Loco Home and Under One Roof have partnered to explore what the Scottish Government’s new Heat in Buildings Bill will mean for tenement owners. The Bill will include minimum energy efficiency and clean heating regulations for dwellings, which could mean that tenement owners will have to retrofit insulation and clean heating. Together, Loco Homes and Under One Roof undertook a feasibility study of the retrofit needs of a typical tenement building in Glasgow, which like many tenement buildings required stonework repairs and roof tile replacements before retrofitting insulation could take place.  

The study found that while running cost savings could be considerable if heat pumps were installed, tenement owners face significant challenges with the cost and co-ordination of this work. Work done to common areas of the building requires owners to make decisions together, which could hinder progress. The study recommends that, currently, the most achievable approach is one which involves few changes to common areas, and instead installs heat pumps on a flat-by-flat basis. To combat the costs and co-ordination difficulties, the report recommends a governance framework of compulsory homeowners’ associations and mandatory contributions to building reserve funds. Watch a video summarising the report, featuring Under One Roof founder Annie Flint, here. 

Click here to read the report in full