Local energy efficiency specialist, Green Home Systems, is calling on community organisations to act now to claim a new Scottish Government grant to reduce their building’s energy costs and carbon footprint.
The Community Buildings Fund opened for applications in May and provides grants of up to £80,000 for community groups to install renewable technologies in their buildings such as heat pumps, solar panels, battery storage and insulation. The fund is available to charities, community groups, social enterprises and faith organisations based in Scotland on a first-come basis.
The new funding pot is part of the Scottish Government’s Community Energy Generation Growth Fund (CARES) that helps communities to benefit from the national transition to net zero. The Community Buildings Fund is administered and managed by Local Energy Scotland and can provide up to 80% of eligible project costs up to a maximum grant amount of £80,000.
The fund is open to applications until the end of October 2025 or until funding is fully allocated, whichever is sooner, and approved projects must be completed and all funding claimed by the end of February 2026.
Community groups, charities, faith organisations, and social enterprises can apply and the types of buildings that can benefit are village halls, community centres, community hubs, sport facilities, and faith buildings.
Green Home Systems sales director, Gordon McDill, said:
“This is a great opportunity for local groups to access funds to support energy efficiency improvements in their buildings. As a purpose driven organisation we want to maximise the deployment of these funds locally in our communities and are calling for all interested groups to act now before the fund runs out.
We understand that grant applications can be complicated, and so we are willing to offer a free project management service to all local community groups. This includes working with them to understand their energy needs and then develop a detailed project plan.
We can support the application submission, provide a feasibility report with full technical specifications, and assist with planning permissions, grid connections and commissioning.
As an MCS and PAS2030/35 accredited installer we can provide a full turnkey service to install all measures and manage the entire project from inception to completion. As a long-established energy efficiency specialist, we have the necessary experience to delivery these projects successfully.
The Scottish Government has committed a total of £4.5M towards this Community Building Fund, which if fully deployed would allow just 56 projects to proceed across the country. We expect this to be popular and encourage anyone interested to act now before the fund is oversubscribed.”
Green Home Systems has been operating since 2014 and is one of Scotland’s leading energy efficiency installers. Over the last decade it has completed more than 20,000 retrofit projects, including 10,000 solar panel installations, and unlocked over £50M of grant funding for homeowners and communities.
For more information on how to apply to the CARES Community Buildings Fund please contact Gordon McDill or Paul McCluskey by email or telephone:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8ASuqZptfjs?si=prScdq3BeDBqhFbL" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
