30 new jobs created by construction industry programme?

The Microgeneration Business Diversification Programme was developed by Regenerate Pennine Lancashire, which includes Pendle, in association with Envirolink Northwest.

The participating companies receive technical and financial support so that they can install renewable energy technologies on homes, such as solar panels. They will also receive a Microgeneration Certification Scheme accreditation in renewable technologies to help them win work on future housing refurbishment and new build schemes in the North-West.

Householders with MCS accredited installations are eligible to benefit from tax-free payments for the energy that they generate.

The scheme picked up the Supporting Business Award at the North West Climate Leaders Awards this month.

Ailsa Gibson, programme manager at the Climate Change Local Area Support Programme or CLASP, who hosted the awards, said: “The judges selected Regenerate as the winner of the Supporting Business Award as their microgeneration project is the first of its kind in the North-West. The programme demonstrates excellent value for money in terms of the number of jobs it expects to create and safeguard.”

The 12 firms were selected after the skill and accreditation requirements of the area were identified and mapped. This brings the number of MCS-accredited companies in Pennine Lancashire up to 17.

The programme has received £11,000 of investment from partners and private sector contributions to date and Regenerate will create a directory of MCS accredited businesses based in Pennine Lancashire in the New Year.

Steve Hoyle, chief executive at Regenerate, said: “We were very pleased to win this award.

We’ve been promoting the importance of the use of renewable energy sources in improving the sustainability of the current and future housing stock. For this to happen, people need to be confident that the companies who install these technologies are competent to do so.”