A season of community workshops and info days
For the 2025/26 cold season, The CHEESE Project was very happy to have two separate grant funds in place to offer Cold Homes workshops to communities who need it most. We had a great time getting out and about and meeting people who were interested in saving energy at home.
What was in the workshops?
The CHEESE Project has been surveying cold homes with our custom thermal imaging equipment and protocol for more than 10 years now. With over 1,300 surveys completed, our surveyors have built up a wealth of knowledge on the top causes of cold, or places you may be leaking heat.
While every home and its challenges are unique, it’s a great starting point if we can get people thinking about their home with fresh eyes, and taking a look at some of these top offenders for cold, and hopefully making some simple fixes.
So we shared an informal Top 10 Causes of Cold at Home, along with simple draughtproofing and energy saving tips, and some signposting to local and national organisations that may be able to offer support.
Special thanks to our surveyor Rob for putting together the top 10.
Thanks to the grant funding, we were able to match up some of our workshop guests with free surveys, or subsidised homeowner surveys, as well as hand out bags of free draughtproofing materials, and offer sandwiches and hot drinks on the day.
Where did we go?
It was our pleasure to run workshops in Hartcliffe, Lockleaze, Southmead and Lawrence Weston, along with a webinar for those who couldn’t make it in person. Thanks to Caring in Bristol, Lockleaze Neighbourhood Trust, The Greenway Centre and The Rock Community Centre for their support in getting the word out and connecting us with local groups.
Our Lawrence Weston workshops and free surveys have been made possible thanks to a Quartet Express grant via the Ben Durston Community First Fund and Bristol Port Company Fund. Our other sessions were funded through the Energy Industry Voluntary Redress Scheme.
We also held some info days in Hartcliffe and Lawrence Weston, where we gathered brilliant local organisations such as Bristol Energy Network, Resilience Network, Caring in Bristol, Retrofit West, Clean Slate, North Bristol Advice Centre, South Bristol Advice Service, NHS Vaccination Service, Shelter and Bristol Family Hubs.
We have funding for a further 3 workshops in the 2026/27 Autumn-Winter season. If you run a regular group that might be interested in a session from The CHEESE Project, get in touch.
What people said
All our respondents agreed that the workshop had helped them to understand where their home might be losing heat, that they felt more confident about saving energy at home, and that the workshop had motivated them to take some kind of energy saving action.
“Very informative. Realise there are things I can initiate myself. And also I hadn’t realised until now was an issue.”
“Very interesting in where heat actually goes. Spaces you never thought of.”
Watch the webinar here
For our unofficial top causes of cold, draughtproofing tips and some QnA, watch on YouTube.
More resources:
Head to our Projects page for pdf booklets on common causes of cold depending on housing type. You can also check out our Resources page for various links. We also share a draughtproofing tip monthly in our newsletter, along with updates and events from CHEESE and the local community.