To make Wick Community Hub warmer, cheaper to run, and lower carbon, protecting a vital community building and opening its sports hall for year-round use.
Estimated Cost
£150,000
Wick Community Hub will improve the energy efficiency, condition and year-round usability of its community building at 11 Lower Dunbar Street, Wick. The work is based on a Business Energy Scotland assessment and includes:
• cavity wall insulation to the main building and sports hall;
• roof insulation to the main building;
• replacement high-efficiency glazing to the main building;
• replacement of the deteriorating sports hall roof with insulated roof panels;
• LED lighting and appropriate controls throughout the building and sports hall;
• an efficient heating system for the currently unheated sports hall, subject to detailed design; and
• a roof-mounted solar PV array to generate renewable electricity for the Hub.
We will also review the building’s electricity-supply arrangements as part of the wider project. The aim is to reduce heat loss and energy use, improve the building’s condition, and ensure that the sports hall can be used safely and comfortably throughout the year.
2. Why is your project important for your community?
Wick Community Hub is a long-established charity in Pulteneytown, Wick, providing affordable childcare, youth work, sensory rooms, activities for older and isolated adults, volunteering opportunities and community space for Wick, and East Caithness.
The building is central to this work, but it has poorly insulated roofs and walls, ageing glazing and an unheated sports hall. Heat loss, draughts and high energy use make parts of the building less comfortable and more expensive to run. The deteriorating sports hall roof also creates an asset-condition risk.
This proposal supports the Caithness Area Place Plan priorities for Health & Well-being and Sport & Recreation by protecting and improving a space used by children, families, older adults, disabled and neurodivergent people, staff, volunteers and community groups. It also supports the Place Plan’s Renewable Energy Development priority through solar PV and lower-carbon building operation. At Wick level, it contributes to the priority of improving buildings and spaces, and identifying opportunities for social enterprise to provide local amenities.
3. What positive impact will your project have?
The Business Energy Scotland assessment estimates that the recommended package could reduce annual energy use by around 55,580 kWh and annual carbon emissions by around 12.5 tonnes CO₂e.
The project will make the Hub warmer, less draughty and more reliable for people using the After School Club, Holiday Clubs, Monday Club, sensory rooms and other local activities. It will reduce the risk of leaks, maintenance problems and disruption from the ageing roof and fabric.
Insulating and heating the sports hall will make it possible to use that space more regularly across the year. This will give the Hub greater scope for physical activity, youth and intergenerational activity, community hires and other local uses.
Reduced energy demand and on-site solar generation should lower running costs over time, helping protect the Hub’s ability to keep its services affordable and available locally. We will monitor baseline and post-project energy bills, meter readings, kWh use, estimated carbon savings, building-maintenance issues, room availability and user feedback on comfort.
4. What key milestones have you achieved so far and what will your next steps be?
A Business Energy Scotland energy-efficiency assessment was completed on 30 January 2024 and approved on 26 February 2024. It set out the recommended fabric, lighting, heating and solar measures, together with indicative energy, carbon and cost savings.
A project scope has been developed from that assessment. Wick Community Hub has submitted an Expression of Interest to the HIE Green Grant scheme, and the project is now being progressed to full-application stage with support from a development officer.
Next steps are to refine the technical scope, obtain a detailed costed specification and competitive quotes, confirm any planning, building-warrant or other consents required, finalise match funding, and submit the full funding application. Delivery will begin once funding, procurement and required consents are in place.
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