The NEA (National Energy Action) is a national charity which aims to eradicate fuel poverty and campaigns for greater investment in energy efficiency to help those who are poor and vulnerable and SERS have become one of their business members.
National Energy Action (NEA) is a major national charity whose work to improve and promote energy efficiency brings social, environmental, housing and employment benefits. Working in partnership with central and local government, fuel utilities, housing providers, consumer groups and voluntary organisations, NEA aims to eradicate fuel poverty and campaigns for greater investment in energy efficiency to help those who are poor and vulnerable.

NEA achieves its objectives through
• research and analysis into the causes and extent of fuel poverty and the development of policies which will address the problem
• providing advice and guidance to installers on good practice in delivering energy efficiency services to low-income householders
• developing national qualifications and managing their implementation to improve standards of practical work and the quality of energy advice
• campaigning to ensure social and environmental objectives are brought together under national energy efficiency programmes
• developing and managing demonstration projects which show innovative ways of tackling fuel poverty and bring the wider benefits of energy efficiency to local communities.

SERS are proud to be supporting the NEA and hope to make a positive impact towards eradicating fuel poverty in the UK.

If you are in fuel poverty or need som e help or advice on how to deal with your ever rising fuel bills contact the NEA or SERS and we would be pleased to help. Their website provides a wealth of information and we highly recommend visiting it here.

SERS are pleased to be exhibiting at the CAN Training Day at the end of April – Sponsored by e-on. If you would like to come and see us we will be on stand 8. Places are free to certain people and the event promises to be a great day.

A New Beginning for Energy Efficiency & Fuel Poverty

National Carbon Action Network Training-Day Conference and Exhibition
To be held at the Mercure Holland House Hotel, Cardiff on Tuesday, 30 April 2013
An interactive training-day conference with a focus on ECO and the Green Deal and maximising opportunities within the new policy landscape of domestic energy efficiency and fuel poverty.
The programme includes a morning plenary session followed by three interactive workshop sessions. Lunch and refreshments will be provided.

Attendance is FREE* to employees of local authorities, registered social landlords, housing associations, primary care trusts and registered charities.
Standard delegate rate: £69 + VAT

To book your place or for more information please visit: www.can.uk.net/conference

Carbon Action Network
The Carbon Action Network (CAN) is a not-for-profit organisation supporting local government officers with a remit for reducing all aspects of the UK’s domestic-sector carbon footprint and tackling fuel poverty.

Exciting times at SERS – we have expanded and moved our head office to Caerphilly.

This move will provide many opportunities to both SERS and our stakeholders.

Our new address is below, our telephone numbers have remained the same.
Unit 3a
Gallagher Retail Park
Parc Pontypandy
Caerphilly
CF83 3GX

Are you an SME, Self Employed or looking for a career change?

SERS Ltd are Experts in Energy Saving Solutions trading for over 20 years; we have offices Nationwide and have recently expanded in to the South West due to recent contract awards.

We are currently looking to engage with the right people with a positive attitude towards quality and customer service.

We are also working alongside Regen SW through their Ready for Retrofit programme, which is supporting local businesses in the South West who are looking to develop in the domestic retrofit sector. Regen SW will also be in attendance offering free support and guidance to help your business.

If you are interested please come along and meet the team at our open day event to be held at:

LEGACY INTERNATIONAL HOTEL, MARSH MILLS PARK, PLYMOUTH PL6 8NH
From 2pm-7pm
WEDNESDAY 27TH March 2013

We are currently looking to develop the following opportunities either employed or self-employed:-

• External wall installation teams

• Plasterers

• Green Deal Assessors

• Labourers

• Office Administrator

• Resident Liaison Officers

• Surveyors

• Apprentice opportunities in external wall insulation

• Carpenters

 
Dont worry if you cant make it – contact us on - 
1 Emperor Way
Exeter Business Park
Exeter
Devon
EX2 3QS
T: 01392 314041
info@sersltd.co.uk

Finally, on Monday 28th January 2013, the Governments flagship initiative the Green Deal has launched. A few months later than planned, the Green Deal’s aim is to increase energy efficiency in buildings in order to reduce carbon emissions.

For more information on  the Green Deal please visit our Green Deal information section.

If you are interested in getting a Green Deal then we advise you to act quick as there is a limited amount if cash back available for the first people to have one; up to £1000 is available per household.

Greg Barker, Climate Change Minister, yesterday announced that it had been agreed that planning permission rules relating to external wall insulation installations shall be relaxed.

External wall insulation is applied to the external of a building and therefore changes the appearance of a property to some extent and therefore under old rules required planning permission. This announcement now means that the majority of home owners will be able to have external wall insulation installed and it be classed as a ‘permitted development’ and so the works will not require specific planning permission.

For buildings in conservation areas and which are listed the rules will remain the same and will require planning permission.

The main reason for this change in planning rules is to encourage the take up of solid wall insulation under the green Deal in order to improve the energy efficiency of buildings. Visit these pages for more information on external wall insulation or the Green Deal.

If you would like further information on planning permission or to find out if your property is eligible for external wall insulation please contact us and we can advise you.

SERS will be closing on Friday the 21st December and returning on the 2nd January 2012.
Should you have any emergencies please call 01543 889080 and leave a message and we will get back to you as soon as possible. Alternatively email info@sersltd.co.uk and we will respond on our return.

May we wish you all a warm and merry Christmas and a very happy new year,

From all at SERS.

SERS are pleased to have been able to present a cheque for £1370 to local charity Llamau.

A team of eight raised the money by completing the Yorkshire three peaks challenge. Employees of SERS, family and friends travelled to the Yorkshire Dales National Park to climb to the summits of Pen-Y-Ghent, Whernside and Inglebrook. The challenge saw them climb a total of 1672 metres over a distance of 25 miles in under 12 hours!

Front Row Left to Right: Ben Mitchell, Paul Freeman, Andy Tichy, Gloria Browning, Gaynor Howell
Back Row Left to Right: Paul Ivins, Del Hughes, Richard Davies

This is the second year running where SERS have raised money for Llamau ; with the Welsh three peaks challenge being tackled last year and £1161 being raised.

Llamau is SERS’ chosen charity for 2012 and they are pleased to be able to support them in this way, especially with Christmas around the corner. Llamau (Reg 701772) is a charity which the helps the homeless young people and vulnerable women of Wales by providing them with practical support, care and security.

SERS would like to say a special thank you to fellow walker Ben Mitchell, whom without his navigational skills the challenge would have been a lot harder.

Presenting the cheque to Llamau

Penywaun External Refurbishment Project, has been shortlisted in the ‘Award for Community’ of the sustain’ Magazine Awards 2013, organised by sustain’ Magazine in association with Marshalls.

The sustain’ Magazine Awards celebrate standout achievements and successes in the field of Sustainability. The trophies will be presented at an awards ceremony on Tuesday 5 March at the Guoman Hotel overlooking the River Thames and Tower Bridge in London.

Started in December 2010 and completed in April 2012, this regeneration project has seen the refurbishment of over 400 1960’s non –traditional houses with the installation of external wall insulation to improve their thermal performance. The mix of BISF, Laing Easiform and Arcal properties were owned both privately and by client RCT Homes.

Steve Oxley, Editor of sustain’ Magazine said: “Now in their fifth year, the sustain’ Magazine awards 2013 has seen an extremely high-calibre of entrants demonstrating best practice in sustainability across the built environment spectrum. It is an amazing achievement for SERS to be shortlisted in the face of such strong competition. We are thrilled to be able to host the awards ceremony that recognises the hard work and commitment of those companies and organisations achieving such high levels of excellence.”

Last year more than 300 people attended the event, which was hosted by one of most amusing award hosts in the country.

The sponsors of the awards are: Land Securities and Galliford Try Partnerships.

One of the Penywaun homes with external wall insulation

In order to participate in some way this year to the national Children in Need fundraising, SERS made a donation of a camera to Merthyr Valley Homes. The camera was included as one of their raffle prizes and ended up being a star one; thus encouraging a big response in terms of ticket sales.

Overall Merthyr Valley Homes were able to raise a huge amount for the great cause and SERS were pleased to receive a thank you letter for their contribution.

SERS are pleased to have sponsored a local charity night close to their Midlands office this November.

The night consisted of a number of volunteer stand up new acts who wished to do a five minute routine; with each of them having to raise sponsorship money in order to participate. In return the volunteers benefited from training by the Liverpool Comedy Club ready for their night in the spotlight. In total around £1800 was raised for charity Asist.

Established in 1994, Asist provides specialist independent advocacy support focussed on one-to-one, issue – based advocacy services for people with learning disabilities, physical disabilities and / or mental health conditions. Advocacy is about enabling people who have difficulty speaking out to speak up and make their own informed, independent choices about decisions which affect their lives.

For more information on Asist or to make a donation to support their works please visit their website here.

SERS have been short-listed in the Best Environmental Business category in the Caerphilly County Borough Council ‘Pride in Your Place’ Awards.

SERS are currently installing a variety of energy saving measures, including external wall insulation, internal wall insulation  lift insulation, boiler replacements and solar PV onto homes across six different areas within Caerphilly.

In total over 800 properties shall benefit from  a selection of these works which promise to make them more energy efficient. Working on a variety of privately owned and council owned properties, SERS can guarantee occupants reduced fuel bills, increased warmth and better living conditions thanks to the works.

The awards ceremony is being held on November 23rd at Ty Penallta and SERS are very hopeful of winning this prestigious environmental award.

SERS were pleased to be able to participate in The Inaugral Get Connected Charity Quiz Night for the Energy industry on November 8th.

Sponsored by British Gas the event was attended by teams from a variety of companies and a selection of the current Strictly Come Dancing line up and sporting celebrities.

Although SERS didn’t win the quiz, which consisted of questions on a variety of topics from Strictly to geography to energy efficiency, we didn’t come last!

The event, which raised well over £100,000, was held in order to raise money for Get Connected. Get Connected is a charity that enables every young person in the UK to find the help they need to support their emotional and physical well being. There are nineteen million children and young people under the age of 25 in the UK. In the Get Connected survey of 2006, four out of five young people didn’t know where to turn with their problems. Get Connected is the free helpline for these young people, who know they need help but don’t know where to find it.

All companies made a financial contribution in order to participate in the event. One of the highlights was that each table had its own celebrity, with teams being able to bid for additional ones for different rounds; allowing for extra fundraising.

The celebrity on SERS’ table was Anton du Beke from Strictly but unfortunately he was bid upon by another team for the round of strictly questions!

Group Director Lyndon Jones with Anton du Beke

Well done to all those who participated and raised money for this great cause.

SERS shall be exhibiting at the first ever Homes event on Wednesday 14th and Thursday 15th of Novmeber at London Excel – stand B16.

Homes 2012 is an exciting new event for the affordable housing community and is a must for everyone involved in asset management, repairs and maintenance, retrofitting and sustainability in housing.

If you are involved in the asset management of housing as a registered provider, local authority, ALMO or private landlord, Homes is the event you cannot afford to miss.

We would like to invite you as our guest to the event, please visit the site here to register for free.

SERS shall be providing advice on how to improve energy efficiency  to customers visiting the Homebase Store on Newport Road Cardiff this Saturday. Providing information on reducing your fuel bills, keeping warm his winter and how to go about installing renewable technologies there is something for everyone.

Which not come and have a chat and see what we can recommend you on how to improve your energy efficiency.

Cardiff Newport Rd

• Avenue Retail Park, Newport Road, Cardiff, South Glamorgan, CF23 9FF

Saturday 27th October 2012 saw our Scottish office attend and exhibit at the Dumfries Energy Exhibition. Providing advice on how to reduce fuel bills and improve energy efficiency SERS discussed both insulation and renewable technologies. Held by the Energy Saving Scotland Advice Centre the day offered both practical advice and information on financial assistance on installing this technology.

With winter just around the corner it was an excellent opportunity for those close by to visit and get free advice on a variety of topics including how to make your home warmer and how to make money from becoming more energy efficient.

Big Energy Saving Week was held on the 22nd – 27th October this year and SERS were keen to get involved and raise the awareness of the importance of energy saving. Ran by Energy Saving Trust the week had a clear theme and set of objectives.
Theme:
‘Feeling the pinch’: helping householders manage fuel bills
Objectives:
• Connect people with sources of help
• Raise awareness of what people can do to help themselves pay their fuel bills
• Focus on helping vulnerable people and those that are perhaps not usually classified as ‘vulnerable’ but are shown to have trouble paying fuel bills
• Helping communities and people ‘prepare for winter’
• Outreach events for communities
• Provide lasting benefits and a legacy of energy saving for the future
SERS were unable to run an event in their local community specifically for this week but will continue to hold open days and carry out school visits to discuss the importance of energy saving.
As an alternative SERS decided to run a quiz internally for employees in order to test their knowledge on how much energy can be saved as a result of installing the technologies which we offer.

For more on the week visit The Energy Saving Trust website.

SERS are pleased to announce that they shall be exhibiting at the first ever Retro Expo exhibition at the NEC, Birmingham in October.

Held from 30th Ocotber – 1st November, Retro Expo is dedicated to the low carbon refurbishment of existing buildings in the domestic, commercial and public sector markets. It will bring together thousands of professionals from across the supply chain, from Green Deal Providers, RSLs, local authorities, housing associations and blue chip occupiers and landlords to specifiers, assessors and installers. Retro Expo provides high quality educational and networking opportunities, and showcases innovative technical solutions that will make possible the retrofit of 26 million homes and 1.8 million commercial properties by 2050. The event is supported by a range of key industry bodies, is an Official Event of The Green Deal and is delivered in partnership with the Department for Energy and Climate Change and the BRE.

For a free invite please email info@sersltd.co.uk and visit us on stand A2.

For more information visit the site here.

SERS will be exhibiting and providing advice at Dumfries Energy Exhibition – come and see us to see how you can improve your energy efficiency.

With winter just around the corner you may want to make the switch to a more affordable source of heating. For example a heat pump or wood-fuelled boiler may provide a better heating solution for you. Not only is it kinder to the environment it can also make a difference to your energy costs potentially saving you hundreds of pounds each year.

There is a range of financial support available:
• Interest-free loans of up to £10,000 from the Scottish Government, with a payback of 8 years;
• Grants of up to £1,250 from the UK Government.
This could mean that your upfront costs are either mostly or even totally covered, for example, if you bought an air source heat pump for £9000 you could claim an £850 grant towards the cost of the system plus a £8,150 interest free loan!

In addition to this, you may be able to earn cash from your heating system through the UK Government’s Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive scheme, subject to meeting the eligibility criteria. This scheme should be available from summer 2013.

The Energy Saving Scotland advice centre is holding an Energy Exhibition on Saturday 27th October at the Cairndale Hotel in Dumfries to showcase energy efficiency and renewable technologies. There will be exhibitors showing the latest technologies to not only make your home cosier, but to provide heat and power using alternatives to traditional fuels. Come along and talk to our advisor’s between 10.30am and 3.00pm to find out more about the financial and practical support on offer.

Mortgage lender ING Direct has revealed that the British public have deemed solar panels as the number 1 ‘non essential’ desirable extra  looked for when buying a property. With property owners deeming them the best way to boost the attractiveness of their property to buyers.

Joint second most desirable extras in the list were a weekly bin collection and satellite TV connection.

SERS are please to be assocaited once again with the Cwmaman Music Festival

Held on the 29th – 30th  September in Aberdare the festival promises to be an excellent event for all ages.

The festival was formed for the benefit of people of all ages who enjoy live music, and to promote Cwmaman and the surrounding areas. The festival is now entering its fifth year, after a fantastic first four years with headlining acts such as Alabama 3, Killing For Company, and Madassa Soul Band, to name a few.

For tickets and details about attending please visit the offcial website here.

SERS are pleased to announce that they are one of few exhibitors to exhibit at Tutbury Eco Fair – held by Tutbury Eco Power. New for 2012, the fair has the objective of raising people’s awareness of environmental impact and to encourage people to think about choosing environmentally friendly products and therefore reducing their carbon footprint.

Held at Tutbury Institute High Street, Tutbury, DE13 9LS with the majority of the stalls being indoors the day promises to be very informative for the local community.

The event is to be held on Saturday 29^th September from 11am until 4pm. SERS will be providing information on external wall insulation and its key benefits along with internal wall insulation, replacement boilers, heat pumps, solar PV and solar thermal.

We will also be able to provide you with details of any funding which you may be eligible in relation to installing the above technologies.

Today we received a wonderful letter from Hospice of the Valleys thanking us for a donation which we made following a competition which we ran back in June.

Whilst exhibiting at an event held by the Chartered Institute of Housing in June we ran a competition which allowed attendees to enter for the chance of winning a £200 donation to the charity of their choice. An employee from Tai Calon won and chose to donate the money to the company’s charity of the year; Hospice of the Valleys.

The letter reads “the money will help with the care that we provide for patients with life threatening illnesses. This care includes full support for families and extends through treatment and if appropriate into terminal care and bereavement. The Hospice of the Valleys beings a ray of light into lives turned upside down by being diagnosed with cancer”.

We at SERS agree that Hopsice of the Valleys are a wonderful charity which deserves to be supported by all.
For more information on what they do and how you can support their works please visit their website.

To see our Mike Roberts presenting our cheque please visit the article here. 

SERS will once again be attending the Renewables road show in order to keep up to date on all things that are renewable!

The event promises to be extremely valuable and provide essential information for the next 12 months.

We will be at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry on the 13 September 2012 should you wish to meet with us.

For more information on the event please visit the website here .

SERS have installed a 4kWp photovoltaic system on Luctonians Sports Club as part of a mutually beneficial sponsorship deal.

Based in Herefordshire, Luctonians is a multi-sports club for all ages. With 6 pitches, and a variety of rugby and cricket teams as well as other sports, they are a community club offering excellent facilities.

In July SERS installed the 14 panel system which is expected to provide an annual output of 3,154.94kWh. As a result Luctonians are to benefit from reduced fuel bills and increased profits thanks to feed in tariff payments. They have also reduced the carbon footprint of the club.

SERS wishes all of the teams based there the best of luck for the future.

The install at Luctonians

SERS have had the pleasure today of presenting Hospice of the Valleys with a cheque for £200 to help towards all of the great work which they do. Back in June 2012 SERS ran a competition whilst exhibiting at CIH Manchester, the prize for the lucky winner was £200 to donate to a charity of their choice.

The winner was an employee from Tai Calon, Blaenau Gwent’s largest provider of social housing.  Tai Calon’s charity of the year is Hospice of the Valleys and as a result they were the charity to receive the money.

Hospice of the Valley’s provides care and support to people and their families who are suffering from cancer or a life threatening illness free of charge. From expert advice, help with medication and a bereavement service they can be there every step of the way. For more information on Hospice of the Valleys visit their website here.

SERS’ Mike Roberts handing cheque to Kevin Davidge from Hospice of the Valleys

SERS had a fantastic day exhibiting at RCT Homes’ fun day and were very pleased to have been asked to exhibit once again.

Held on July 26^th at Aberdare’s Michael Sobell Centre the turnout was fantastic and the weather was perfect for the event. It was expected that over 1000 people would visit!

All RCT Homes tenants and leaseholders were invited to join in the fun which included games, donkey rides, a petting zoo and many more activities.

SERS have installed external wall insulation onto well over 500 RCT Homes properties and it was nice to meet up with some of the tenants which have had the work carried out and are reaping the benefits.

One of the RCT properties at Penywaun

The day was free to all and RCT Homes put on free buses throughout the valleys to make it easy for visitors to get there. There was even free tea, coffee and drinks available.

SERS were asked to exhibit in order to provide information about the external wall insulation aspect of RCT Homes’ refurbishment scheme.

Are you an RCT Homes tenant who has been lucky enough to have external wall insulation installed? If so we would love to hear of the impact external wall insulation has made.

Laurie Morris (SERS) and Adrian Tattershall and Rod Keeble (RCT Homes)

Laurie Morris and Richard Davies from SERS enjoying the day!

SERS for the first time will ths year be exhibiting at The Big Cheese event in July.

Brought by Caerphilly County Council the big cheese is an event which has loads to offer and promises to be a fun family weekend. With music, food, a funfair and stalls there is something for everyone.

SERS will be providing information on energy saving solutions and advising people on how they can cut their fuel bills and become more environmentally friendly.

It is held on the 27th – 29th July and is free to enter.

Come and visit us at stall 10 in the commercial stalls section.

SERS are pleased to announce that they have been shortlisted in the INCA awards 2012. Penywaun (phase1) has been shortlisted along with 4 other projects in the Domestic Refurbishment – Low Rise (6 houses or more) category. The shortlisted entrants were announced on July 4^th with the awards ceremony taking place in early October.

Phase 1 of the Penywaun scheme took place between December 2012 and March 2011 and saw the refurbishment of 333 non-traditional properties.  A mix of BISF (91), Easiform (88) and Arcal (154) properties all had external wall insulation installed to improve their thermal performance.

Out of the 333 properties a large majority of these were RCT owned whilst a small proportion were owned privately; all works were carried out with residents in situ.

Poor weather threatened to delay works on the scheme as many of the properties were worked on during the winter months. Careful planning and programming however enabled us to deliver on time as agreed with RCT.

Two Houses in Penywaun with External Wall Insulation

May saw a film crew arrive on site in Fernhill to make a short video outlining the work which is being carried out there. The reason for the filming was that RCT Homes had been short listed for Responsible Company of the Year in Business in the Communities’ Wales Impact awards; part of the Awards for Excellence 2012. RCT chose Fernhill as one of their projects to focus on as they felt it was one of the contracts which made the most impact to the community.

Acting For the Camera

The filming took just over two hours and focussed on a variety of areas on the estate including finished houses and ones in progress. An interview was also held with a member from RCT homes, a member of Fernhill Residents Association and Richard Davies, Site Manager for SERS. To take a look at the video which also looks at two other RCT homes projects, click here.

Site Manager Richard Being Interviewed

We are pleased to say that RCT Homes won Responsible Company of the Year as announced on June 21st in Cardiff.

“The top accolade, the Welsh Government Responsible Company of the Year, went to RCT Homes, who were recognised for their work transforming lives and communities.  The company which was only established in 2008 was seen to have made significant progress on all aspects of its corporate social responsibility programme in a short time and for ‘living and breathing’ their pledge to be ‘more than a landlord’.  RCT Homes are the first social landlord to receive this prestigious Award”. BITC website.

Business in the Community are a business led charity which stands for the promotion of responsible business practice. They work alongside companies to help to integrate responsible practices and connect them with local communities, all with the aim of tackling social and environmental issues.

SERS are a member of Business in the Community and hope to enter some of their prestigious awards in the coming  years.

Some of The Properties in Fernhill

For the second year running SERS are pleased to announce that they have supported the local Fire Safety Awareness Publication.

The book provides children with valuable information about fire safety and prevention. Our allocation of books will be donated to a local primary school.

Set in a rural village in Cheshire, Audlem music and arts festival was started twelve years ago to celebrate the talents of the local community.

The festival was held 31st May – 5th June this year, and SERS were proud to sponsor the event. With a variety of music and other talents there was something for everyone .

For more information and to keep an eye on next years event visit the Audlem Festival Website.

SERS is one of the latest group of successful companies to join a leading edge scheme, designed to help industry improve its safety record.

SERS have recently received accreditation from SAFEcontractor, a programme which recognises very high standards of health and safety practise amongst UK contractors.

The company’s application for SAFEcontractor accreditation was driven by the need for a uniform standard across the business.

“We achieve the highest health and safety standards by increasing our Awareness of the benefits that sound health and safety management can bring to the business, Believing that sound health and safety management is morally and legally the right thing to do, having Conviction from all levels within the organisation towards our goals and through Determination to keep going when it’s not always the easiest option to take (ABCD). Keith Taylor, H and S Manager.

SAFEcontractor accreditation is expected to enhance the company’s ability to attract new contracts and its commitment to safety will be viewed positively by its insurers when the company liability policy is up for renewal.

SAFEcontractor is applicable to most sectors although it is particularly relevant to food manufacture, property, facilities management, retail and leisure sectors, all of which are big users of contract services.

John Kinge, Head of Risk at SAFEcontractor said, “Major organisations can no longer run the risk of employing contractors who are not able to prove that they have sound health and safety policies”.

“More companies need to understand the importance of adopting good risk management in the way that SERS has done. The firm’s high standard has set an example, which hopefully will be followed by other companies within the sector”.

Under the SAFEcontractor system, businesses undergo a vetting process, which examines health and safety procedures and their track record for safe practice. Those companies meeting the high standard are included on a database, which is accessible to registered users only via a website, www.safecontractor.com

Employer-organisations who sign up to the scheme can access the database, enabling them to vet potential contractors before they even set foot on site. These employers agree that, as users of the scheme, they will engage only those who have received accreditation.

Over one hundred and fifty major nation-wide businesses, from several key sectors, have signed up to use the scheme when selecting contractors for services such as building, cleaning, maintenance, refurbishment or electrical and mechanical work.

SAFEcontractor is a third party accreditation scheme that assesses health and safety arrangements. Many major clients recognise the scheme and accept the SAFEcontractor certificate as confirmation of competency. You only need to be assessed once and not by every client and prospect.

Last week it was announced that the proposed cuts which were to be made in July have been postponed until August.

DECC ( The Department for Energy and Climate Change) announced on the 24^th May that the cuts to the Feed-in tariffs for solar PV shall not go ahead in July. The new reduced rate of 16p/kWh will be paid for 4kW systems as of August 1^st.

In the meantime the extra month at the higher rate is expected to see many people take the opportunity to benefit last minute.
For more information please see DECC’s website.

As a contractor working in partnership with Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council it is important that we consider and protect the environment in which we operate. Our site in Rotherham commenced in January 2012 and has a fantastic approach to recycling; 3 months into the project Site Manager Mark Nadin is keeping to his 100% recycling target.

Back in January 2012 Mark said:

“ Here at Rotherham, we have been working with Ron Hull skips and recycling centre and we have set a target of recycling 100% of our polystyrene waste. We have a 20 yard skip in the compound that is used for EWI off cuts to allow them to be recycled. All operatives have been briefed as to my intentions and this will be closely monitored as I feel this will be a great achievement. All other waste will be put into 2 skips and sent as mixed waste, where it will be separated at their waste transfer and recycling centre”.

As of mid-April 2012 the site has recycled 100% of their polystyrene offcuts as hoped for; this totals over 60 cubic metres and in turn equates to four 20 yard skip fulls being saved from landfill.

The sites mixed waste continues to be taken to Ron Hull recycling centre where it is separated and then recycled.

SERS are in the process of installing external and internal wall insulation onto over 350 properties in the Holmes area of Rotherham to improve their thermal efficiency and reduce carbon emissions under a Community Energy Saving Programme. The work is being carried out in association with British Gas and Br Testing. To date around 100 properties have had the works carried out and we are extremely pleased with the recycling which is being done on site. The polystyrene which is being recycled is produced as an offcut from the insulation boards which are being fitted to the solid wall properties.

SERS will be exhibiting at the Chartered Institute of Housing’s Housing Conference and Exhibition in Manchester. The three day event in June will see the launch of the new SERS Energy Saving Solutions.

Stand G60
12th – 14th June 2012

Please email info@sersltd.co.uk should you wish to receive an invite to the event.

SERS Cannock are pleased to have been able to sponsor the 2012 local Road Safety booklet; Practical Advice – Keeping Children Safe.

The booklet which is given to children across the country hopes to inform and raise awareness of the importance of road safety. It includes information on playing safe, riding your bike safety including maintenance of bikes, and how to be safe as a pedestrian.

SERS are pleased to once again be able to sponsor a local drugs awareness campaign. For the 2nd year running we have provided sponsorship for drug awareness books to be used at Cannock Chase High School.

The books have been produced and donated in association with D.A.T.A ( Developing Awareness to Adolescents).

D.A.T.A’s aim is to educate on the devastating effect that drugs and alcohol has on users and the people around them. Through clear education they hope to make young people aware that drugs are not safe to take; in a society in which these habits are becoming more common and accepted amongst the young.

SERS Ltd are always interested in supporting their local community and welcome further suggestions. We have an office in Cannock and an office in Pengam.

20th March saw just under 600 of the countries leading specialist contractors gather to celebrate the achievements of those who were chosen as finalists.

SERS were a short listed finalist in the Low Carbon category, and although we didn’t win on the night it was great to get involved and be a finalist.

Hopefully 2013 is an even more successful year - not long until we will be working on our submission!

An additional 5 vans have been added to the already strong SERS fleet. Sporting a new design, the 5 new vans show off our new branding image.

With vans being added all the time we hope to have all vans representing the new SERS image within the next 12 months.

Our New Van Design

Just in time for Christmas 2011, SERS replaced a distraught Mayor of Caerphilly’s stolen solar panels.

Just a week after installation, 3 out of the 16 ZNShine 250W solar PV modules installed were stolen with luckily the thieves being disturbed whilst attempting to remove their 4^th.  A keen environmentalist, the Mayor Cllr Vera Jenkins, had the PV panels installed in order to generate her own electricity and benefit from the feed in tariff.

Due to the installation being so recent the system had yet to be insured leaving the Mayor and her family somewhat upset due to the extra cost required to replace the missing panels. Luckily SERS were able to help and have replaced the panels free of charge on the same day as they were noticed missing! With just over a week to go until Christmas the situation could have potentially disrupted the festive holiday for the family and SERS are pleased that they were able to prevent this.

Mike Cribb Operations Director for SERS Renewables said “We received a call regarding the PV system we had installed on the Mayors house and the possibility that one of one the panels was loose. We went over to the property straight away and as soon as we arrived it became clear that the arrangement of panels had changed and some were missing. The loose panel was the fourth one which the thieves had tried to remove but had to leave behind following disturbance. The panels were stolen in broad daylight and the thieves had the correct tools and ‘know how’ to remove them from the system without damaging the panels or the rest of the system”.

Mr and Mrs Jenkins said  “We had 16 PV Panels installed by our local branch (Mike Cribb and his crew) in December 2011. The installation was quick, clean and very satisfactory. The installation team were very professional and polite leaving our premises in the same way they found it. We have no hesitation in recommending SERS to anyone contemplating purchasing this brilliant technology”.

The Missing Panels

Our Highly Commended Certificate 2012

SERS have been highly commended in the Building Excellence Awards in category 5 – Sustainability Project.

The Penywaun site started back in 2010 with a pilot scheme and since then has gone from strength to strength. We have currently installed external wall insulation to approximately 314 RCT and privately owned homes. In its second year, the scheme is planned to see SERS install external wall insulation onto a further 114 RCT homes with 42 planned to be completed by the end of March 2012. The scheme will also see around 45 more privately owned properties benefit by the end of March.

The external wall insulation promises to keep residents warmer, reduce fuel bills and help to make the area more sustainable. The insulation also dramatically improves the appearance of a property thus uplifting the whole community.

For more information on the Penywaun site and the awards please click here.

Collecting our Certificate. From right to left, Laurie Morris of SERS, Rhys Steel of Michael Dyson Associates, Mark Thomas of SERS, The Mayor of Rhondda Cynon Taf, two employees from P&P Building & Roofing Contractors Ltd

SERS Employees Graham Furlong (Site Manager) and Anne Barnett (Tennant Liaison Officer) have received personal letters from the Chief Executive at Bron Afon for their bravery and support when a fire broke out on some of the homes in the area where SERS are working.

The homes in Trevethin caught ablaze following a fire which accidently started out in a local shed on January the 19th. Eight houses were evacuated and two homes left severely damaged with a further two being smoke damaged.

Working on site locally, Graham and Anne bravely helped to assist in the evacuation to get everyone to safety whilst the fire caused widespread panic.

Chief Executive Duncan Forbes writes “I’m really proud of the way staff and contractors have been involved in supporting the tenants and residents in this community during this difficult time”.

SERS are delighted that they have been nominated in the Rhondda Cynon Taff County Borough Council Building Control Building Excellence Awards 2012.

The site at Penywaun, Hirwaun has been nominated in category 5 – a sustainability project with the awards ceremony is being held on Friday the 20^th of January 2012 at the Heritage Park Hotel, Trehafod.

The Penywaun site started back in 2010 with a pilot scheme and since then has gone from strength to strength. We have currently installed external wall insulation to approximately 314 RCT and privately owned homes. In its second year, the scheme is planned to see SERS install external wall insulation onto a further 114 RCT homes with 42 planned to be completed by the end of March 2012. The scheme will also see around 16 more privately owned properties benefit by the end of March.

The external wall insulation promises to keep residents warmer, reduce fuel bills and help to make the area more sustainable. The insulation also dramatically improves the appearance of a property thus uplifting the whole community.

For more information on the Penywaun site please visit the two case studies below.

Partnering Pilot Programme

300 More Homes to Benefit from External Wall Insulation in the Aberdare Area

Blackwood Rugby Club is an integral part of the local community and is located close to our Wales based office. SERS ltd are delighted that we are able to sponsor their youth team for this year.

Founded in 1889 the club has been a member of the Welsh Rugby Union since 1918. We hope the team is highly successful this season and we wish them the best of luck.

 http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/blackwoodrfc/

The Blackwood Rugby Club Youth TeamThe Blackwood Rugby Club Youth Team

The funding levels which we are able to provide for the installation of external wall insulation have recently been increased by 65% for domestic homeowners. The amount of funding available depends upon the property size and heating source; please contact us to see what funding is available for your home when installing external wall insulation.

After entry into the ‘Low Carbon’ category of the Construction News Specialists Awards 2012, SERS Ltd have been shortlisted.

Officially announced today in Construction News magazine and online the awards will be presented on the 20^th March at the London Hilton Hotel, Park Lane.

The project entered into this category was for our participation on the Walsall CESP scheme. To read more about the scheme please visit the case study here.

One of the houses on the Walsall scheme

November brought a wonderful surprise for SERS Ltd, a first class testimonial from a pair of home owners delighted with their recent external wall insulation installation.

Orchard Farm in Stafford is a detached 18^th Century four bedroomed house of solid wall construction; heated by oil. As a result it was often cold and was getting progressively more and more expensive to heat. Luckily SERS were able to help by insulating their home and made somewhat of a good impression!

“To say that we are delighted with the finished job is something of an understatement! From our first discussion about having our property insulated (after only some 250 years!) we have appreciated the way you have provided a first class service throughout. The attention to detail has been excellent and the performance of your team left everyone ‘gobsmacked’ in terms of both the quality of work and the speed with which it was completed. The finishing touch has been the way the site has been left in pristine condition. Both friends and passers-by have gone out of their way to comment on how good the finished installation looks”.

“Now, we will be able to enjoy a warm, cosy environment whatever the elements throw at us without breaking the bank as a result of ever rising fuel bills!” The Homeowners.  

Orchard Farm

Orchard Farm

Orchard Farm

SERS Ltd employees have raised £115 to support the ‘Action for Children’ Christmas Campaign in association with Business in the Community.

For most of us Christmas is a magical time, but there are plenty of children in Wales who will receive few, if any, presents this Christmas. This is why Business in the Community have asked businesses and their employees to donate money and SERS employees were happy to support this cause. The Christmas campaign promises to help make the lives of over 2,000 Welsh children brighter by donating gifts to vulnerable children.

Business in the Community are working with a number of Welsh charities including ‘Action for Children’; all of which will provide presents for children who live in poverty, have special needs or who live in care.

Saturday 20^th August saw 10 SERS Ltd employees, predominantly from our Welsh office, team up with three members of the local community in order to take on the Welsh 3 Peaks Challenge. Armed with the SERS Ltd mascot teddy, the group set off aiming to complete all 3 peaks in less than 15 hours.

Completing the challenge in just under 14 hours, they smashed their target and raised £1161 for the Mayor of Caerphilly’s chosen charity ‘Llamau’ (Reg 701772); a charity which helps the homeless and vulnerable women of the local community.  Many thanks to all our sponsors for their support.

The Welsh 3 Peaks Challenge includes the key 3 peaks of Wales. The challenge commenced at 6am at the foot of Snowdon in the North and moved onto Cadair Idris in mid Wales. The challenge was then completed at Pen – Y – Fan in the South. The weather looked promising at the start of the day however unfortunately the elements turned against them; but undeterred on they went to the top of all 3 mountains.

 The group of walkers were of varying abilities allowing the more experienced to provide support and encouragement to the more novice team members. Well done all.

 The training before the challenge mainly took place at Pen – Y – Fan, however individual training often took place in order to ensure they hit the 15 hour target. Walk organiser, Gloria Browning noticed “the novices really enjoyed the challenge; however we did climb Pen – Y – Fan (the smallest mountain to be climbed) as part of our training in order to ensure they could reach the top! It was also great when we met ‘Derek the Weatherman’ and really encouraged us to train harder”.

Gloria Browing from SERS handing over our cheque to Hugh Russell from Llamau yesterday

All at SERS Ltd would like to thank Emma Price, Paul Freeman and Paul Ivin for joining the SERS Ltd group and helping to raise such a fantastic amount of money for a great cause.

A walk in which various members of SERS took part has raised a total of £2000 (with £235 coming from SERS) for local charity Velindre. Local to our Wales office, Velindre Cancer Centre is the largest non-surgical hospital in Wales and supports 50% of all people who are diagnosed with cancer in Wales.

Some of The Team

On Sunday 30^th October, SERS employees joined forces with SPS Envirowall employees and members of the mountain ash rugby team to raise as much money as possible for this great cause. Following the horseshoe path on the Brecon Beacons the group walked the 3 peaks of Pen – Y – Fan mountain range (whilst Benx HR director Kevin Ruane and friend ran the route!). Unfortunately the weather was against them and the fog set in, however the day was enjoyable for all involved. They even had ‘follow me’ signs due to the poor visibility; but this didn’t put anyone off.

The 'follow me' signs which helped in the fog!!

Kevin Ruane (Benx Human Resources Director) would like to say “a big thank you to all who pledged money to help the event as it was emotional for all!”

Reaching The Top in The Fog!

Velindre hospital relies solely on support and generosity from donors and as a result does a lot of fundraising. If you are interested in raising some money for this wonderful cause please visit the fundraising page here.

It was announced last week that £200M of further Government funding is going to be added to the Green Deal funding pot. This extra funding has been injected in order to kick start the Governments plans to refurbish 14 million homes in the UK announced Treasury minister Danny Alexander.

This limited time introductory offer will allow early adopters to benefit from The Green Deal scheme as well as receiving money back for early participation. This could be around £150!

“The earlier you Green Deal your home, the quicker you’ll benefit from a warmer and cosier property as well as protecting yourselves from rocketing prices” Danny Alexander.

For more information on The Green Deal please visit our blog.

Newport City Homes recently ran a competition in which SERS Ltd were one of the eleven partners which sponsored the prize. The competition, which was for young people aged between 5 and 16, called for participants to design their ideal bedroom. The prize on offer was the chance to have their dream design turned into reality with a bedroom makeover.  

The two lucky winners (from two categories) were chosen from the many entries received by Newport City Homes who enlisted the help of residents in order to take on the tricky task of judging all the entries. Newport City Homes also noted that the standard of entries was extremely high, which we’re sure must have made the judging harder. The two winners were Megan aged 7 from Ringland and Dani aged 12 from Bettws who both did fantastic designs. 

Both bedroom makeovers are planned to be carried out prior to Christmas and Newport City Homes have enlisted the help of four students who are currently studying interior design at the University of Glamorgan to help turn the winners’ dreams on paper into reality in their bedroom.

The competition was launched at the Resident Festival held by Newport City Homes, for more details on this please visit the link here.

 SERS have been working in partnership with Newport City Homes improving their housing stock by installing external wall insulation to ensure homes are warmer and their fuel bills are reduced.

Following a successful audit, SERS Ltd are pleased to add OHSAS 18001 to their list of international standards, accreditations and trade memberships. We are now a registered firm of this international accreditation.

OHSAS 18001 is an Occupation Health and Safety Assessment Series for health and safety management systems. Its framework will allow us to consistently identify and control our health and safety risks, reduce the potential for accidents and improve our overall performance.

To see more of our accreditations and trade memberships please click here.

SERS Achieve 18001 Accreditation

Welsh environment minister John Griffiths recently visited our Penywaun site to see the impact for himself that the works are having.

Alongside other refurbishment works, SERS have installed external wall insulation to 314 properties to date with around a further 130 to do on the Penywaun site.

The homes, which are a mix of RCT and privately owned are benefitting from these works due to funding through the Welsh Governments Strategic Energy Programme ARBED.

The minister visited the home of some residents whose house has been transformed by the scheme. Their homes have received external wall insulation and re-cladding by SERS as well as new windows and doors. He also spent time meeting SERS employee Robert Smith who lives locally to the scheme in an RCT property.

Whilst on his visit to the site, Environment Minister John Griffiths announced a further £8.8million of funding to improve the energy efficiency of Welsh homes. Now in its second phase, ARBED has seen thousands of homes benefit from energy saving measures.

Roy and Maureen Jones with Welsh Government Minister John Griffiths AM

An example of two properties with external wall insulation

SERS Ltd are delighted to have been asked back to a site in Stafford to install external wall insulation on a pair of semi-detached 3 bedroom houses.

The pair of houses is located on a street in which SERS Ltd have recently worked in association with the local council to install external wall insulation. SERS Ltd partnered up with Stafford and Rural Homes in order to install external wall insulation onto over 360 homes.

Unfortunately however not all privately owned homes were able to benefit from the scheme and so these two homes were left. After seeing the work done on hundreds of houses around them and neighbours mentioning the benefits of having the insulation, both home owners joined together to get the pair of houses completed using the same pebble dash finish.

The main impact on the estate of having the work done was the general transformation of the appearance. By using a silicone render or pebble dash finish, external wall insulation can dramatically improve appearance and revamp a whole neighbourhood.

The Energy bill received royal assent on October 18^th 2011. Originally introduced in the House of Lords on December 2010, the energy Bill has taken 10 months to receive its assent and has now become The Energy Act 2011. The Act specifically includes key provisions on The Green Deal, The Private Rented Sector and Energy Company Obligation amongst other things.

The Energy Act 2011 has established a financing framework to implement the Green Deal at the end of 2012. The Green Deal will allow fixed energy efficiency improvements to be carried out on homes and businesses with no upfront funding being required. Measures such as external wall insulation could be installed with the cost via a charge on the energy bill. This charge will be less than the saving which has been made by implementing the measure.

The Energy Company Obligation will continue to place an obligation on energy companies to support hard to treat homes in certain customer groups and will replace CERT and CESP which expire at the end of 2012. This will also work alongside The Green Deal to help to support homes that may be vulnerable or on low incomes.

The Act also includes a provision which means that from April 2016, a private landlord is unable to refuse a tenant who wishes to implement energy saving measures should a reasonable finance package be available. The Green Deal and The Energy Company Obligation are two examples of adequate financial packages. It also implements the provision that from April 2018 it will become unlawful for a private landlord to rent out a building which does not reach a minimum energy requirement.

Finally it also puts into place the facility for the roll out of smart meters across UK households. This will help homes to monitor energy use and reduce fuel bills.

For more information please visit the Department of Climate Change website.

With yesterday’s announcement by the Department of Energy and Climate Change of the comprehensive review of the feed in tariff, we thought we would explain what it means for you, and explain why the future is still bright for solar panels.

The review proposes new financial rates to be paid for various sized systems; some are up to half of their original value. The new rates will go through in April 2012 officially however they will affect all new systems installed on or after 12th December 2011^.

Which means there are 6 weeks in which if people were to act quickly they would be able to benefit from the original higher tariff.

But it’s not all negative, yes the amount of funding that you receive will be reduced but there aren’t many other investments which provide a return like this (even with the lower tariff) for a guaranteed 25 years. Tax free as well!

And let’s face it, with energy bill spiralling out of control you still get to benefit from free electricity – which is a bonus for all.

Solar Photovoltaic Panels

Our recommendation is to try and get your photovoltaic panels installed and up and running by the 12^th of December, if this is not possible just remember the investment is still a good one. Not forgetting the other reasons for having panels installed like reducing your carbon emissions, increasing property values and protecting yourself from spiralling fuel bill increases.

A number of employees from SERS are to carry out a walk for charity in order to raise money for the Velindre Hospital in Cardiff.  The walk will see the team, which also includes employees from our sister company SPSenvirowall and members of the Mountain Ash rugby team, walk the Brecon Beacons Horseshoe path on Sunday the 30^th October – around 12 miles!

The Velindre hospital provides specialist cancer care to patients within Wales. It provides essential support and treatment and it a vital part in the treatment of patients with Cancer. The hospital relies on support and generosity from donors and as a result carries out a lot of fundraising in order to keep up their life changing work. For more information on the hospital and to find out ways in which you can help visit The Velindre Hospital website.

We wish them all luck and hope the weather is nice to them on the day.

SERS Ltd will be having a presence at Solar Power UK in Birmingham from the 26^th – 28^th October. Held at the International Convention Centre, the event will bring together around 600 delegates from the solar industry and will see many solar companies exhibiting; from both the photovoltaic and solar thermal sectors.

The three day event will include an exhibition and conference programme which will see key note speakers deliver conferences, training and seminars.

SERS Ltd will have a presence at the event for all three days, please contact us should you wish to meet with someone from SERS to discuss solar power.

Energy Saving Week (24^th – 28^th of October) is an annual event led by the  Energy Saving Trust. Its main aim is to advise and support homes and businesses to take action in order to reduce fuel bills and save energy.

The Energy Saving Trust has reported that the average home can save up to £280 a year just by being more energy efficient! With fuel bills on the rise there isn’t a better reason to make changes. Energy Saving Week aims to provide households with information in order for them to make the right decision based upon their situation.  

The Energy Saving Trust has provided a list of top tips to help save money and stop wasting energy. More details on each can be found on the Energy Saving Trust website.

• Look for cavities
• Be eco chic and look for the logo
• Boilers… if it isn’t broken, it still might need fixing
• Be nice to your freezer
• Wrap up your hot water tank … give it a jacket
• Draw at dusk… close your curtains
• A bright idea… buy an energy efficient light bulb
• Take to the floor
• See double… and cut heat loss by 50%
• Feeling chilly? Loft insulation will keep the heat in your home
• Generate your own!
• Be switched on – take a home energy check!

If you would like independant advice from The Energy Saving Trust then please call their free phone number on 0800 512 012 where you can speak to an advisor in your region. They will be able to advise you on ways to cut bills and save energy.  They can also give advice on government grants that you may be eligible for.

Our first stop on the SERS Roadshow, Homebase Cannock, is proving a great success. We have had many people coming to us for more information on external wall insulation and solar photovoltaic panels. We have also had a number of people sign up for a survey!

We will be at Homebase Cannock until the 16^th of October. We will then be moving to Homebase Shrewsbury from the 17^th – 23^rd of October. The final stop see’s us in Homebase Oswestry the following week.

If you would like any further information or a meeting with us, please contact us via the contact page on the website.

SERS Ltd have today been highly commended in the INCA (The Insulated Render and Cladding Association) 2011 awards in the Domestic Refurbishment – High Rise Category where they were appointed as the contractor to install external wall insulation.

Bristol City Council nominated SERS Ltd in the Domestic Refurbishment – High Rise category for the installation of external wall insulation on Holroyd House, Bristol.

 Holroyd House, a 17 storey high rise block of flats, had an Envirowall external wall insulation system installed by SERS Ltd which resulted in a U – Value of 0.32 W/m2K.

SERS Ltd as the contractor and SPS Envirowall as the System Designer were announced as having been shortlisted for Holroyd House, in July along with 3 other entrants in the same category. For more information on the Holroyd House project and the complete schedule of works please visit the case study below.

 Holroyd House Case Study

SERS Ltd are today exhibiting at the ‘Greening Government 2011: Mainstreaming Sustainable Development’ Conference and Exhibition in London.  We have a new exhibition stand (shown above) for this event, in which we are exhibiting in association with our sister company SPSenvirowall 

Brought by Gov Today, as part of their successful ‘Securing the Future’ series of events, this Annual National Conference examines progress within the public sector and by Central Government in particular, relating to performance in achieving sustainable development. The show attracts a wide selection of attendees from across all areas of central government and the public sector including Chief Executives, Directors of Sustainability and Climate Change Advisors.

SERS Ltd have donated 15 drug awareness books to a local high school to their Cannock based office. In association with D.A.T.A (Developing Awareness to Adolescents), Cannock Chase High School have received the books in order to help promote drugs awareness amongst the students.

D.A.T.A’s aim is to educate on the devastating effect that drugs and alcohol has on users and the people around them. Through clear education they hope to make young people aware that drugs are not safe to take; in a society in which these habits are becoming more common and accepted amongst the young.

SERS Ltd are always interested in supporting their local community and welcome further suggestions. We have an office in Cannock and an office in Pengham.

Consumer Focus have urged more and more of the UK’s households to take advantage of the governments insulating schemes the Energy Saving Trust has announced. With a predicted cold winter drawing in, the insulation scheme can help homes across the country to keep warm.

Although tens of millions of homes have already benefitted, there are still many more households that could benefit from discounted or even free insulation under the scheme.

As previously announced by energy secretary Chris Huhne, in order for the government’s targets to be met the big 6 energy companies must more than triple their monthly installation rates to counter act their lagging numbers.

The insulation scheme covers External Wall Insulation, Internal Wall Insulation, Loft Insulation and Cavity Wall Insulation. Funding is provided through a number of streams such as CESP (Community Energy Saving Programme) and CERT (Community Energy Reduction Target).

If you are interested in finding out whether you are eligible for discounted or even free external wall insulation then please contact us and we would be happy to advise you.

Cwmaman Music Festival 2011 was held on September 23^rd – 25^th and SERS were proud to be able to sponsor the event. In its fourth year, the festival boasts a weekend full of musical diversity. With six stages and 3 full days the festival plays host to some of the best local talent with an emphasis on artists within the valleys.

Attracting visitors from all over the UK and Europe, Cwmaman music festival is organised by volunteers who live in Cwmaman village and who have a passion for live music.

Cwmaman is located between two sites in Wales in which SERS have recently been working on installing external wall insulation and therefore it was the perfect event for us to sponsor. We are looking forward to seeing what the 2012 festival has in store and wish the team the best of luck in the organising of it!

The Cwmaman Music Festival Programme

SERS Ltd are about to embark on their first roadshow around Shropshire and Staffordshire. Providing in depth information and guidance on external wall insulation, solar photovoltaic panels and energy saving measures, the roadshow is one not to be missed.

We will be starting the road show in Cannock on the 10^th of October and visiting Shrewsbury and Oswestry in the following subsequent weeks.

Please feel free to come and visit us in any of the following stores or contact us via the website.

Homebase Cannock

10^th – 16^th October 2011

The Orbital Retail Centre

Voyager Drive

Cannock

WS11 8XP

Homebase Shrewsbury

17^th – 23^rd October 2011

Sundorne Retail Park

Battlefield Rd

Shrewsbury

 SY1 4YA

Homebase Oswestry

24^th – 30^th October 2011

Penda Retail Park

Salop Road

Oswestry

SY11 2RL

In his speech at the liberal democrat conference last week, Energy secretary Chris Huhne pledged to get tougher on the big six energy suppliers following their recent hikes in prices.

The practice of energy companies luring new customers in with cheap deals whilst increasing the prices for its existing ones was heavily criticised, with Huhne pledging to stop this.

His main aim was to make it easier for people to spot cheaper deals and switch providers. It is not the case that you will face the same bill whatever provider you go with; there is variation and a significant one at that. In order to avoid these price increases his main message was to encourage people to swop providers and take advantage of the low and appealing tariffs which the energy suppliers are offering to new customers.

He set out many other ideas for tackling the ever growing problem that is the energy market, including encouraging smaller firms to enter the market to provide options for people. It will be some time before we hear the outcome of the plans laid down yesterday, however they are long awaited by the British public who are slowly drifting closer to fuel poverty with a long cold winter ahead.

This annual event took place on September 10^th 2011 and SERS Ltd were delighted that they were able to attend with a small stall. A positive contribution from all those involved made the day highly successful.

Around 1200 people attended the festival at John Frost square and employees from SERS Ltd enjoyed spending time talking to many of these.

A large number of attendees were Newport City Homes tenants; many of which SERS Ltd have recently worked with installing external wall insulation onto their homes. Contracts manager Laurie Morris said “It was great to catch up with some of the people we worked alongside and meet some of the ones who weren’t home when we worked on their house. I also spent time talking to people who had seen the external wall insulation being installed in the area and wanted more information on having the work done to their home”.

As well as discussing external wall insulation many people enquired about solar photovoltaic panels as their popularity continues to soar.

SERS Ltd had a great day there and really enjoyed themselves and hope to be able to get involved again next year. For more information on the festival please click here.

The last 12 months has seen all 6 of the major energy firms increase their prices; TWICE.

EDF is the last one to announce its increases in this second round of hikes with its changes coming into effect in November and affecting its 3.2 million customers. This announcement comes just two days after Scottish and Southern Energy’s and EON’s recent increases took effect potentially affecting all of their 5 million and 7.4 million customers respectively.

EDF was the only energy supplier in the big 6 to freeze its prices last winter before finally increasing them in March this year. The other five all increased their prices just before Christmas with many of the effects being felt over the ‘big freeze’ which Britain felt.

June 2011 saw the first price increase announcement from Scottish Power, with EDF announcing the 6^th increase just 3 months later. The effects of this second round of increase on homes across Britain will be felt this winter as all of the increase will come into effect by November.

The increases are often blamed on rising wholesale costs. The result however is that the millions of people affected are one step closer to fuel poverty. With prices changing roughly every 6 months it is essential home owners evaluate their fuel plan often, to ensure they are getting the best deal. For ways on avoiding the impact of these increases please visit our blog.

The South Wales Argus announced in August that four council – owned buildings are planned to benefit from photovoltaic panels in the local area to our head office.

The series of solar photovoltaic panels are predicted to save around £1million over a 25 year period when installed. This revenue will be generated by receiving payments from the Feed in Tariff scheme. The four buildings energy costs shall also be reduced considerably due to their significant self-sufficiency in electricity generation.

As with all installations of PV panels, a full detailed survey will be carried out prior to the final decision. However it’s clear that the potential savings and forecasted revenue are a great benefit to the local area and community.

SERS Ltd is now able to provide personal finance options to homeowners who wish to improve the energy efficiency of their home. SERS Ltd have partnered up with Hitachi in order to provide private funding options to its customers who wish to install external wall insulation to their home.

For more information on person finance options through Hitachi, or information on external wall insulation please contact us on 01543 889080.

SERS Ltd are looking forward to the Newport City Homes Resident Festival as we will have a small stall there and will be getting involved in the day’s activities. Saturday 10^th September at John Frost Square in the city Centre, the festival promises to be both fun and exciting. With music, arts and crafts, stalls and a bouncy castle and carousel there is something for all the family.

The day will commence at 12pm until 4pm and is free to attend. SERS Ltd would like to thank Newport City Homes for allowing us to be involved in such a promising and exciting day.

SERS Ltd have worked in partnership on a number of schemes with Newport City Homes installing external wall insulation onto some of their housing stock.

Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne has today warned the ‘Big 6’ energy suppliers that they are at risk of missing the Government’s mandatory home energy efficiency targets and need to significantly increase their insulation rates.

The CERT scheme requires the 6 key energy firms to fund energy efficiency measures in homes in order to save up to 293 million tonnes of lifetime CO2 emissions by December 2012.

Figures released today indicate that around 300,000 homes were professionally insulated in the past 3 months under CERT (Carbon Emissions Reductions Target). These figures suggest that the Government’s targets may not be met, leaving energy suppliers liable for fines worth up to 10% of their turnover. In order to avoid this, Huhne warned that energy companies may need to almost double their insulation rates to meet the tough CERT targets.

SERS Ltd can confirm that they will be exhibiting at Sustainable Communities 2011: Local Growth, Local Futures.  As well as exhibiting, SERS Ltd is pleased to be holding a master class on the day. Both the exhibition stand and master class will be held in partnership with our sister company SPS Envirowall.

Presented by Gov Today, this is the third Annual Sustainable Communities Conference. The exhibition and conference is to be held on the 2^nd November at The Brewery Conference Centre, The City of London.

“Sustainable Communities 2011: Local Growth, Local Futures Conference and Exhibition will examine specific areas of Government policy, which are radically affecting sustainable communities: economic growth, social development and environmental responsibility”. The conference will attract various people including advisors on climate change, corporate social responsibility directors and chief executives.

For more information on the conference please visit the Gov Today website.

The master class will see managing director of SERS Ltd Mike Roberts, and director Mitch Gee, from SPS Envirowall discussing whole house refurbishment with the emphasis being placed on insulation. The session promises to be both informative and promising.

If you would like more information on whole house refurbishment, please feel free to contact us.

SERS Ltd are delighted to have been nominated and shortlisted for an INCA (The Insulated Render and Cladding Association) award for a project in which they were appointed as the contractor to install external wall insulation.

Bristol City Council nominated SERS Ltd in the Domestic Refurbishment – High Rise category for the installation of external wall insulation on Holroyd House, Bristol. Holroyd House, a 17 storey high rise block of flats, had an Envirowall external wall insulation system installed by SERS Ltd which resulted in a U – Value of 0.32 W/m2K.

SERS Ltd as the contractor and SPS Envirowall as the System Designer were announced as having been shortlisted for Holroyd House, in July along with 3 other entrants in the same category. The INCA awards recognise Innovation and Excellence in external wall insulation and the winners will be announced at the 2011 INCA conference and Exhibition on Wednesday the 12^th of October; in which SERS Ltd will be exhibiting.

For more information on the Holroyd House project and the complete schedule of works please visit the case study below.

 Holroyd House Case Study

For more information on INCA please click here.

‘Greening Government 2011: Mainstreaming Sustainable Development’ Conference and Exhibition

12th October 2011, The Brewery Conference Centre, The City of London

SERS Ltd are pleased to announce that we will be exhibiting at the Greening Government Conference in October this year. Our exhibition stand is in association with one of our sister companies; SPS Envirowall.

Brought by Gov Today, as part of their successful ‘Securing the Future’ series of events, this Annual National Conference examines progress within the public sector and by Central Government in particular, relating to performance in achieving sustainable development. The show will attract a wide selection of attendees from across all areas of central government and the public sector including Chief Executives, Directors of Sustainability and Climate Change Advisors. The day promises to cover many topics including Reducing Energy Consumption, the Feed –in – Tariff’s and retrofitting and refurbishment.

For more information on this event or if you are interested in attending please visit The Greening Government website or contact us via info@sersltd.co.uk

12 SERS employees from our Welsh office are set to take on the Welsh 3 peaks challenge this Saturday (20^th August 2011) all for a great cause.

Aiming to complete all 3 climbs in less than 15 hours, their hard work and dedication has been fantastic. Raising funds for Llamau (reg 701772) a charity which helps the homeless and vulnerable women of their local community, their expedition will see them climb Snowdon, Cader Idris and Pen-Y-Fan.

Full story to come,  along with pictures of the day and even a snapshot with ‘Derek the Weatherman’ who they met whilst training!

Saturday, July 2^nd saw a number of SERS Ltd employees manning a stand at the popular Monmouthshire Housing Association fun day. With face painting, bouncy castles and many more exciting activities and stalls there was plenty to do for all of the family.

Based on Monmouthshire Leisure Centre playing fields between 1pm and 5pm, entry was free to all. There was even free transport available for Monmouthshire Housing Association tenants from Caldicot, Chepstow, Abergavenny, Monmouth and the villages en route.

SERS Ltd have been working with Monmouthshire Housing Association installing external wall insulation onto some of their housing stock. The picture above shows Tony Bowen from Monmouthshire Housing Association with SERS Ltd site manager Graeme Furlong at the fun day.

The day was a huge success and SERS Ltd would like to thank Monmouthshire housing association for allowing us to take part and hope to get involved with the fun day next year.

For more information on external wall insulation please contact us here. Or click here for more details on Monmouthshire Housing Association and more pictures from the day.

June 24^th saw a number of SERS Ltd employees taking part in the National day of employee volunteering; the Give and Gain day. Working in Ringland Wales, the team joined forces with other employees in the local area to carry out a variety of tasks. This year saw the event go global with 24,160 employee volunteers worldwide all aiming to make a difference to their local community.

Full Story and Images coming soon.

For more information on the Give and Gain day please click below.

National Give and Gain Day

SERS Ltd are pleased to announce that they have secured a new CESP contract with RCT (Rhondda – Cynon- Taff) homes starting in August 2011. The 300 non-traditional homes in Fernhill and Penywaun are to receive external wall insulation as part of works funded by Scottish and Southern Energy. The contract totalling around £3 million is in addition to a scheme which was started in May 2011 in the Aberdare area.

To read the full story and details on the benefits of external wall insulation please click below.

RCT CESP Scheme

Careful planning, organisation and a team contribution from site staff have allowed SERS Ltd to prevent 40m3 of polystyrene external wall insulation boards going to landfill; instead it’s been recycled! The insulation board, which was offcuts from a site based in Newark, filled an articulated lorry when it was recovered by the manufacturer.  81 properties in Newark have benefitted from the installation of external wall insulation as part of the Government backed funding scheme CESP (Community Energy Saving Programme).

To read more on this story and external wall insulation please click below.

Newark Recycling Case Study

Between November 2010 and March 2011 SERS Ltd successfully secured approximately £5 million of arbed funding, which led to 569 homes, in a number of regions throughout Wales having External Wall Insulation installed.

To read the full story and learn more about arbed funding and external wall insulation (solid wall rendering) and its benefits, please click below.

Arbed Funding Case Study

SERS recently made a commitment to offer the opportunity of  a total of 52 weeks unwaged work experience to assist those getting back into work. This has quickly turned into waged opportunities, and has enabled SERS to employ a number of local External Wall Insulation operatives to work on a scale bigger than they ever imagined. To read the full story and find out more information on External Wall Insulation please click below.

External Wall Insulation Apprentices and Job Openings Case Study

Congratulations go to our team working on our Newport City Homes, Ringland and Bettws refurbishment project, after the scheme gained a Building Excellence Award for Contribution to Energy Saving. Click here to read more about the project.

http://www.newport.gov.uk

Newport Case Study