Superglass boss lobbies PM over lack of insulation

Superglass chief executive Alex McLeod has written to Prime Minister David Cameron. Picture: Neil Hanna

The boss of the Stirling-based insulation maker has called for Eco to be altered so that it encourages households to install low-cost loft and cavity-wall insulation rather than more expensive energy efficiency measures, such as replacing boilers.

McLeod expects the coalition to unveil a review of its environmental levies as part of Chancellor George Osborne’s autumn statement on 5 December.

He told The Scotsman: “There are still about seven million lofts in the UK that haven’t been insulated and about 5.3 million cavity walls that need insulating.

“About half of the UK’s homes have insulation – but that still means that half of them don’t.”

His comments came as Superglass yesterday posted its full-year results, which showed that the company slipped back into the red in the year to 31 August.

The firm reported a pre-tax loss of £7 million, compared with a profit of £6.8m in the previous 12 months. The loss came amid a second financial restructuring for the company, with investors pumping in £12.2m to fund its turnaround plans.

Revenues dropped by 25 per cent to £24.4m as the UK government switched from its previous Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (Cert) scheme over to its Green Deal and Eco programmes.

But McLeod said take-up of Eco and the Green Deal so far had been “disappointing” and warned that revenues from the schemes in the current financial year would be lower than originally anticipated.

Superglass also announced that chairman John Colley would become executive chairman to support the firm’s push into the house building market.

As well as diversifying from the renovation sector into the new-build industry, Superglass has installed equipment at its plant in Stirling that will help it to break into export markets.

“The technology allows us to pack our insulation more tightly, so we can fit more on to each lorry and keep costs down so that we can send it further into eastern Europe,” McLeod said.

He said that the firm was targeting countries including the Czech Republic and Poland.