Building Retrofit Plan service Frequently Asked Questions

• What is the Building Retrofit Plan service?

  The Building Retrofit Plan (BRP) is a new ReFLEX service which offers business and home-owners support in evaluating and improving the energy efficiency of their properties. We’ll survey your home and provide a step-by-step bespoke retrofit plan to guide you on the low carbon technologies you could use to improve your home – including insulation, heating, EV charging, solar and batteries - and advise on the order to complete the upgrades so that you can take full advantage of any available funding to help you.

• What does the BRP survey include?

  We’ll complete a thorough assessment of your property and energy usage and use the information to identify aspects of your property that can be improved. The survey will include a Full Energy Performance Certification survey, a Retrofit Assessment and an occupancy condition report, FLIR Thermal Imaging, Ventilation Assessment and Radon testing (if you live in a radon high-risk area).

• I rent my home, can I still have the survey done?

  Yes, but you will need to get your landlords permission. We need to see a signed and dated letter from them authorising us to go ahead with the survey.

• How do I know if my property is suitable?

  We can carry out a survey on almost all residential properties - it needs to be habitable, i.e. water-tight and have electricity and running water.

• I have already had some work carried out by Warmworks, will I still be able to have a survey?

  Yes, we can still carry out a survey and see what other measures might further improve the energy efficiency of your property, in addition to the work done by Warmworks.

• I can’t afford to get all the work done in one go, is it still worth having a survey?

  Absolutely! The service is all about looking at the work in phases, and identifying the best order to carry out the measures to ensure that you can access any funds and grants that may be available. It is also a long-term plan, so you may decide to do one or two measures and then a while until you do the next – it’s all about doing what is comfortable for what you can afford and letting you stay in control.

• What if I live in a conservation area or have a listed building?

  We will take into consideration the listed status of your building and area, so that any potential restrictions, adaptations or additional permissions required are taken into account in your Building Retrofit Plan. Each measure will need to be looked at separately and any work would need to be sympathetic to the property. Once you have the BRP we may advise you to consult with your local planning authority and possibly a conservation architect.

• I have already insulated my home, replaced all of the heating and have solar panels – is it worth me still having a survey?

  We look at each property individually and we would need to speak with you to consider whether there are potential further measures that could improve you energy efficiency or not. If you have a current EPC we would always look at that before we arrange to come out and do a survey for you. We would then arrange a telephone call to discuss your options and whether a BRP is a suitable survey for your property. If you don’t have a current EPC, it may be that the EPC is all you need rather than a full BRP. We want to provide a service that is open and honest and good value for our customers so we will always consult with you.

If you have any questions that we haven’t answered here, or want to find out more about the Building Retrofit Plan service, please get in touch with our team at info@reflexorkney.co.uk