Energy improvements shine new light on village hub
As the proud winner of both Best Kept Village in Wiltshire and Best Kept Village Hall, Bratton has a lot to feel proud of. The Jubilee Hall is so named for the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887, when it was first built. 2002 saw the addition of an extension for the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.
The hall is an important hub of village life, used almost daily by local and visiting clubs and groups including fitness and art classes, a choir, a bowls group and the Jubilee Players. In 2022 the hall committee contacted Severn Wye about the EU-funded Target 2030 scheme, to realise the building’s energy-saving potential, to reduce the carbon impact of its operations and contribute to Wiltshire Council’s plan to be carbon neutral by 2030.
The hall uses mains gas for space and water heating, and electricity for everything else – mainly lighting, some water heating and kitchen facilities. Management committee Secretary Catherine Elliott explains that the desire for improvements had been on the agenda for some time. With two hard-to-control boilers, air heaters blowing cold air, and a distinct lack of insulation in the older parts of the building, the energy bills were hard to swallow.
With limited resources, the committee turned to Target 2030 funding to help them address their energy issues. Their business energy specialist quickly identified a key problem was the height of the building. As warm rises it can disappear out through uninsulated roof spaces or at best heat the ceiling rather than the occupants, even when the boiler is working hard. This problem – known as stratification – can be tackled with a fan which mixes the air to keep the occupied areas warm.
The committee had already replaced some of the building’s old lighting with efficient LED fittings, and the energy efficiency report recommended doing the same for the significant number of old fluorescent tubes and lamps still in place. The hall received a Target 2030 grant of £1,120 and invested more than £2,600 to install the destratification fan and the LEDs together with motion sensors in the public areas.
Elliott explains they have since installed secondary glazing, and the motion sensors have stopped people leaving lights on. ‘It’s been a brilliant move,’ she enthuses. ‘Users report the hall itself is much brighter, and the glazing has helped with noise and draughts.’
After moving to a new gas supplier their bills so far have been based on estimates, ‘But I’m quite sure the gas is going to be biggest expense and I’m sure it’s made a difference,’ says Elliott. Overall, the improvements should save the hall more than £4,350 over their lifetime.
‘So far reducing our CO2 emissions and costs has been great. We’re thinking very hard about internal insulation and we have a perfect south-facing roof for solar which means we could install electric water heaters. We now have a vision for where we’re going next.’
