- July 2019 – June 2020
- This was the fifth survey season (October to April) when we had to operate on extremely restricted funds, having been unsuccessful in obtaining grants. All the directors continued working pro bono, including the Managing Director, Mike Andrews, for whom it was a full-time job.
- Not until January 2020 did the funding tide turn, with our success, in partnership with BEN and Re:work (from Filwood) in gaining a grant of £7,500 – repeated for 2 years – from the Bristol Impact Fund to combat fuel poverty. The BWCE Trust awarded us £4,500 towards training, staff costs and free surveys. Finally, the Triodos Foundation awarded us £1,500 towards the cost of free surveys.
- January 2020 – we won the first ever ‘Environmental Impact Award’ at the Bristol VOSCUR awards decided by public vote. It recognises local voluntary action to help reduce Bristol’s carbon footprint
- February 2020 – Conducted a thermal-imaging survey of The Reptile House at Bristol Zoo Gardens
- March 2020 – Awarded Big Innovation Pitch Award for Buildings @ FutureBuild “The built environment’s largest open call for innovation yet.” against 400 applicants!
- March 2020 – Featured on BBC Radio 4 ‘Costing the Earth’ programme.
- Then Covid appeared and we took the decision to shut down all surveying from 19th March for risk of contagion. We thus missed the most popular time for our surveying in March/April.
- We completed 114 surveys before shut-down, including 17 funded surveys (2018-19 whole season 115).
- We commissioned a second report together with Bristol University on our survey outcomes. We received 34 responses out of 91 we had surveyed – one year later.
- The key outcomes revealed: 66% of households responding had completed remedial action by one month after their survey. 87% of households responding completed remedial action by one year after their survey, showing that our surveys really stimulate clients to improve the energy efficiency of their homes.
- During lock-down, our technical director Jeremy Birch developed the first model of his bespoke Heatview® thermal camera and software which we now use for our surveys.
- We were delighted to be asked to carry out a home survey by Carla Denya, the Green Councillor who in November 2018 succeeded in persuading Bristol City Council to be the first City Council in Europe to declare a climate emergency – setting an example rapidly followed by many others around the world. This was followed by their voting to make Bristol carbon-neutral by 2030. Carla’s response to our survey:
- “I now know about lots of little ways in which my home is leaking heat, most of which are cheap and easy to fix. For your comfort, your wallet and the climate I thoroughly recommend it.”
