Contractor A.C. Whyte & Co, alongside FMB Scotland director Gordon Nelson and Edinburgh City Council building surveying manager Mark Connelly, led 20 delegates around the Murrayburn estate, a mixed tenement block being redeveloped as part the council’s Mixed Tenure Improvement Service.

Murrayburn is located in Wester Hailes, a deprived area of Scotland, and for the past 18 months has been the site of a pilot programme combining energy efficiency improvements with building repairs.

The repairs and upgrades to this block form part of a larger regeneration project that aims to improve the Wester Hailes area, a key part of the council’s aim to deliver “place-based 20-minute neighbourhoods” over the next 10-15 years.

Thanks to recent changes in the Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004, A.C. Whyte and Edinburgh City Council have been able to include energy efficiency improvements as part of the repairing project.

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By enhancing external insulation in a specification laid out by Wetherby Systems, these homes will be significantly more energy efficient; Sean McGuire, contract manager at A.C. Whyte & Co, noted that residents of similar redevelopments reported a 30-40% reduction in their winter fuel bills.

The first phase of the scheme has proved to be successful, with more projects planned for other areas in Edinburgh.

A.C. Whyte & Co was recently awarded a further £6m in contracts for the multi-year refurbishment programme. 

For Sean, the proof of the scheme’s impact shows in the feedback he gets from residents: “It’s not uncommon that we have residents saying, ‘It’s a bit warm since you put that insulation in,” he laughed.

Mark agreed, adding: “The material difference that insulation will make for these homeowners, residents, and everyone that uses the property, is exponential.

“It’s making an immediate saving."