St. Margaret’s House in Lowestoft is the home of Citizens Advice in North East Suffolk. It is a Grade II listed Victorian building which 3,000 people visit each year for free advice, mainly on social welfare law.
The charity required support to reduce their costs and improve comfort in the building, which was getting very expensive to run and uncomfortably cold for staff and the visiting public.
The Sustainable Business Support team at Groundwork produced a report to St. Margaret’s House recommending multiple changes including a new heating system, lighting and insulation, with savings estimated at £4,262 and 15T CO2e per year.
Funding advice was also provided and using the report as evidence for environmental and financial benefit, the charity was successfully awarded £20,000 from the UK Power Networks Power Partners Fund and £2,000 from Green Suffolk to cover the costs of a new heating system and LED lighting.
The charity is looking into making the final recommendations a reality with funding applications made for insulation.
“We were very appreciative of the thorough resource efficiency report produced. It enabled us to examine where savings could be made both in terms of cutting our electric bills and reducing our carbon footprint, whilst making our building much more comfortable for staff and users alike.”
Susan Meeken, Business Development Officer at Citizens Advice
