Wednesday 22nd September 2010 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Rogue traders must not be allowed to take advantage of the 250,000 jobs that the Government expects to be created as part of the Green Deal ‘revolution’, warns the Federation of Master Builders (FMB)
The Green Deal is the Government’s refit scheme aimed at reducing carbon emissions from existing buildings and making them more energy efficient. In his speech to the Liberal Democrat Conference, Energy Secretary Chris Huhne MP said the Green Deal, “could also create a whole new industry that will help offset the drag anchor of the budget squeeze” and would bring local jobs to “every community across the country.” Under the Green Deal scheme energy companies will pay up front for energy efficiency improvements and will recover their spending from energy bill savings that result. In a potentially significant move for the building industry, the Government has also committed to extending the Green Deal to cover businesses as well as households.
Brian Berry, Director of External Affairs at the FMB said:
"Housing is responsible for more than a quarter of the UK’s carbon emissions and as new build only equates to around to 0.75% of the total housing stock in any one year, it is essential that a market is created to drive the retrofitting of our existing stock. The Energy Secretary is right to talk about the economic benefits of the Green Deal because we know from research commissioned by the FMB from Oxford University that retrofitting the UK’s existing 26 million homes has the potential to add between £3.5 billion and £6.5 billion to the existing repairs, maintenance and improvement market for housing. However, financial incentives such as a reduction in Council Tax or VAT are desperately needed to help provide the up-front costs and kick-start the retrofit market.
Berry warned:
“The extra demand created by the Green Deal must not fill the order books of cowboy builders. It is important that those charged with carrying out the energy efficiency improvement work are recognised as competent in order to safeguard householders as well as reputable builders. The FMB believes a registration or accreditation scheme is necessary to determine the approved installers and to prevent the work going to rogue traders, who would risk standards and thereby undermine the scheme.”
