Rural communities rely on having a central hub for group activities and meetings, but rising energy costs and buildings that date back decades can often put these popular facilities at risk.
Kilchrenan, a small village in Argyll and Bute, faced the possibility of having to close the Village Hall as keeping it warm enough to use was becoming increasingly difficult within the budget.
“Without the changes, the hall may have closed as it was too cold to realistically be used at an affordable price.”
The hall, now owned by a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO), has been used regularly for around 90 years. It underwent major refurb in 2005, but almost 20 years later, it became obvious that changes needed to be made if it could continue to be the hub of the community.
Tina Goldsmith, one of the trustees, said:
“The board of trustees was conscious that the hall was becoming expensive to run and was energy inefficient.
“As the community uses the hall as a resilience hub, as well as for groups and events, it was obvious we needed to make it an affordable, warm space for local people and a welcoming space for anyone who wants to rent it.”
After seeing an advert, Tina contacted Business Energy Scotland for support and advice. One of our experienced consultants reviewed the property and provided a detailed report, highlighting the changes that could be made, the associated savings and emissions reduction.
With a raft of recommended work, it was estimated that the hall could cut its emissions by an incredible 79 per cent, the equivalent of 10,240 car miles.
The trustees pressed ahead with replacing all the lights with LED equivalents, insulated the roof space and installed an air source heat pump with an upgraded electrical board and remote controls for the heating.
As the building had no ‘wet’ heating system, an air-to-air split system was introduced to work with the convector system in the hall, which warms up quickly and can be shut down without any wasted heat as people leave.
Although work has been only recently completed, the benefits are already showing.
“We aren’t completely sure of the exact savings, but we can already tell it is costing less to heat and it feels more comfortable to be inside on a cold day.
“We have had extremely positive feedback from some of the regular groups who use the hall. They immediately noticed how much warmer it felt and that it was safer to leave in the dark with the new external LED lights.”
The trustees took advantage of a grant from the Scottish Government’s Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES), managed by Local Energy Scotland, to fund the heat pump. They also took out a Scottish Government interest-free SME loan with cashback to finance the rest of the work.
Tina said: “Without the changes, the hall may have closed as it was too cold to realistically be used at an affordable price. The report we received from Business Energy Scotland and the support offered alongside this were fundamental.”
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