The Yard, Edinburgh, Scotland

Facts

Building: The Yard

Location: Edinburgh, Scotland

Film: LLumar Enerlogic LEP 70

Function: Cost-effective refurbishment project with Low-E film to reduce energy costs in charity building.

Initial Situation

The Yard in Edinburgh, Scotland has been a well established daycare centre for children for many years. It caters for parents and their children with additional support needs. For many parents it is the only environment where their children can receive the attention, education and care they deserve. The centre consists of indoor function rooms and play areas. It has kitchen facilities and outdoor play areas.

The Yard is a charity and keeping the centre running is a constant financial challenge. The day to day use showed in the deterioration of facilities. Luckily, the centre came to the attention of the ‘DIY SOS Big Build’ television program in support of the ‘BBC Children In Need’ charity that mobilised an army of local tradesmen to give the centre a makeover. John Sandison of Safety First Window Films, who is a LLumar (AFC) Approved Fitment Centre Partner, was one of the volunteers to give up their time and contribute to a full makeover of The Yard.

Solution

Over a period of 10 days, The Yard was given a complete revamp to renew and upgrade facilities. Great attention was given to make the building more energy efficient to reduce running costs. Solutia Performance Films contributed three rolls of EnerLogic window fi lm. Some of The Yard’s façades have floor to ceiling glazing with limited heat insulating properties. The EnerLogic 70 Low-E was the ideal product to upgrade the glass and signifi cantly improve its U-value resulting in a lower heat loss.

Consequently, the centre’s heating bills will reduce, even more so considering other improvements to the heating system that were part of the refurbishment. John Sandison’s commitment led to the installation of a product with high visible light transmission and very low reflectivity, thereby preserving the aesthetics of the building.

Result

With the help of hundreds of volunteers The Yard was completely reformed. Parents and children were absolutely delighted with the results. The new facilities created a warm environment. The managers are happy in the knowledge that running costs have been reduced– and this is partly thanks to the unique insulating properties of LLumar EnerLogic 70 window film. EnerLogic window fi lm showed equally outstanding results in the minimal impact it made on the appearance of the building. The low refection of 4% and high visible light transmission made the coating of the windows an ‘invisible’ improvement. The efforts made by Safety First and LLumar were appreciated in a thank you letter.

Jenny MacDonald, Fundraising Manager wrote:

“As you can imagine, we have been absolutely overwhelmed by the transformation of the Centre. The children and their families are having a fabulous time exploring the new space, and like ourselves, are so grateful for all the hard work and support we received from everyone involved.”

In summary, the example of The Yard shows, upgrading and improving existing infrastructure can make all the difference. Choosing the cost conscious route of upgrading rather than renewing allows energy efficiency to be achieved without comprising looks.