Appleby Magna Thermal Imaging Project

Appleby Environment

Appleby Magna Parish Council

• Rural village, c. 500 houses

• Mix of housing types inc: - historic buildings - modern executive homes - social housing

• Socially mixed: - farmers, ex-miners - commuters - retired

Appleby Magna??

Working Together

Longstanding community group

Working on a range of issues

30+ supporters Enthusiastic

volunteers

Systems for managing tenders, contracts, budgets

Reassurance of ‘community interest’

Allayed privacy concerns

Appleby EnvironmentAppleby Magna Parish Council

New Approach

We all know energy saving is important

There is lots of information out there

But most of us don’t make the changes needed

Thermal imaging of our community New, visually

engaging approach

Significance of us all making changes

Simple solutions not high pressure sales

Individual Problem? Shared Problem?

Martin Hosier of TS Thermal Survey

“This has been a really unusual project.

It is interesting to compare buildings of all types and ages within one community”

What we Wanted to Achieve

Make energy saving a community issue

Make people feel their individual actions added up to something bigger

Provide people with information & options on their own property

Analyse results at community level No-one named and shamed Motivated to take action

Explaining Our Approach

Before survey Leaflets door to

door Parish News &

village website Local press

Before exhibition Repeat

Thermal Images of a Whole VillageExhibition 5th MarchAppleby Magna Church Hall

The Benefits of Publicity

Everyone knew imaging was happening & why

Positive response Only 1 person asked not to be included Many invited us onto their land to get a

better image High turnout for event Village talking point before the event

The Imaging Process

Engaged contractors TS Thermal Survey Ltd

Pictures taken over four evenings in January

We provided list of houses, location, access etc

Images linked to spreadsheet of addresses

Specialist software used to provide rating for houses (A-G) This allowed us to produce graphs of results

by housing type/road etc

Preparation

Significant effort up-front so we could use the images as we wanted

Analysis of Images

Had to learn to ‘read’ images

Combined this with local knowledge Age of

properties Property types Personal

contacts

Similar Age, Different Developer

1960s vs Victorian

Engaging People via the Exhibition Display panels

overview of findings

Rolling presentation of all images (487)

Opportunity to view image of own property

Talk to the Surveyor

Green Achievements

Generated interest in ‘mundane’ topic of insulation by using thermal imaging

Demonstrated new houses not always better than old houses can look similar, act differently ‘simple’ solutions like closing curtains make a

difference Changed people’s attitudes towards their

home’s insulation Comments like ‘I didn’t realise my cavity

walls were still letting out heat’

Community Achievements

Major talking point in the village 157 people attended the Exhibition Stands from RCC, NWLDC, National Forest

extended interest and information Tea & biscuits kept people talking! Sent out over 70 images after event

Recruited supporters to Appleby Environment More active support for our other projects on

transport and local food

How we Achieved It

Our volunteers and supporters backed by Parish Council

Twelve volunteers worked directly on the project over 160 hours,

worth £1,120

Communities Cutting Carbon fund grant of £4,250 covered 73% of

costs This allowed us to

engage professional contractors making the detailed analysis possible

Volunteers and Supporters

Communities Cutting Carbon grant

Legacy

We have Made images available to

householders Put our analysis on our website Negotiated discounts for people

who want more detailed reports Circulated information on what can

be done Shown the potential for the

community to reduce its carbon footprint

What Next?

We have raised awareness and interest and provided information ... But we need to keep up the momentum

By the time we had the exhibition it was already Spring and now we are having a warm Autumn ...

We are considering events such as ‘Open Eco-houses’, Identifying sources of low cost materials; DIY-helpers etc., Targeted leaflets etc.