AN OPPORTUNITY FOR NETWORK DEVELOPERS

This year, the AGM gives us an opportunity for a new input of energy for the Eco-Renovation Network. After nuturing the Eco-renovation Network from the beginning, the current coordinating group feel that it would be the right time to let the network 'off the leash' and watch it progress in potentially new and inspiring directions with a new team up front. 
 The Constitution of the Eco-Renovation Network requires elections to the Co-ordinating Group this year, which gives a great mechanism for that new team to put themselves forward and be endorsed by the membership. If you are interested, please contact Robert, here at Eco-Renovation. We can then send out the AGM papers for an election.

The current Co-ordinating Group feel proud of what the Network has achieved over the past few years. The Network has:
• Over 300 members
• Nearly 100 people who have attended events in the past year
• A good website and a great logo, charitable status and a bank account
• A funding application to the Climate Challenge Fund, almost guaranteed success with a bit of work to make it more local

We have shown that there is a substantial body of interest in the topic, not just from professionals and official agencies but also from ordinary householders and families. We have developed a range of activities which bring people together to help them move from concern to action, and we have developed links to professionals and to sources of technical information which reduce the “fear factor” in making changes to buildings. The membership of the Network is significantly over 300, with nearly 100 people attending an event over the past year. Membership and activity has been concentrated in the West of Scotland, but this does not need to limit future activities. A funding application to the Climate Challenge Fund has been unsuccessful, although a revised application has been invited. The Fund will only give money for locally-based activities, which means that any application would have to be grounded in a local area with the Network as the legal entity which administers the project. The new Co-ordinating Group may well decide to submit a revised application as part of their revived strategy.

The current Co-ordinating Group feel that they have taken the Network as far as they can. Interest remains strong, and it is time for a new Co-ordinating Group to take the Network forward in this environment. It will be for that new group to decide whether to focus locally or nationally. The existing members of the Group are committed to ensuring a smooth handover to a new group, and will remain involved long enough to ensure that this happens successfully. In the absence of new leadership, the existing Group (who all have personal reasons for moving on now) will have to move towards winding-up the charity.

There has been a substantial change in the profile of this topic in the last three years. When we started out, even those bodies concerned with environmental aspects of buildings paid far less attention to existing building than to new-build. There was indeed a common argument at the time that the improvement in energy performance by new-build was so significant that we should just give up on almost all older houses. The Network never accepted the realism of this argument. The replacement of the entire housing stock was a mere fantasy, beyond the capacity of any country. The carbon cost of building, even low-carbon buildings, would mean that such a project worsened climate-change for a considerable period before the benefits started to be felt. At a human level, many of our existing domestic buildings provide homely and appreciated environments, and are a key part of the physical fabric of our country. While an eco-renovated building can only rarely achieve the energy performance of a brand new eco-building, concentrating on eco-renovation is a far more effective way to reduce carbon emissions and other environmental negatives of domestic buildings in the UK. This argument is now over. Recent announcements from the UK and Scottish Governments, as well as papers from academic and professional bodies, covered in our bulletins and referenced on our website, show that the case for eco-renovation has been made. Implementation is a whole different matter, however. There is as yet a lack of willingness to make the legislative, regulatory, and financial changes necessary for widescale improvement in the energy performance of the existing housing stock. The Network needs to move on and respond to this changed environment.