How to help community halls so they can keep helping the community

Picture the scene from the 1996 movie 'Twister' - a group of storm chasers, on a mission to study tornadoes and develop a warning system, come together in the local hall to shelter with the community from the storm outside. It’s not just in Hollywood disaster movies where the community hall is the focal point for the community in times of crisis (and also times of not so great crisis too, but that might not make such compelling viewing).

As individuals face a cost of living crisis brought on by the spiralling price of energy, community halls are a safe - and warm - place for people to come together. This winter, ‘Warm Hubs’ or ‘Warm Banks’ have been opening in community halls across the country to help people struggling to pay their energy bills. Once again, the community hall is the bastion of safety for the most vulnerable.

If you google ‘foodbank near me’, chances are that many are located at community halls. For many of us, the community hall is a front-line service on par with hospitals, GPs, and fire departments, providing a place of refuge in times of emergency such as flooding, blackouts, fires, climate, and energy crises.

But community centres are being hit especially hard by the energy crisis. A briefing from ACRE highlighted a community hall from Sussex which has seen its energy prices increase 400%, leading to widespread concerns about the financial viability of community halls. Already, 57% of halls are experiencing financial difficulty, with the proportion even higher amongst those not connected to the gas grid. Many are facing closure due to rising costs. Financial stress and burdening energy costs are putting the most vulnerable at risk.

Where will people go to keep warm if the Warm Hub in their community centre closes? Will there still be a foodbank if the one in the community hall closes? Community communication and action will be severely inhibited if halls are closed, reducing their effectiveness and inclusiveness for action in times of emergency. The elderly and vulnerable will be worst affected.

The effect on community halls from the energy crisis is worse because many halls date back to the early 20th century. According to one survey, over half of village halls are over 80 years old, with fewer than 17% of community halls in the UK considered energy efficient. Older buildings are less airtight and have worse insulation levels. Modern buildings have strict regulations for insulation levels to improve heat retention. The energy efficiency of windows is 50% better now than in 1995, with a much bigger difference for windows older than that.

Better airtightness and insulation levels mean that newer buildings have lower energy costs resulting from improved insulation and airtightness. This puts community buildings at a disadvantage due to their age. But the solution can’t just be to pull down old buildings and put new ones up in their place... this is where energy retrofit comes in.

Through our work with The Bridge, Scene has been advising how community halls in the Scottish Borders can reduce energy costs and carbon. Improvements to building fabric are always the first line of defence against rising energy costs, through better insulation, glazing, and airtightness. This means heat is retained for longer, reducing running costs.

Once the building is better insulated, a second line of defence can come from renewable heat, in particular heat pumps. Heat pumps reduce the cost of energy bills by using outside ambient heat, which when combined with insulation and airtightness measures can reduce energy costs by half or more. Renewable generation provides a further line of defence. Technologies such as solar panels allow for community ownership and control over energy, making communities less at the mercy of unpredictable world events. It provides energy free at the point of use. Even replacing old lighting with LEDs can make a big difference.

Local Energy Scotland has many examples and case studies of community buildings implementing renewable and energy efficiency measures with positive impacts: Eaglesham Bowling Club saves £1,140 a year from its solar PV system. There’s also funding available through the "Let’s Do Net Zero Community Buildings Fund," which can follow on from the type of surveys we’ve done for The Bridge, supported by Business Energy Scotland.

If we want to protect our community centres and mitigate the worst scenarios of the energy and climate crisis, we must retrofit our community buildings to ensure they continue serving and protecting local communities in times of need. And if you’re involved with a community hall and want to know how to act, get in touch!