A FORMER Edinburgh banker trying to make his period house warmer and more energy efficient has now seen his invention used in its first commercial rollout.
Gareth Claase walked away from his financial career to focus on launching Gecko Glazing in late 2021, to find a solution to heating his home for his young family.
The father has seen his eco-friendly product fitted in more than 1000 city homes.
Now the start-up has celebrated a major milestone, after fitting Gecko Panes in a major commercial premises for the first time.
Claase’s innovation will see a historic-but-draughty community centre building transformed in an £8,000 energy-saving makeover.
Duncan Place was owned by the City of Edinburgh Council, which closed it in 2014 and earmarked it for possible demolition.
However, a vigorous community campaign was launched to save the building.
It secured £1.2m of regeneration funding and it was handed over to the Duncan Place charity and reopened as a community hub in 2020.
Now the thriving centre offers a host of groups, classes and activities from yoga and art to Tai Chi and children’s Lego sessions.
The team from Gecko Glazing in Edinburgh have installed 63 Gecko Panes in the building, instantly making it cheaper to heat while also reducing both condensation and noise.
Nicola Lamberton, Development Manager at Duncan Place, says the charity faced significant costs to refurbish the existing windows because of strict planning regulations.
She said: “Getting the windows removed and restored was never going to be a viable option for us.
“Duncan Place Community Hub is a charity and it would not have been possible financially.
“We would also have needed permission to put up scaffolding for months and would have been left without any windows while they were being refurbished, which would have added to the problem rather than helping.
“Gecko Glazing was a fantastic and cost-effective option, allowing secondary glazing to be installed without obstructing the existing windows – you can barely notice they are there.
The panes cut window heat loss by up to 50%, helping customers to dramatically reduce both bills and their carbon footprint.
Gareth said: “Scotland is full of listed buildings, where the owners or tenants struggle to keep the buildings warm because of old windows that haemorrhage heat.
“The cost of living crisis on top of the climate emergency has now made that situation untenable because of both the financial and environmental toll.
“People need simple, affordable solutions and that’s what I was determined to develop.
“It is brilliant to see that our panes have been such a fantastic help for the team at Duncan Place.”
Gecko Panes can be installed in minutes and cause no damage to existing windows or frames, making them ideal for tenants, owners and landlords of listed buildings.
Gareth added: “There are many museums, schools, hospitals and other community buildings across Scotland which could benefit in the same way.”
Manager Nicola Lamberton added: “People are really noticing the difference in temperature since we got Gecko Glazing installed. The transformation has been brilliant.”
