The Green Deal programme set out in the government’s new Energy Bill will lead to the introduction of a new government-backed “quality mark” for multi-skilled individuals and rigorous assessment to make sure it avoids becoming a “cowboys charter”
Four working groups have been set up, reporting to Climate Change minister Chris Huhne, to consult the industry and advise on how new accreditation and quality assurance systems will work.
According to the plans in the DECC-sponsored Energy Bill, up to 250,000 people will be employed installing insulation, new windows and boilers to the nation’s homes in a decade. Micro-generation will be excluded from the Green Deal, as it is covered by feed-in-tariffs.
By 2012, homeowners and tenants will be able to have up to £6,500-worth of retrofit work carried out on their property. The upfront cost will be borne by energy companies or other Green Deal providers, with consumers repaying them over 25 years through a charge on their energy bills.
The four working groups have been set up to canvas industry opinion on various aspects of policy detail. Dr David Strong, formerly of BRE and now an independent consultant, is chairing the key working group on skills accreditation.
This group will carry out an audit of current competent persons schemes in relevant trades, such as FENSA (windows) and CIGA (cavity wall insulation) to work out how the new “green deal quality mark” can build on existing qualifications. Secondly, chief construction adviser Paul Morrell is chairing a group on up-skilling the industry.
An individual close to the process told CM that people should be qualified and accredited in multiple Green Deal skills. “This is vital if the intention is to avoid multiple visits. Perhaps an installer could, for example, be OK for three out of five skills, then have to do two more [training] units. We are already starting to see this kind of multi-skilling coming out in Feed-in Tariffs, where people who come from a roofing background are now doing a further qualification for Part B [in electrical wiring] or installing inverters.”
The third group, chaired by Andrew Warren, director of the Association for Conservation of Energy, will look into the practical aspects of taking the Green Deal into social and private rented homes.
The fourth group is headed by Brian Scannell, managing director of National Energy Services, the body which represents domestic energy assessors (DEAs). It will develop policy on how householders’ properties will initially be assessed, prior to works commencing, and how the work will be checked, monitored and guaranteed after installation.
The source told CM: “This work is very important because ensuring installation of what goes in is dependent on quality of advice and making sure that it is objective and appropriate. If it is mis-specified then those measures won’t pay for themselves. So the first issue is getting the specification of measures right. It is also vital that the installation is measured in a competent way and that there is adequate redress in case of issues and sufficient after-sales support. There must be a suitable complaints process and appropriate quality assurance.”
