The UK Green Building Council (UK-GBC) has today (27 June) published a letter from construction industry leaders calling for political parties to unite and ensure that the Green Deal doesn't fail.
The move follows the Government's release today of the first quarterly Green Deal and Energy Company Obligation statistics.

According to the report, 241 Green Deal Plans had been requested by 16 June, with just four plans signed.

In an open letter initiated by the UK Green Building Council, a cross section of chief executives from housing, energy, finance and construction companies urged the three main parties to collaborate to address 'major concerns' with current retrofit policy.

Co-signatories of the letter include: Mark Clare, group chief executive of Barratt Developments; John Sinfield, chief executive of Knauf Insulation; and Gene Murtagh, ceo of the Kingspan Group.

Addressed to Energy Secretary Ed Davey, Climate Minister Greg Barker and Shadow Climate Minister Luciana Berger, the letter outlines a number of barriers to the uptake of energy efficiency measures through the Green Deal such as the lack of long-term structural incentives, the current interest rate for Green Deal finance and the complexity of the scheme.

UK-GBC chief executive, Paul King, said: 'It is obviously disappointing that more Green Deal assessments have not been turned into finance plans, and it shows just how crucial additional incentives are to drive take up. But we simply cannot let this fail - retrofitting the UK's housing stock is too important for reducing energy bills, improving health, creating jobs in the construction sector and avoiding costs of new generating capacity - and no one has a credible alternative.

He added: 'Business leaders are saying loud and clear that we need to forge a new consensus between politicians of all parties, the private sector and the public around retrofit, to depoliticise something that simply has to be done. It will require some tough choices, but it is absolutely in the public and nation's best interest to address this as a matter of urgency. The Green Deal provides an important foundation to build on.'

To read the letter in full go to http://bit.ly/125jK3K

Meanwhile, commenting on the statistics on behalf of the Government, Minister for Energy and Climate Change, Greg Barker, said: 'Today we've seen that 81,798 installations have taken place with the support of the new Energy Company Obligation, helping those most in need or with particularly hard to treat properties. But this is just the start. 38,259 Green Deal assessments is also a clear sign that many consumers genuinely want to make their homes more efficient; but we are keen to do more.'

He continued: '78 per cent of people who have received a Green Deal Advice Report, following a Green Deal assessment, said they had, were getting or would get energy saving measures installed. This too is a great sign - many people are increasingly looking to make their homes more energy efficient and keep bills down.

'Getting software systems running and finance into place for Green Deal Plans to be signed has taken time, so the numbers here are lower. The very first wave of Green Deal Finance Providers have only just got their individual finance terms and conditions in place and gone live with their software systems that operate this whole new product.

'However, now the first five are up and running, the good news is that we expect up to 50 authorised finance providers to be active by the end of the year, massively increasing the access to finance in the market.

Mr Barker concluded: 'It will take time as this brand new market finds its legs, but I now expect the number of plans signed to start steadily rising.'