Heathack

HeatHack is a not for profit voluntary association and was previously a programme of The Surefoot Effect CIC. We help community groups understand energy efficiency, heat loss, and thermal comfort in their premises and agree about what changes are right for their building's future. Our goal is to empower these organisations to have the right conversations with the professionals they engage, leading to better outcomes for the buildings and the communities they serve. We arose out of the needs of Edinburgh churches and gradually expanded what we do. Our main programme was developed with support from the Royal Academy of Engineering's Ingenious programme. It matches volunteer engineers from any discipline to community buildings. With help from the engineers, the groups consider what a net zero future means for their buildings in four structured sessions, resulting in a proposed plan. The session games and activities help groups decide the best way to use the building to meet their community's needs and plan a community engagement event to check and refine the plan, producing evidence for funders that the plan is right. All materials are freely available online and we are often able to provide support to groups using them. For instance, we are currently working on a partnership with an engineering consultancy to scale up delivery in London, and with the Scottish Episcopal Church as part of their net zero strategy. We also offer "blitz" introduction workshops to our programme highlights and are currently developing related programmes. We have a pilot with 5 listed churches specifically about reducing energy waste due to poor heating control, a move that often saves groups around 20% of their fuel. Please tell us what you need and how we can work with you. We are also working on how to set up as an independent non-profit. If you are interesting in serving as a trustee, please get in touch at info@heathack.org.