Tenants and residents with timber houses in East Ayrshire are to benefit from a council investment.

The Home Energy Efficiency Programme for Scotland (HEEPS) are also contributing towards the investment, which aims at making homes more energy efficient.

Council leader Douglas Reid and Councillor Eòghann MacColl viewed timber properties in Galston, with representatives of the Tenants and Residents Federation, to see some completed properties and properties where work was well underway.

Councillor Reid said: "In the past three years the Council has been successful in bidding for funding to carry out improvement works to Weir and Swedish Timber homes across East Ayrshire. The outcomes have been really dramatic for tenants and home owners. The energy efficiency of the homes has improved considerably and aesthetically they look so much better.

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"It was clear, when talking to people who had already benefitted, that this project was worth continuing with. I made a commitment, in the 2015/16 Budget, that £150,000 would be invested in external wall insulation and render targeting fuel poor households and I was delighted to view the work underway with the Tenants and Residents Federation."

Bruce Cuthbertson, from the East Ayrshire Tenants’ and Residents’ Federation said: "East Ayrshire Tenants’ and Residents’ Federation has worked with the Council on many projects that have improved tenants’ homes such as new kitchens, bathrooms and heating.

"We have worked alongside the team that have accessed and delivered HEEPS funding not only for the benefit of tenants but homeowners as well."

This year, 122 council owned homes and 83 privately owned homes were identified which, due to their timber framed construction, cannot be insulated using traditional low cost insulation live cavity wall insulation and will therefore benefit from this improvement programme.

(LM)