Warmworks wins Scottish Government national fuel poverty programme bid

By Nicola McLeod, Scotland Division Managing Director

Eight years ago, Warmworks was founded to deliver the first phase of the Scottish Government’s national fuel poverty scheme, Warmer Homes Scotland.

The eight years since have seen us deliver heating and energy efficiency upgrades to more than 33,000 homes across Scotland and expand our service provision across the UK, from Shetland to Sittingbourne and hundreds of communities in between.

And now, we’re very proud to share that we have been successful in our bid to deliver the next phase of the Scottish Government’s national fuel poverty scheme.

The importance of this moment for Warmworks cannot be understated. It represents an endorsement of the values-driven approach that we have taken in the delivery of the Warmer Homes Scotland scheme. It is a backing of the approach that sees us put our customers front and centre of everything we do, with careful attention to delivering high-quality work in a way that prioritises our customers’ safety and care. This approach will be the hallmark of how we deliver the new scheme as we go forward.

We also recognise the scale of the responsibility that has been entrusted to us. This is one of the biggest contracts that the Scottish Government has awarded to any one organisation, in terms of its financial value. And we’ll be beginning the delivery of this historic new contract at a time when many people are experiencing difficulties in balancing the need to stay warm at home with the cost of doing so. Our goal is to make sure the scheme can provide the best possible help, support and overall service to all of those who need it.

One of our main priorities for this new scheme will be making sure people can stay affordably warm whilst balancing the need for reducing carbon emissions from our homes. We will focus on offering low carbon heating technologies where possible, such as air source heat pumps, and we are ready to meet this challenge, with the last two years of the Warmer Homes Scotland scheme each representing record years for air source heat pump installations.

Warmworks’ success in being awarded this contract is shared by our partners, particularly our supply chain of local, registered installers. Our network of accredited sub-contractors has been a pivotal part of our success under the first phase of Warmer Homes Scotland. Our customers have taken comfort that the people entering their homes were professional, trustworthy and would provide a first-class service.

This new contract has the potential to provide even more meaningful, sustainable jobs for our team and our supply chain into the next decade, and offers a fantastic opportunity for us to build on the strong foundations we have established through the 33,000 homes that we’ve already supported under the first phase of the Warmer Homes Scotland scheme.

Opportunities for joining our supply chain to deliver this new contract will be widely publicised and made available to all sub-contractors who can meet the standards of safety and quality that we expect. All sub-contractors working on this new contract will be registered and accredited in the same way as the members of our supply chain who helped us to deliver the Warmer Homes Scotland scheme.

Warmworks’ success in being awarded this historic contract is our team’s success – our people and our installers who have established a reputation for a values-driven, first-class customer service, delivered in a way that understands and prioritises the needs of the customers that we aim to help and support.

We know that there is a lot of work to be done to help homes in or at risk of fuel poverty to manage their energy bills, whilst supporting them in lowering the carbon emissions from their home. Warmworks has the skills, experience and expertise to meet this challenge head-on, and we are ready to get started.