Visitors to the Big Green Home exhibition at the National Self Build & Renovation Centre in Swindon were treated to helpful advice on making their homes energy efficient, thanks to the experts from Wiltshire’s largest independent estate agent Strakers.

Strakers’ four Domestic Energy Assessors, along with its chartered surveyor Jim Dutch (also a DEA), had a stand at the show, which featured celebrities including Tommy Walsh (of Groundforce fame) and Dick Strawbridge (whose family’s journey to being green has been featured on the BBC).

Jim and the other DEAs were giving advice to visitors on ways to make their homes more efficient. Home Information Packs – now needed on properties on the market which have three or more bedrooms – require an Energy Performance Certificate, and the more energy efficient the property, the better the energy rating.

Said Jim: “HIPs heralded the arrival of the EPC, but now people are interested in getting them done anyway, as a kind of before and after they have, for example, renovated a property.

“The example I use is inheriting a property from a relative. It is a good idea to get one of our DEAs in beforehand to give advice on how a property can be made more energy efficient, then getting  them back afterwards to see how much the energy rating has improved.

“Things like better loft insulation, double glazing, cavity wall insulation, and low energy light bulbs really make a difference.”

Jim said the response from the public was very positive. And the highlight of the show was, for him, meeting Dick Strawbridge, whose journey of going green has been chronicled on the BBC.

“I am very impressed by some of the things he has done, like the compost toilet and a motor car propelled by old chip pan oil. I am not sure all of them are achievable for most people but, you never know, one day perhaps we will all be green,” said Jim.

Archive index | Front page