will confirm standards in due course.
- Views will also be sought from winter 2017-18 on options to incentivise appropriate improvements to energy efficiency in existing owner occupied housing.
(Question S5W-11852)
- Question S5W-12065: Liam McArthur, Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats, Date Lodged: 17/10/2017
- To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made to make buildings more energy efficient since it was announced that this would be designated as a national infrastructure priority.
- Answered by Kevin Stewart (06/11/2017)
- Scotland’s Energy Efficiency Programme (SEEP) will be the cornerstone of delivering the national infrastructure priority. We are developing Scotland’s Energy Efficiency Programme. During the initial phases of the Programme we are focusing on delivering existing programmes more effectively and developing new pilot schemes to test delivery mechanisms for domestic and non-domestic buildings. to, our residential, services and industrial sectors. We will publish a routemap on the future direction of the programme next year
- We are delivering the 2016 PfG commitment to make half a billion pounds available over the next 4 years. The Scottish House Condition Survey is used to track improvements to the energy efficiency of Scotland’s homes. The 2015 survey showed that around two-fifths of homes now has an EPC Rating of Band C or above. The 2016 survey will be published in December 2017.
(Question S5W-12065)
- Question S5W-12179: Michelle Ballantyne, South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, Date Lodged: 24/10/2017
- To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce the cost of building houses in rural areas compared with urban areas.
- Answered by Kevin Stewart (06/11/2017)
- The cost of building new houses is largely dependent on local factors such as land price, site conditions, infrastructure, building materials, size of the development etc.
- The Scottish Government recognises there are some significant differences in the housing market of rural Scotland and in 2016 we launched the Rural and Islands Housing Funds with the aim to increase the long term availability of affordable residential housing in rural Scotland. Our Affordable Housing Supply Programme benchmark subsidy levels also take into account the additional cost of constructing homes in rural, remote and island areas.
- The review of the planning system highlighted the importance of infrastructure to unlock opportunities for development and housing supply and we will introduce a Planning Bill to improve the system of development planning. Housing delivery is an on-going priority for this review, with a focus on supporting innovation in delivery, including self and custom build and alternative methods of construction.
- We have also set up the Housing Infrastructure Fund in 2016 to unblock strategically important housing sites with all types and tenures of housing eligible for support.
(Question S5W-12179)
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