Research from Barbour ABI revealed today at property and construction industry show Ecobuild in London reveals that Westminster heads the list of local authorities in England, Scotland and Wales for home improvements.
It received the highest proportion of planning applications in 2012, with more than seven applications made to improve homes in Westminster for every 100 private homes, or four and a half times the average for Great Britain.
Westminster is followed by Tunbridge Wells in second place with more than six applications for every 100 private homes in the borough, then South Bucks, Uttlesford and St Albans.Areas in the south of England dominate the top 25 places ? London saw a rise of nearly 9%, while applications in the North East fell by 6%.
?Central or local government initiatives can also make a difference to the number of applications submitted for home improvements,? said a spokesman for Barbour aBI. ?For instance, Blaenau Gwent, one of the poorest districts in Wales, saw applications for home improvements leap in 2012 to place it second in the table of home improvement districts in Wales. In previous years it had been ranked towards the bottom. Much of this increase appears to be because of energy saving initiatives leading to an increase in such improvements as external wall insulation. This may be a positive signal for the Government?s recently introduced Green Deal.?
via Which areas are the home improvement hotspots? | Alex Johnson | Independent Property Blogs.
The Green Deal is in place now and has been up and running for sometime. With this in mind I would say I am surprised to note that so many?home-owners?are not taking it upon themselves to renovate their home and make it more eco-friendly. With the use of the Green Deal home-owners are in fact not losing money in the short term and in the long term they are actually saving money too.
Here are a few worthwhile green home improvements you can make:
- Renovating your homes insulation
- Water Heating through things such as water efficient taps
- Energy Efficient Lighting
- Microgenoration ? This is something I would like to discuss in more detail as not so many people know about the improvements that can be made through Microgenoration. Things such as biomass boilers, solar panels and also ground and air source heat pumps are a few of the improvements that we can make.
- Ventilation is another area in which improvements can be made along with this heating tactics in your home can be improved and also air conditioning.
The Green Deal is something I would advise many more people to take a serious look at before renovating your home, if you are not sure how it works check out this article I wrote for a friend of ours at Green Home Design.
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