NIA to host Solid Wall Insulation Summit to take forward recommendations from Chief Construction Advisers Report

In November 2015, Peter Hansford the Chief Construction Adviser published a report to the Green Construction Board and Government ‘SOLID WALL INSULATION Unlocking Demand and Driving Up Standards’. The report contained details of the huge potential for solid wall insulation and the multiple benefits that insulating the 7 million plus solid wall properties could provide.  It set out a number of key recommendations including:

• Policy measures including regulation and incentives
• Research
• Quality Standards
• Consumer awareness and engagement

Whilst the Green Construction Board and Government were invited to respond to the recommendations, the Chief Construction Adviser said in the report that he believed that industry can take early action without necessarily waiting for Government’s response.

Responding on behalf of industry at the launch of the report on 12th November 2015 our CEO Neil Marshall welcomed the report but called for more ambitious timescales for implementation and explained that “There were plenty of examples of best practice that can be quickly and easily adopted into a unified approach and that the National Insulation Association (NIA) as the major trade body for solid wall insulation in the UK was committed to taking a leadership role in the implementation of the recommendations in the report”.

To this end, the NIA is today announcing its intention to convene a Solid Wall Insulation Summit to which it will be inviting representatives from key external stakeholders including Government, housing organisations, fuel poverty organisations, energy advice organisations etc. The aim of the Summit will be to review the recommendations contained in the report and identify which of these can be implemented without delay and how to facilitate this.

Announcing the NIA Solid Wall Insulation Summit today Neil Marshall, CEO of the NIA said: “There are over 7 million homes that have solid walls that are not insulated and among these half of all fuel poor households require solid wall insulation.  The report published by the Chief Construction Adviser last November with input from industry identified key actions that could be undertaken to unlock the potential for solid wall insulation many of which can be implemented quickly.  The report encouraged the industry to take early action and that is exactly what we are doing through hosting this Summit. I'm pleased to announce that Peter Hansford has already confirmed that he will be attending the summit."

For more information contact Neil.Marshall@nia-uk.org