INSULATON QUALITY STANDARDS – IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Background

The National Insulation Association is the leading trade association for insulation measures and companies in the UK and our members include the manufacturers, system designers and installers of cavity wall, external wall, internal wall, loft, roof and floor insulation and draught proofing.

Our members are required to meet our robust membership criteria and work to all appropriate industry standards and abide by our strict code of professional practice.  This means that by choosing an NIA member to carry out the work there is added reassurance and recourse compared to using non NIA members.

 

As a result an increasing number of specifiers and advice agencies including energy companies, Government Schemes, Local Authorities, Housing Associations and the Energy Saving Trust are choosing and recommending the use of our members.

Important Developments in Quality Standards and Regulations

There are some very significant developments currently taking place in the insulation industry which will impact on quality and standards of workmanship and customer redress which we wanted to bring to your attention.

The independent review of quality and standards in the energy efficiency industry being carried out by Peter Bonfield is due to report shortly however, there is already work being carried out linked to it which will impact on industry standards.

PAS2030 which governs the standards that insulation installers must operate to is currently being revised and a new specification will be published in early 2017.  This will include robust standards and requirements for installers including the assessment of properties to receive insulation measures, the system design, physical installation and handover to the property owner.

We are directly involved in this work and we are developing new industry standards for external wall insulation, cavity wall insulation, room in roof insulation and loft insulation which will be referenced in PAS2030.   We will require all our members to adhere to these new standards and if any of them fail to do so we have the powers to take appropriate disciplinary action.

Find Out More 

Our new standards include industry leading specifications and best practice guides which will provide greater reassurance and recourse to specifiers and householders in the use of NIA members.

We would therefore strongly recommend that specifies and householders use NIA members.  Details of our members can be found on our website www.nia-uk.org

Free Service for Specifiers of Insulation Works

We have introduced a new FREE service to help specifiers find NIA members to work on their projects.

The new’ expressions of interest service allows specifers to provide us with details of their  forthcoming  projects and specifications and we will then issue requests for information and tender requests to our members on their behalf saving time and money.  For more details of the service email bev.hodson@nia-uk.org

NIA Members Special Briefing Event

On Wednesday 5^th October 2016 the National Insulation Association held a special members briefing event at the Building Research Establishment in Watford attended by 90 of its members. 

The event covered Quality, Standards and Consumer Redress, Government Energy Efficiency Policy and Programmes and the ECO Extension.  It included presentations by Peter Bonfield, Chair of Each Home Counts Review, the British Board of Agrement, Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy and Ofgem.

During his talk Peter Bonfield commended the NIA and its members on their leadership in the work they are doing in the development of new industry wide specifications and schemes to provide additional quality assurance in support of the Each Home Counts Review and revisions to PAS2030.  These developments cover cavity wall insulation, external wall insulation, loft insulation and room in roof insulation.

The BBA gave an insight into a how Brexit could affect the industry and its work in helping to instil confidence in consumers, the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy provided an update on the current political landscape, its policy developments to stimulate the uptake of insulation and address fuel poverty.  They acknowledged that more work was needed to address the solid wall insulation market which is still relatively untouched and yet there are over 7 million properties still in need of SWI.  Ofgem completed the line up with details of the new deemed scores and rules for the ECO Extension from April 2017. 

In the afternoon the NIAs CEO Neil Marshall provided a comprehensive update on the activities that NIA is undertaking to support its members and how the NIA provides its members with a strong collective voice.

Commenting on the day Neil Marshall said: "One of the key benefits of being a member of the NIA is receiving important information and advice to aid members business planning and gain competitive advantage vs non-member companies.  This event enables our members to receive the latest news affecting the insulation industry and also provided an excellent networking opportunity. We are planning more of these types of events during 2017 in order to keep our members fully updated." 

Companies interested in finding out more about the benefits of NIA membership should contact Bev.hodson@nia-uk.org 01525 383313