Project Manager Jo's blog

June 2011

It has been 3 months since my last posting on this blog and a number of things have happened across the project. Following the energy saving month, households that used the monitors reported an average 14% decrease in their electricity consumption which is great. In May (during the drought months) I teamed up with Thames Water to run a water saving month where people within the village could take the opportunity to have a number of free water saving devices from Thames Water. I also put together some top tips for saving water around the home and this was given to the tenants on my monthly newsletter which informs them of what is happening in the project and the opportunities available to them.

We are hoping that the draught proofing programme will start in the village in late summer - it would be really good to get the windows and doors done before the winter time. My project and role has been extended until mid December to help coordinate this programme along with some other final bits.

The orchards are coming along well although the very dry weather we have experienced has had a knock on effect on the apple and pear trees, where a number of the small fruits have dropped off the trees before they have had time to develop. About a month ago we extracted our first honey from the community bee hives, in total we had 45lbs which is fantastic! We are giving each household in the village a free sample of honey and then it will be available for people in the village to buy.

Coming up we hope to have the interpretation boards in place in August. We are also finalising the plans for the biomass project so will be applying for listed building consent and planning permission within the next couple of weeks. We would like to have this in place by the winter if we can.

March 2011

Following on from the success of the energy saving evening in February, I have now given out energy saving devices and energy monitors to each household that took part. They are part of an energy saving month in Coleshill and hopefully by the end of the month people will have really noticed the difference that monitoring their electricity makes.

We are getting ever closer to the end of the project now so I am busy trying to get bits in place. This includes:

• Contracting a company to complete the draught proofing for doors and windows across the village
• Getting the quotations in for completing the boiler replacement work
• Finalising the energy saving measures to be implemented at the school
• Finalising the designs of the interpretation boards
• Organising the work to be done in the orchards including work being done by the volunteers, wardens and some community involvement events.

I am also starting to think about how I want to evaluate this project. We have already commissioned Forum for the Future to produce a report and an online toolkit however I would also like to produce a report based on my learning’s and a report which will hopefully be of use internally within the Trust. Lots and lots to do in just 5 months!

February 2011

Well quite a bit has happened in the last couple of weeks. I had a really successful community evening last week. I wasn't holding out much hope as it had been raining all day and as 7.30pm approached it was cold, dark and still raining so to be honest I was only expecting a handful of people to come. I was absolutely delighted when just a few minutes later I had a village shop full of people! This included some people that I had not even met yet in the village! I gave an update on the project and then handed over to Gareth from npower who gave a talk on energy monitors. There was then an opportunity for people to sign up for a free energy monitor - we had 18 households, which is a third of the village sign up for a free energy monitor which I was really pleased with. Following on from this I am going to use this opportunity to ask each household to monitor their energy usage over a four week period, the household that has then reduced their energy consumption by the biggest percentage will win a prize.

Another bit of big news is that following our visit to Ebworth last month we have now commissioned Ecoenergy to install a similar system here in Coleshill, of course this is subject to planning permission and listed building consent so fingers crossed. Hopefully if this does go through then we would be all set for this to go in summer of this year which would be fantastic and a great finish to my project.

I can not fail to mention my delight at being interviewed on Countryfile (shown 13/02/2011). Adam from Countryfile came out about 3 weeks prior and what I assumed was only going to be a 10 second feature with just Adam holding some sheep's wool turned out to be a much longer piece with me in it! Fantastic publicity for the project and also for British sheep's wool!

January 2011

A new year and the final few months of the project which means lots and lots to do in order to get things completed by August. I am having an energy saving evening for the village in the middle of February, with the invitation to a free glass of wine and nibbles, I am hoping that people will come along and listen to the Gareth from npower talk about how to become more energy efficient in the home. I am also using the opportunity to update people on the project, ask questions and sign up to have a free energy saving device of their choice.

Last week I went to see the log batch boiler at Ebworth which was a really good set up so we are hoping that something similar could work here. I have made an appointment for Eco-Engineering to come here and provide a quotation. This is something the estate has wanted for so long, it would be really exciting to get something in place this summer.

This Thursday I am off to give a presentation to the Swindon Beekeepers Association. They have asked for a 45-60 minute talk so my beekeepers have very kindly offered to come along and take part. Other than that the next few weeks will be taken up with some early project evaluation work and a real determination to get some of the bigger aspects of the project underway.

December 2010

During the last few weeks I have been trying to get things planned ready for next year.

My priorities for the next quarter are:

• Start the draught proofing programme in the village.
• Work with npower to produce 4 interpretation boards for the village.
• Coordinate renewable options for the village - the original biomass system is coming in over budget and we are now looking at a much smaller system than we had originally proposed.
• Hold a community event either in January or February with a guest speaker and a chance for members of the community to sign up for a free energy saving device.
• Complete the energy efficiency measures at the village shop and school.

We have now started to work with Forum for the Future to produce an evaluation report of the project and a toolkit which will be available to other communities that would like to do something similar. I am also hoping to run a couple of open days for anyone who would like to come and learn more about the project in terms of pitfalls and lessons learnt.

November 2010

The last few weeks have been busy catching up on a number of bits.

The village shop has received new lighting and energy motor units which will reduce the amount of energy that the freezer and chiller units need to run. I still have some things I would like to do at the village shop including putting cistern devices in the toilets, looking at any draughty gaps in walls that needs filling in, potential to put loft insulation in part of the roof and identify an area for project interpretation. I am hoping to go to the next shop committee meeting to talk through these elements with them.

Further buildings to receive energy saving measures include the estate office and holiday flat, within the next couple of weeks Selectaglaze will be installing the secondary glazing in these areas. This is a huge energy saving measure which will benefit those buildings that the biomass will serve. Speaking of biomass, we are now just looking at the next phase of costings for this. The project will be partly funded by my LCV project but we still need a lot of external funding to make this project happen.

Within the next month I have some work to do on quotations for the draught proofing. I also need to start to look at the next energy survey of the village - whether to do this in January as per the last couple of years or whether to wait til the spring/summer when more work will have been completed.

Tonight is my next community meeting so I will run my ideas past them and pick up on any new ideas they may have.

September 2010

Despite the heavy rain first thing in the morning, the Coleshill Local Food Festival was a success with many people coming out in the afternoon as the sun made an appearance. I had 2 stalls, the first was a stall giving people information about the Low Carbon Village Project. The second was a stall down by the orchard where we offered apple tastings and if people wanted to "buy" the apples they could donate money. We raised just over £50 on the day through this and by 4pm all of the apples were gone!

Back in August I arranged a day of smarter driving lessons for those staff/tenants that wanted one. These were not as popular as I had hoped but those that did one were taught some basic measures about how to drive more efficiently and save emissions and money on fuel! Each driver was then sent a certificate telling them how many tonnes of carbon they would save and how much money they would save on fuel - based on the car they normally drive and their annual mileage. Overall for the day, the average mpg achieved after tuition was 71mpg with an average fuel consumption reduction of 10%. By providing details of car driven and annual mileage, collectively those that took part will save nearly £900 in fuel costs each year as well as over 1700 kg of CO2 emissions!

We have received back the results of the feasibility study for the biomass and we are going to go ahead with this with a vision to have it in place next year. At the end of October we have Selectaglaze coming out to install secondary glazing throughout our estate office and holiday flat. This is part of the measures to try and improve the thermal performance of the buildings that will benefit from the biomass heating system.

August 2010

I now have in place 2 new volunteers to look after the mature orchard within the village. To date this has only received minimum maintenance work, some basic clearance of the area of grass and nettles has revealed a larger plot than we thought. My 2 new volunteers are now working on mapping and surveying this area. So far they have worked out that the plot is approximately an acre in size with 49 fruit trees in it. These include apples, pears, plums and cherries and the trees vary in age. Most have an abundance of fruit on them already so I have ordered a copy of the 'Community Orchards' handbook for some ideas for what to do with the fruit and also how to engage the community as much as possible with this.

My annual BBQ in July was a real success with about 60 people attending, some of whom I had not met before which was really good. I also used this opportunity to update people on the project and to launch my community grant fund.

This Friday I have arranged smarter driving lessons for the village. 8 people including staff and volunteers are having a free 50 minute driving lesson which teaches you how to drive more efficiently and should reduce fuel bills by 15%.

I am now working towards our Coleshill Annual Open day in September where I will have a stall about the project. I hope that by then I will have some printed leaflets about the project to give out to the public.

July 2010

Quite a bit has happened since my last update, I have recruited a volunteer to look after the orchard in the village, he is really enthusiastic and has put together a plan for the area to include some vegetable patches, areas for different plants and more fruit trees. I had a further 3 people interested in the volunteering vacancy so having spoken to the warden team they have suggested I see if any of them would like to look after the mature orchard in Coleshill. I have to admit I had only been in there once before but further investigation has made me realise that this area too has huge potential. With some clearance work needed and some fruit tree management it could be a lovely area and also very productive in fruit.

We now have our bee hive up and running with local bees which are settling in nicely. Last week we had a swarm of wild bees in the village so we have collected these and ordered a second hive for these bees which will sit alongside the other hive.

This Sunday is my annual village bbq which will be a chance for the village to have an update on the project. This event will also be the launch of the village community fund, which will offer all NT tenants the opportunity to fill in a form with their idea of how they could reduce their own carbon footprint, this may be something as small as low energy lighting throughout their house or it may be something much larger such as a wood burning stove. A panel of judges will then decide which entries should win, my project will then pay for these ideas to be a reality. If successful I may look to increase the budget available for this and therefore run it again.

Other developments in the project include 2 local schools have now received full energy audits from npower, the results of our biomass feasibility study should be due by the end of July and within the next couple of months I hope to have a couple of days of eco-driving lessons confirmed for tenants and staff.

May 2010

Well the spell of warm, if not a bit dry weather we have been having has meant that not only are the apple trees doing rather well but so are the grass and the nettles in the orchard! Our wardens are going to clear some of this down whilst I advertise for a volunteer or two to look after this area. 4 tenants within Coleshill are half way through their training to be (excuse the pun!) bee keepers. This should mean that we will have our own Coleshill hives and then in time our own Coleshill honey to sell in the village shop.

Things are really moving along now with the project, the feasibility study for the biomass boiler is underway and we hope to have the results of this by the end of June. We are now working our way through replacing 6 of the oldest and most inefficient boilers in the village. I hope that we will be able to offer some residents their own wood burning stove, this would use wood off the estate similar to the biomass system for the estate office. I am also currently getting quotations for draught proofing throughout the village. I hope to get half of the village done this year and half done next year, this will coincide with the external decoration work taking place.

I am now starting to turn my attention to the interpretation of the project. I have come up with some wording for a leaflet, I have also started to look at some designs for the village shop interpretation boards.

Next week we have the Earth Summit here in Coleshill where approximately 400 children visit over the 4 days and they go round different workshops. npower's climate cops programme are coming to deliver on one of the workshop.

April 2010

Last week, 10 npower staff kindly csmr along to volunteer for the day, part of that day was spent planting up some of the community orchard. In total they planted 18 apple trees, spread some wildflower seed and planted up 3 areas of plants - one with heathers, one with herbs and one with a mixture of other bee-friendly plants. I hope to get a volunteer or a few volunteers from within Coleshill to look after this area, if no-one steps forward then I will advertise for a NT volunteer to come and keep the area tidy and in exchange they can use a piece of the land as an allotment.

Alongside this I have drawn up a list of boilers within the village, those that are least efficient and oldest. Through the energy surveys it has become obvious that insulating and fitting draught proofing is only solving one half of the equation, the boiler also needs to be efficient in producing the heat.

The next things I will be working on are getting the feasibility study done for the biomass and getting the quotations in for the draught proofing. Once these are done then I can get to work on the smaller things such as the eco driving lessons, the school work we are doing in May and getting other people in the village to use real time energy monitors.

March 2010

Another busy couple of weeks, I have now received back energy surveys from half of the village which I am really pleased with. It is now the task of entering each one into the Act on Co2 calculator, which should be fine but the site seems to be playing up so it is becoming very time consuming.

We have now had back 2 quotations to do the feasibility study for the biomass boiler for the estate office so and we hope to progress that quickly. In line with that I am looking at quotations to get the office secondary glazed or at least draught proofed so that the heat from the biomass does not go straight back out again!

This Saturday I am off to see some local beehives with some tenants whom are interested in becoming bee keepers, hopefully following this visit I can get them booked onto a training course and then we can get some hives for the village. I have 10 npower staff coming to Coleshill in a couple of weeks time to volunteer for the day and I am going to use some of this elbow power to start the community orchard, I have sourced some locally grown apple trees and will look to plant about 6 of these along with some bee friendly plants. We can then follow this up with some further fruit trees, more plants along with some interpretation boards to let visitors know what we are doing.

February 2010

The last few weeks I have been busy planning, I have had also had meetings with npower and my main steering group meeting. The plan for the remainder of the project is written however this project is very fluid and therefore things change quite often. I have also designed and delivered the 2010 energy survey to the village and am hoping to get as many completed questionnaires back from tenants as possible. This questionnaire based on the Act on CO2 questionnaire and is largely the same as last year but with a few additional questions which will help to shape certain aspects of the project as well as provide feedback on areas such as the loft insulation.

The next things I am working on in the short term is the feasibility work for the biomass boiler for the Coleshill estate office. This is a large project which will involve hopefully not only the estate offices but also a holiday let, village shop, a commercial unit and one cottage in the village.

I am still continuing to do a monthly newsletter to residents of the village and usually theme these each month. This month saw a focus on the energy questionnaire and also the energy report recently issued by the National Trust, I think it is important for our tenants to see how the LCV project work fits in with the National Trust energy strategy.

January 2010
Well with all this very cold weather I am sure that the 11,000 sheep fleeces used for insulating the cottages of Coleshill has made a noticeable difference. This part of the project is now complete and has been a huge success with many tenants reporting back positive feedback.

I held a community meeting in December during which I went through the plans for the remainder of the project. 2010 is certainly going to be a busy year and the very first thing I am going to do is repeat the energy survey I did at the beginning of the project. This would act as a mid-term survey and would help provide information on not only what we have achieved and differences made but also to help ensure we are still on track. I will also be asking for more community involvement with some elements of the project - one of these would be the community bee hive project I hope to start very soon.

During January, we should also find out if we have been successful in our funding application to the Governments 'Low Carbon Community Challenge', this would make a huge boost to the project not only in terms of funding but also expertise and support.

November 2009

This last few weeks has been very busy getting all of the lofts inspected so that we can put together a full timetable of installation. The insulation material we are using is welsh sheeps wool - almost too warm, cosy and soft to go in a loft! It is hoped that all installation will be complete by end of November therefore making the houses much much warmer for this winter.

The next thing I will be working on is the doors and windows of the cottages, I am hoping to involve the community as much as possible in the decisions about what they want and how the money should be spent.

Aside from this I am also starting to look at more sustainable energy including a biomass boiler and PV panels for the village shop. Of course all of this is run past the community focus group so that the project involves them as much as possible.

October 2009

We have decided to go ahead and use sheeps wool for the insulation programme here in Coleshill. Whilst it is significantly more expensive it is a much better material and much more sustainable. We have had 2 installation companies come round to look at the properties and quote for installing the sheeps wool and we are now in the process of having every property surveyed so that we can establish exactly the amount of sheeps wool we need to purchase and we can also establish and properties with potential problems such as sloping eaves and poor access. It is hoped that these surveys will take place in the next 2 weeks meaning that the loft insulation will then be installed in the weeks following this. Hopefully just in time before the weather gets too cold!

I had a community meeting and gave them an update on the project and then we discussed the best ways to involve the community in spending the remaining money set aside for energy efficiency work, would it be to get an external person in to look at the doors and windows and then carry out the necessary draught proofing or can we empower the tenants to somehow do the work or make the decisions themselves? This is what we will be discussing at our next meeting.

We also discussed the best use of a piece of land in the village, originally we had thought allotments but most people already have enough room in their garden and already grow their own fruit and vegetables. I put forward the suggestion of bee hives and perhaps fruit trees or bee friendly plants, everyone really like this idea so I am going to get in touch with the local beekeepers association to take this forward.

July 2009
This month I held my village event here in Coleshill, the weather was extremely unkind and I don't think more rain could have fallen out of the sky had it tried! Despite this approximately 50 villagers turned out in their wellies and waterproofs which I was really happy with. The village shop was open and served drinks and I then did a range of stalls inside including information about the project including the results of the survey, the low energy light bulb library, efergy meters, information on home composting, recycling and saving water.

I also met with Michael who has now completed the energy surveys of the properties within Coleshill. His report proposes three main areas to concentrate on; renovation of doors and windows, loft insulation; secondary glazing which would ideally be village wide and there are also a number of houses which would benefit from upgraded boilers, thermostats etc.

I have started working on the loft insulation programme for the village. I have approached a number of companies covering a range of loft insulation materials and the prices vary enormously, depending on the type of material used.

I have also held a meeting with the village shop committee meeting to talk to them about changing their lighting system for an energy efficient system. I am also going to talk to them about solar thermal panels as a trial project for the village.

June 2009
Half the energy surveys in the village have been undertaken and we hope to now have these complete by mid June. We’re going to use the results of the energy surveys along with the results of my survey to put together a priority list of properties ranging from those that would really benefit from energy efficiencies and need more money spent on them to those that smaller measures could be put into. Once this report has been drawn up then we will sit down and look at the prices for the work along with the funding available and start to form a plan of works. I hope to have this in place by mid July.

I had a good meeting with Thames Water a couple of weeks ago which could potentially lead to a mini water project here in Coleshill whereby residents are offered a number of water saving devices including cistern, shower and water butts. Thames Water are putting together a project proposal which they should be sending to me within the next couple of weeks.

I am now beginning to plan a village wide event for the end of July to coincide with the Big Lunch idea by the Eden Project.

May 2009

We are undertaking full energy survey of each property in the village - including looking at the loft, walls, windows and heating. This will then allow us to come up with a comprehensive list of which energy efficiency measures would be best for each individual property. The energy surveys should be complete by the end of May meaning that soon after we will be able to start putting these energy measures into the properties.

I have also now taken delivery of the efergy meters which are now in use in several properties in the village. The new style efergy meters means that you are able to download the information onto a laptop and the eElink software from efergy then produces graphs to show patterns in energy consumption. I also have a low energy light bulb library which is a briefcase of 40 different types of low energy light bulbs, this is on loan free of charge so I am hoping that people from within the village make the most of this facility.

Next week amongst other things I have a meeting with Thames Water to discuss water saving devices we could implement in Coleshill.

April 2009
This last month I have had two interesting meetings with consultants to look at how best to spend the funding set aside for energy efficiency measures and feasibility work on renewable energy. I am now waiting for initial costings to come through from both and then I hope to get this moving forward.

I have put together a community action plan which covers other areas of carbon footprint work that that will engage the tenants in various aspects of reducing their carbon footprint, this includes ideas such as water butts, composting and growing their own vegetables. A proportion of the village already grow their own but I really want to up this and get a higher level of participation. We may also have a piece of land that we can use to convert to allotments and I am also hoping to tie this into the Food Glorious Food campaign. Next week I have another meeting with the community so will see what ideas they come up with before I put anymore plans together.

March 2009

I have had my second community focus group meeting. At this meeting I gave an update on the project along with some information about a thermal imaging camera I have on loan. I also plan to run a 'pass it on' campaign with some energy meters that I will be buying in the next couple of weeks. The community group are very keen to use these and the thermal imaging camera which is great news and I hope following this that their enthusiasm will spread across the village.

I am now seriously starting to look at insulation costs for the village and hope to devise a programme of works for this as soon as possible. I am also looking at a feasibility study for possible renewables in the village as well as further energy efficiency measures we can put into the houses. It will be nice for the people in the village to start to see some action taking place in houses so hopefully we can move forward with these projects soon.

February 2009

I have had a busy few weeks with this project. I had my steering group meeting which was very interesting as we now have a representative from the district council and he has a wealth of experience in this area. The following day I had my first community focus group meeting which was a huge success. I was only expecting 4 people but was pleasantly surprised when I opened the door to the village pub to see approximately 15 people there! I was not sure if the village pub was the right place to hold this meeting but actually it worked very well as it meant that people that did not want to come to a formal meeting could just come along and have a drink at the bar and join in if wanted. Saying this I had 14 very interested people who came from different geographical areas of the village and with different interests. I have decided to hold these meetings monthly initially to ensure that the momentum is kept up.

Last week I attended the community engagement day up at Nostell Priory which was very useful. It was interesting to hear different ideas about engaging with local communities. I am now a little behind with work here so am cracking on with the next newsletter for the village as well as actioning some of the points to come out of the steering group meeting and community focus meeting.

January 2009

I have now finished my report which analyses the carbon footprint surveys sent out to the village. I received a total of 33 questionnaires back which is over the village and therefore I am quite pleased with. The average carbon footprint for Coleshill was 11.65 with the home making up the biggest percentage of this and more so than the UK average. I am also hoping to have my first community focus group meeting shortly after the steering group meeting so that we can get an opinion from residents about our plans.

In the meantime I am continuing with my monthly newsletters in the village and hope to roll out a program of using the real time energy monitors as well as conduct some thermal imagery of properties in the next few weeks.

December 2008

I have started to enter the questionnaire results into the online CO2 calculator, it really is amazing how different the carbon footprint results are for different households within the village, some are already below average for carbon produced whilst others are very much over the average. It is not just the houses but peoples lifestyles that make a huge difference so there is room for improvement with all properties. I am writing an individual report back to each household so that they can see which areas of their lifestyle are affecting their carbon footprint the most.

I have finished my December newsletter to the village which includes some tips on how to have a low carbon Christmas, I will deliver the newsletter and try and collect some more questionnaires next week. I am soon going to write my piece for the Trust You magazine which I am featuring in early next year. I am also taking a trip down to Mottisfont to have a look at some of the insulation work that has taken place there.

November 2008

During this month I have been busy continuing on my work of putting together the carbon footprint questionnaire to the village. Following lots of research I have decided to use the government 'Act on CO2' online carbon calculator. I hope to have a good return on the questionnaires and for those that do not return the questionnaire I will be doing some door-knocking to try and get their responses.

This month I attended the West Oxfordshire Climate Change meeting in Witney. This was interesting and involved different community groups through West Oxfordshire who are trying to go green. I made some useful contacts there and picked up some interesting literature. I also attended an excellent one day conference run by the Energy Savings Trust called 'Communities Cutting Carbon'. There were some really good presentations covering a wide range of subjects including carbon calculating and motivating communities as well as talks from different community groups. The conference was attended by over 200 people showing that communities really are leading the way in tackling climate change!

October 2008

Well it is 2 months since I started working for the National Trust as the Low Carbon Village Project Coordinator. The project is now taking off leaps and bounds, npower have designed a logo for the project which will go out on all of the community information. The first newsletter has been distributed to the residents and some posters have been put up in the village shop.

I am now really keen to get the community focus group set up - I am off to the community composting meeting next week so hope to get some volunteers from this meeting! I am also busy working on the carbon footprint side of the project and working out how to measure this within the village.