The UK Green Building Council has responded to the announcement that the government will allocate a further £30m to boost its Green Deal energy efficiency scheme.
From Wednesday 10 December, households in England and Wales will be able to apply for up to £5,600 towards the cost of installing energy efficiency measures through the latest round of the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund (GDHIF).
Of the £30m, £24m has been allocated for solid wall insulation and £6m for other energy saving measures such as cavity wall insulation, double glazing and boilers.
The first round of the GDHIF was closed suddenly overnight in July after the allocated budget was reached due to popular demand.
Richard Twinn, policy and public affairs officer at the UK Green Building Council, said: “Full marks to the government for listening to industry and making sensible changes to the fund.
“A more robust application process is likely to result in fewer speculative applications and prevent the feeding frenzy witnessed last summer. Ring fenced funding will also stop the fund being completely swallowed up by the most expensive energy saving measures.
“However, this is still a finite pot of funding that will create uncertainty for both householders and industry when it inevitably runs dry.”
