A local housing development in Cumnock is the first project to benefit from the innovative CoRE project (Community Renewable Energy) as part of the Ayrshire Growth Deal.
Works have started at Meagher Court in Cumnock to retrofit three entire blocks of flats into a modern, low-carbon, energy efficient housing development as part of a demonstrator project for CoRE.
CoRE project is funded with £17 million from the UK Government and £7.5 million from East Ayrshire Council as part of the £251 million Ayrshire Growth Deal, a 10-year investment programme jointly funded by the UK and Scottish governments and the three Ayrshire local authorities.
With an investment of £3.95m from Ayrshire Growth Deal for energy efficiency measures, the Meagher Court project includes whole building retrofit insulation, external and internal upgrades, solar PV array with battery storage, as well as decarbonisation to three blocks of flats, utilising a ground source heat pump system. In addition, the project will include accessibility adaptions to future proof the buildings and improve accessibility for elderly and disabled residents.
This project will be delivered in three phases, with each phase building on the outcomes from the one before. Work to the first block of flats has attracted £420k of grant funding from the Scottish Government’s Social Housing Net Zero Fund, towards retrofit measures and a further £186k of funding has been secured from the UKRI Centre for Net-Zero High Density Buildings and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), to enable input from several academic partners to deliver enhanced monitoring and evaluation outcomes across the Meagher Court project.
Councillor Douglas Reid, Leader of the East Ayrshire Council and Chair of Ayrshire Economic Joint Committee welcomed the start of these works.
He said: “CoRE aims to showcase how a green recovery can transform our rural towns and villages and make our communities better connected, with healthier and improved standards of living.
“Cumnock and Doon Valley is a community which has experienced economic and population decline and a primary focus of CoRE is to maximise the socio-economic and community health and wellbeing benefits associated with the net-zero transition.
“This retrofit project will help tackle fuel poverty by making these homes more energy efficient and comfortable for people to live in and will ultimately help communities to heat and power their homes more affordably and sustainably.”
Councillor Jim McMahon, Spokesperson for Housing, Transport and Communities added: “We cannot underestimate the costs of delivering whole-house retrofit improvements, to transform existing stock into net-zero, energy efficient housing. Delivering a smaller scale demonstrator project like this one in Cumnock will therefore help to mitigate the risks of investing huge capital investment to transition all our housing stock.
“The Meagher Court project builds upon and adds value to the existing Pathfinder project delivered by the Council’s Housing Services, in collaboration with the Energy Agency and the learnings and insights from this project, together with outcomes from the Pathfinder, will help shape development of scalable retrofit pathways for wider application across the Council’s housing stock.”
The Council’s Housing Services continue to work closely with colleagues in Economic Growth, including the Ayrshire Growth Deal team, on opportunities aligned with the Community Renewable Energy Project.
Pro Cast group are the appointed contractors on the Meagher Court Development.
Stuart Feay, Operation Director, Pro Cast said: “We’re proud to be partnering with East Ayrshire Council to deliver this project at Meagher Court as part of the CoRE programme in Barshare. For a community with such strong roots in Scotland’s mining heritage, there’s real significance in now being at the forefront of the transition to low carbon living.
“This project is about more than upgrading homes – it’s about reducing energy bills, cutting carbon emissions, and tackling fuel poverty. We’re committed to delivering the highest quality of work for tenants and look forward to continuing our partnership with the Council.”
Phase one of the retrofit works is expected to be complete by Summer 2026; phase two by the
end of the year and phase three by the end of Summer 2027.
Councillor Douglas Reid is joined by Councillors Barry Douglas, Jim McMahon and June Kyle alongside officers from East Ayrshire Council and representatives from Pro Cast.