It’s fairly easy for householders to obtain grants for cavity wall insulation, and those who qualify (essentially those over 70 or on benefits) can even get it free, as long as an energy audit judges the property is suitable. As an energy saving measure it can be very effective, and pay for itself over a period of years, as well as making the building more comfortable.
However, your building is very different, and certainly not a household. That will make the problem a lot harder, since there aren’t similar sources of funding available for commercial buildings. The thing that can make a difference, though, is the fact that it’s run by a charitable trust, which presumably means it’s not for profit.
Wherever you’re located, there are inevitably organisations that are willing to give grant money for energy projects. You might well find your region has an Energy Partnership or a Sustainable Energy Partnership that could be a good agency to help you.
You could also contact a group called Access Funds, which has information on grant sources for the non-profit sector – that could prove to be a very useful resource for you. Contacting your local council might well be a good avenue. Whether they’ll have a lot of funds is debatable in the current economic climate, but even if they don’t have grant money for these kinds of projects available, they could well be able to point you in the direction of agencies that do.
Similarly, although Communities and Local Government can’t make grants themselves, they might well be able to indicate where in national government you can apply. Whatever you end up doing, it looks like you’ll have to go through several layers of bureaucracy.
When the Carbon Trust carried out your energy audit, did they tell you about the interest-free loans they offer for work such as cavity wall insulation?
They’re available to businesses of small and medium size that have been in existence for a year, and the amounts available run from £5,000 – £200,000. They’re unsecured and can last for up to four years.
Of course, that’s not a solution you’d like to look at, but as an option it’s certainly attractive for many small enterprises.