The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy unexpectedly announced a new green grants scheme last month. The £3bil grant scheme came with very few details at the time, and the Club saw this as a strong opportunity to lobby for owners’ rights before the full details were released.

The Club wrote to BEIS voicing concerns that the new scheme would suffer from the same flaws as previous VAT relief on energy efficiency. We specifically pointed to the omission of secondary glazing as a major concern, and the need to be more flexible in the types of insulation that were covered. We also called for smart heating to be included, as a measure that could be applicable to any heritage property with central heating, regardless of any other measures taken.

While we never received a formal response from BEIS, the newly published list of works that will be covered does touch on all of these. Secondary glazing is specifically allowed within the scheme, as is smart heating, and a much wider range of insulation is also included. The devil is always in the details, but we see this scheme as very positive for listed building owners.

You can read the latest announcement from BEIS here.