Momentum is building for the Great British Refurb
24 April 2009

“Bill Hazleton, HSE Inspector, said: “This tragic case emphasises the importance of maintaining and checking gas appliances. Carbon Monoxide gas is a silent killer, you cannot smell or see it.

“Landlords have a duty to maintain their gas appliances, and it is illegal and highly dangerous not to have them checked yearly by a competent, registered gas fitter.” Elisabeth Giaque was living with her family in a rented house in Castle Close, Wimbledon.

On 4 February 2005 her parents went out for the evening, leaving their three children in the care of their nanny. On their return they found the six-year-old unconscious in her bedroom. She was rushed to hospital where she died two days later. It was later established that she died from carbon monoxide. Four days later, two other family members who had stayed overnight in Elisabeth’s room, collapsed and were taken to hospital.

They were also found to be suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning. It is the duty of the landlord to ensure gas appliances, boilers and flues are maintained in a safe condition. An annual safety check must be undertaken by a registered installer, who must provide a record of the inspection.

Hussein Jajbhay was the owner and landlord of the property at Castle Close. The last service and maintenance of the boiler at the property was carried out in January 2002. A landlords’ gas safety certificate was issued following an inspection in January 2003, which expired more than 12 months before the fatal incident.

Hussein Jajbhay pleaded guilty to two charges under 37(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 for failure of maintenance and failure to maintain a gas fitting in a safe condition. Source: http://www.build.co.uk/construction

Britain’s 26m homes produce 27% of the UK’s carbon emissions, that’s why Kevin McCloud is calling for a revolution in your loft
Read More… 

The credit crunch could result in an increase in fatalities linked to unsafe gas and electrical installations, with over 4 in 10 people (41.4%) admitting they are more likely to tinker with their electrics or fit a new gas appliance in the current economic climate. Only 15% of respondents said they would always use a professional tradesman.
Read More…

On 1 April 2009, the new Gas Safe Register™ replaces the CORGI gas registration scheme as Great Britain’s gas safety authority.
Read more…

Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Death ‘Result of Untested Boiler’
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is highlighting the fatal consequences of inhaling carbon monoxide gas following the death of a six-year-old girl who was poisoned by fumes from a faulty boiler.
Read More…

But here’s a fact: it’s doing the exact opposite at the moment and increasing them. Our government, meanwhile, has stalwartly set this country the target of reducing its carbon emissions by 80% by the same date. But that figure isn’t some distant, long-term objective. It’s a point on a sliding scale of carbon-saving that we need to start now.

By way of a kickstart, the government is launching its low-carbon strategy this summer that sets out a roadmap (or should that be cycleway guide?) to 2020 and should include a hard shoulder of stringent measures for homeowners. There areapproximately 26m homes in Britain, most of them as well insulated as a rabbit hutch, most of which will still be in existence in 2050. And those homes are responsible for around 27% of Britain’s carbon emissions.

So the government is going to have to get tough with all homeowners, treehuggers and petrolheads alike. None of whom are of course averse to the idea of savingenergy when it also saves money. The problem is not the long-term saving but the up-front eye-watering cost of getting your home refurbished to the sort of standard we need. People tend to either move or die of old age before recouping the financial payback of these measures.

Which is why a number of august institutions like WWF, the UK Green Building Council and the Energy Saving Trust have combined forces with Grand Designs Magazine to launch a national campaign, the Great British Refurb.

We’re on a mission to help and champion Britain’s homeowners and tenants. To develop the means to upgrade our housing stock so that it’s warmer, more comfortable, more efficient. And to persuade government to introduce new ways of financing the wholesale retrofitting of our homes and to turn them into low-carbon dwellings that can even produce energy and sell it back to the grid.

We know there are thousands – probably millions – of people who would love to refurbish their home to a higher standard, use less energy and even produce their own. So at the heart of our campaign will be a petition to the prime minister – asking the government to make it easier and more affordable for people to green their homes. The petition will ask for intelligent ways of spreading out the cost of green refurbishment and for financial incentives to persuade people to take the leap.

And our campaign takes on the practical, knee-tremblingly difficult challenges as well. Britain’s older housing is immensely varied, dependent on vernacular styles and a vast range of materials that give the historic built environment of the British Isles a lot of charm and diversity. We can’t just slap insulation board over every home in the country and then apply a coat of efficient German render. We need carefully tailored solutions from a re-energised construction industry. We need an army of properly accredited and trained installers and the involvement of surveyors and architects as local consultants. I’d like to see communities come together to empower themselves and for the government to provide local grant aid.

But we need to start doing all this right now. The budget tossed us a few green scraps, but didn’t go anywhere near far enough. To keep to the 2020 carbon goal and the government’s eventual target of refurbishing 7m homes by 2020, we need to have retrofitted a whopping 50,000 homes to low-carbon standards by the end of 2010. By the end of 2011, another 100,000. By 2020 we need to be refurbishing at least 1.6m homes a year. It is a mighty task but one not beyond the capabilities of our now-dormant construction industry nor our design professions.

Momentum is building. An incredibly well-timed initiative by the Guardian, Green your home, also began this week and I’m looking forward to viewing the blog entries and video diaries. It’s all fuel to the cool, green, carbon-free fire. Which is what this campaign is about: a public mandate for a revolution in our lofts.

FREE entry into our prize draws giving you the chance to receive a free gas boiler and installation!

What’s more there’s no obligation to settle the loan before the BNPL period expires, you can simply continue to make monthly repayments at the interest rate shown on your loan agreement. †

Buy Now, Pay Later Finance Example:

The example below is based on a cash price of £2000.