Jul 05
The Green Deal passed secondary legislation in the House of Commons on
Monday, and will go before the House of Lords on 23 July 2012.
The DECC (the Department of Energy and Climate Change) promise a ‘…managed, tested and
careful introduction of the Green Deal…’ They intend to start by a period of focussed
testing before it is rolled out nationally.
Gemserv, in partnership with REAL (Renewable Energy Assurance Ltd) will operate the Green Deal Oversight and Registration Body responsible for standards and delivery. Advisors, installers and providers will be able to register from early August this year, with no fees payable in the first two years.
The Green Deal Code of Practice are designed to ensure that all Green Deal Participants and Certification Bodies
- operate fairly and transparently
- deliver good customer service
- have adequate levels of training
- provide appropriate redress mechanisms for customers.
The Draft Code of Practice can be found on the DECC website
The Explanatory Memorandum can be found on the DECC website
‘The Ombudsman Service’ will operate as the Green Deal Ombudsmen and Investigation Body.
Important dates for the Green Deal
August 2012 Advisors, installers and providers will be able to register
from early August this year, with no fees payable in the first two years.
October 2012 Green Deal assessors will be able to complete assessments
and providers will be able use the assessment to issue quotes.
January 2013 consumers can complete a Green Deal Plan, as the relevant
parts of the framework regulations come into effect.
See our Green Deal Information project for further details.
Mar 28
The DIY Doctor team have packed up and are on their way to The National Homebuilding and Renovating Show!
We’ve got everything including the kitchen sink (well, bathroom sink actually) for the Tricks of the Trade stage presentations for the next four days……we hope you will be able to come and see us there.
The show is being held at the NEC Birmingham and opens tomorrow (Thursday) and is open to the public until Sunday, everyday from 10am until 5pm.
You can still register for 2 free tickets by clicking here or on the banner below.
It promises to be a fantastic event with advice and inspiration for anyone looking at doing any home renovating or tackling a self build. DIY Doctor will be at the Tricks of the Trade stage with the following timetable of demonstrations and presentations:
11.00am - How to Skim Plaster a Wall
12.30pm – How to Avoid Cowboy Builders
2.00pm – How to Skim Plaster a Wall
3.30pm – How to Tile your Bathroom
We hope you’ll be able to make it to the show……..
Mar 02
Minehead in Somerset has seen a new hall built in just three weeks. The building is a new 165 seater Kingdom Hall for the local Jehovah’s Witness congregation, and has been built entirely by volunteers seeing around 200 fellow Jehovah’s Witnesses from across the region travelling to help.
What is more amazing is that the build has happened in just three weeks and most of that has been done at weekends. The congregation has been saving for the last 15 years to enable them to build the new hall and had raised over £300,000 but it has all been worthwhile and they have been pleased with the support they have received.
Allan Peppin, one of the local Jehovah’s Witnesses involved, said “We’ve all had such a happy time working together and we have been really encouraged by the positive observations and messages of support from passers-by and visitors to the site.”
Feb 17
It looks hopeful for a new housing project to get the go-ahead by Swindon Council. The scheme would see a partnership between the borough council and Buildstore Financial Services, who run the National Self Build Centre, to develop a site which would be used for self-build homes.
The proposed site is where Windmill Hill School used to be, before being demolished in 2011, and so is already owned by the council and it has been decided that this is the most preferable site. Councillor Peter Greenhalgh said “It’s a self-contained site within an area of existing housing. It’s difficult to think of any other type of scheme that would work in this specific location.”
The idea is that once planning permission was given, Buildstore would market the 12 building plots for an agreed priceand then once all plots were sold, the council would implement all access roads and paths and provide utilities for all the plots. Then Buildstore would step in to help the self builders with project management so they could all build their own homes.
It sounds like an excellent project to us, and we will be watching carefully to see how this proposed scheme progresses.
Jan 19
This month has seen a continuing slow rise in confidence in American homebuilders with The National Association of Homebuilders/Wells Fargo sentiment gauge reaching the highest it has been since June 2007.
Bob Nielson, chairman of The National Association of Home Builders in the US said that this was “yet another indication of the gradual but steady improvement that is beginning to take hold in an increasing number of housing markets nationwide”.
