Knowsley park home resident says he “loves” new energy efficiency improvements

A Knowsley resident says he “loves” the energy efficiency improvements installed by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority on his park home.

Ken Tolmie has lived on Halsnead Park in Whiston for 32 years.

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Around 1,200 properties have benefited from the scheme so far, which includes a range of energy efficient improvements, such as the installation of external wall insulation, loft insulation and air source heat pumps.

Speaking to the Combined Authority’s retrofit team, Ken said the improvements have already made a big difference.

“This site is quite close to the motorway, so you can hear that as a constant sound, day or night. But the cladding which has been added has cut the sound out – so it’s certainly going to hold the heat in. There’s another three inches of cladding on there so that’s certainly going to make a big difference. As you can see yourself, it’s come out really, really well and I love it.”

Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (LCRCA) has secured £60m from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to fit energy efficiency measures to around 5,500 homes, reducing heating bills and carbon emissions for low-income households.

Housing Delivery Manager, Sharon Hanbury, said residents will feel the benefit now and throughout the winter.

“The benefits the residents will see from this are pretty wide ranging. Even in summer, evenings can get chilly, so older people will put their heating on. But we’ve already had feedback from residents to say that they haven’t had to since having the insulation added because the homes are retaining the heat from the daytime. On top of that, when they do put their heating on, they will find that their homes will retain that heat and so actually need to use less and this is really important with the cost of living crisis. So anything that we can do to reduce that is really beneficial.”