In July 2015 the Secretary of State for the Department of Energy and
Climate Change, Amber Rudd, announced the Bonfield Review, an independent
review into quality standards and consumer protection for energy efficiency
measures. Since the start of the review
the National Insulation Association (NIA) has been directly involved in the
work taking place.
The NIA and its registered members are committed to quality and
standards and as part of its work under the Bonfield Review it has initiated
the development of new quality assurance frameworks that will apply to its
registered members installing external wall, internal wall, cavity wall, loft
insulation and draught-proofing. The
frameworks will include robust criteria for member companies and a range of
standards covering the building survey, system design, installation, after care
and maintenance. They will set the quality bar for insulation companies and
clearly differentiate its registered members from non-members.
Neil Marshall, Chief Executive of the NIA commented: “We are committed
to leading the quality agenda and this is demonstrated through our current
criteria and standards and the enhanced QA Frameworks we are now
developing. We would therefore urge
consumers and specifiers including Local Authorities, Housing Associations and
Procurement Framework Operators to use our members to carry out any insulation
work. In addition, we would urge installers
who share our values to join us now so that they can be part of the frameworks
and will not be excluded from tenders and specifications going forward.
“The NIA also runs an ‘expressions of interest and tender request’
service. Through this free service we
issue requests to our registered members on behalf of LA’s, HA’s, other
specifiers and project managers which provides them with the benefit of
avoiding the need to contact lots of different companies and is immediate, saving time and money.”
