About David Cross – Timelines

Managing Director | Delta Surveys Limited

1980

I began surveying properties for Cavity Wall Insulation & Loft Insulation in 1980, 46 years ago, and continue to do so in addition to assessing properties for Heating & Renewable Energy measures since the launch of ECO4 in July 2022.

2015

In 2015 Milton Keynes Council provided me with their council housing stock to identify potentially eligible properties for ECO1 funding.

This resulted in over 500 council properties benefiting from Cavity Wall Insulation and/or Loft Insulation delivered through the scheme at no cost.

2016

Identified around 300 properties from The Guinness Partnership as being eligible for no-cost insulation measures, which were delivered with full ECO2 funding.

2017 – 2020

Started analysis of 17,000 Catalyst Housing Association’s stock, resulting in over 2,000 of their properties receiving insulation measures at no cost with full ECO2/ECO3 funding.

Continue to assess Catalyst (now Peabody) properties and other social housing providers.

2018 – 2024

Over recent years, the following social housing providers have provided me with their housing stock:

• ARHAG Housing Association (London)
• Birmingham City Council (Birmingham)
• Bournemouth Churches Housing Association (Bournemouth)
• Catalyst Housing Association (now Peabody) (London)
• Inquilab Housing Association (London)
• Jephson Housing Association (now Stonewater) (The Midlands)
• Milton Keynes Council (Milton Keynes)
• Mount Green Housing Association (Leatherhead)
• Pathways Housing (London)
• Red Kite Community Housing (High Wycombe)
• The Guinness Partnership (London)
• The London Borough of Barnet (Barnet Homes)
• The London Borough of Brent (London)
• The London Borough of Ealing (London)

These projects identified properties potentially eligible for 100% ECO3 funding and/or 100% ECO4 funding and facilitated over 3,000 homes receiving insulation measures at no cost, helping residents reduce their energy bills and lifting many out of fuel poverty.

2022 – 2024

At the onset of ECO4, with heating, insulation & renewable energy measures being fully funded, I engaged several different ECO installers.

I found that every installer I dealt with neglected delivering measures to the eligible social housing properties I provided for survey and delivery. All promised the earth and, after many months, delivered nothing or very little.

The issue is that funding for social housing properties is far less than for privately owned or privately rented properties. Every installer I engaged tended to cherry-pick the higher-profit projects (privately owned & privately rented) and neglect the lower-profit social housing projects.

I also found many ECO installers do not deliver measures to social housing properties at all due to the lower funding rates.

2024 – 2025

After two years of trying to find a reliable and competent ECO4 installer, I finally found one who does not make false promises and is delivering measures at scale.

After realising the potentially high volume of eligible social housing properties I could submit for heating & insulation measures, £20 million of social housing funding was secured from EON Energy.

The installer immediately actioned the first social housing project I proposed: 21 Peabody houses for Insulation, Air Source Heat Pumps & Solar PV, completed within 6 weeks from initial surveys to delivery.

There was absolutely no cost to Peabody from start to finish.

This saved Peabody approximately £250,000 by delivering the measures through ECO4 funding instead of Social Housing Decarbonisation funding.

On 11th November 2024, heating & renewable energy measures began being delivered to three more Peabody projects, with several additional no-cost projects in the pipeline.

2026 – Present

Since the government scrapped ECO4 in the Autumn Budget in November 2025, Delta Surveys is providing EPC upgrades to Band C and Retrofit Assessment & Coordination PAS services to streamline the process for social housing providers and help alleviate the complexity of the Warm Homes – Social Housing Fund scheme.

Delta Surveys has a number of reliable PAS2030 TrustMark registered installation partners who are currently providing PAS services, in addition to delivering WH-SHF measures for Peabody, which manages 114,000 properties and is the 3rd largest social housing provider in the UK.

Personal Statement

I have a strong interest in helping social housing tenants reduce their energy bills and place this above any consideration of monetary gain by facilitating energy-saving measures to be delivered to social housing properties.

This means I go the extra mile to ensure eligible properties in need of heating and/or insulation receive such measures, irrespective of project profitability.

As a result, measures are delivered where other installers would not even consider them, or where they promise delivery but fail to follow through.