National Insulation Association (NIA) Annual Conference 2009

This year's AGM and Conference was held on Wednesday 9th December 2009 at The Belfry Hotel and was a great success with around a 30% increase on last year's attendance levels for both the day and Gala Dinner in the evening. An exhibition area was introduced this year which proved extremely popular with members, giving them the opportunity to find out more about the range of products available from manufacturer members.

The morning kicked off with the members only AGM which had an excellent attendance and the new Council for 2009/10 were formally announced. The new Council had their first meeting later in the day where Tony Hardiman was re-elected as Chair and Richard Moores was elected as the new Vice Chair.

The Conference followed the AGM with a keynote address by David Kidney MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change who encouraged the industry to work with government on the forthcoming Cert extension consultation paper in order to tackle climate change and meet the required targets. Full details of the Ministers address can be found on the DECC website.

Tony Hardiman, Chair, formally welcomed delegates to the Conference and thanked the sponsors for their support which had ensured that the whole event could be provided free of charge to members. Tony started the morning presentations off by giving a review of the past year and the achievements of the NIA and noted that the Association was in a strong position with regards to lobbying Government and now sat on many influential strategy groups. He also commented on the success of the local Forum meetings, public relations campaigns and the additional membership benefits that had been introduced over the past 12 months.

Neil Marshall, Chief Executive, gave a policy update on what progress the Association had made to date as well as outlining future plans. Neil stressed the importance of solid wall insulation for the industry as this would provide new opportunities going forward as cavity wall and loft insulation diminish.

Bev Coombe, Membership & Communication Manager, gave an overview of the success that had been achieved during 2009 with regards to local Forum attendance, new membership services and public relations campaigns. Bev updated members on the new communications strategy that had been introduced to keep members informed of the latest developments within the industry. Bev advised that a new consumer website and a generic insulation leaflet had also been introduced in order to promote the benefits of insulation to the general public and media.

Nikki Burrows, CIGA, gave an update on the training courses currently available and announced a new one day course for Assessors which would be run in conjunction with a nationwide provider and would commence from January 2010. A certificate would be issued to all candidates on successful completion of the course.

Following a break for lunch Tony Hardiman welcomed the external speakers and thanked them for attending the Conference. The video of the keynote address from the morning session was shown to delegates who had joined the event for the afternoon proceedings.

Chris Leigh, Department for Energy and Climate Change, gave a presentation entitled 'Insulation Delivery – A Government Perspective' which outlined the Governments future plans for reducing carbon emissions in households and highlighted the vital role insulation would play in achieving this. This also covered current policies such as; CERT, CESP, Decent Homes & Social Housing Energy Saving Programme and the Household Energy Management Programme were also addressed. It was announced that during the pre budget report additional funding had been allocated to the Warmfront Scheme for heating and insulation.

Dr Garry Felgate, Chief Executive, Energy Retail Association was next up to the speaker's podium reporting on 'Insulation and the Energy Industry – working together to meet the UK's carbon emission targets. This included information on a Health & Safety pilot to be launched in January where a common reporting form would be trialed in conjunction with the NIA and CIGA.

Philip Sellwood, Chief Executive, Energy Savings Trust followed with a presentation which covered areas such as referral rates for insulation, a new grants information database due to be launched in January, working with Local Authorities on area based schemes to deliver energy efficiency and the pilots of the Pay as You Save Scheme that are currently taking place across 400 homes in England and will run until April 2011. Mr Sellwood also stressed the importance of working with the industry and the NIA to remove barriers and build on knowledge via technology field trials.

The final speaker of the day was Andrew Warren, Director, Association for the Conservation of Energy who gave members an overview of the EuroACE position on the revision of the EPBD which would be used to co-ordinate the use of EPC's throughout Europe to ensure the certification process could be harmonized for non-residential buildings as well as make it a mandatory requirement for landlords to inform building tenants of any improvements necessary.

Tony Hardiman thanked the external speakers for their interesting and informative presentations before opening what was a lively Question and Answer debate. Tony concluded the Conference by providing a brief summary of the key points raised during the day and thanked members for attending.

A pre dinner drinks reception and gala dinner was held in the evening and was attended by over 180 guests including representatives from the energy suppliers. During the evening the first Insulation Industry Best Practice Awards were held; the winners and finalists of each of the eight categories were announced. An appreciation award was presented to Mike Cottingham for his services to the insulation industry over the past 30 years; this was followed by a standing ovation by members who wished Mike well for his retirement.

Feedback received since the event has been extremely positive and we will are currently making plans for the 2010 Conference.

For further information about last year's conference read more...