Loft and Cavity Wall Insulation Cambridgeshire, Essex and Suffolk
In a home with no insulation, about a quarter of the heat you pay for escapes through the roof and around a third through the walls. Since 1991, Orion’s own teams have been keeping it in, from our base in Fulbourn, just outside Cambridge.
Press to fill the loft and the wall cavities.Press again to see the before.
What We Insulate
Warm air rises through the ceiling, soaks out through the walls and slips away round doors and windows. These are the jobs that keep it in.
01 Roof
Around 1/4 of a home’s heat can escape through an uninsulated roof.
Insulating an empty loft to 270 mm could save a semi-detached home around £190 a year.*
We lay mineral wool between and over the joists to the recommended depth, top up lofts that have settled or were short-changed, and insulate sloping ceilings when a loft becomes a room. In historic homes we use sheep’s wool.
02 Walls
About 1/3 of the heat lost from an uninsulated home escapes through its walls.
Filling the cavity could save a semi-detached home around £200 a year.*
If your walls have an empty cavity, we fill it with approved bonded bead or blown mineral wool insulation through small holes in the mortar, then make good so the holes are hard to spot. We check the walls first, and if they’re not suitable, we’ll say so.
03 Gaps
Feel a Draught? Wherever cold air gets in, warm air is getting out.
Draught proofing windows, floors and doors could save around £55 a year.*
We seal the gaps round doors, windows, loft hatches and floorboards, and keep the ventilation every home needs, especially in kitchens and bathrooms and wherever there’s a boiler, stove or open fire.
*Energy Saving Trust estimates for a typical gas-heated home in Great Britain, at fuel prices as of July 2026 (cavity wall and loft insulation pages updated 8 May 2026, draught proofing page updated 20 May 2026). Your savings depend on your home.
Also: Hot Water Cylinders and Pipes. A thicker jacket on the hot water cylinder and lagging on the pipes between it and the boiler keep your hot water hotter for longer. We can do it on the same visit.
Ask About ItTwo-Minute Home Check
Four quick questions and we'll show you where we'd start. It's a guide, not a quote. The survey decides.
Your Home Check
A guide based on your answers, not a survey. Every home is checked before we quote.
How It Works
The right insulation in the wrong wall causes problems. So we look at every home before we quote, and we'll tell you straight if a job isn't right for it.
Call 01223 500000 or send the form. It takes two minutes, and we’ll call back to arrange a visit.
We look at your walls (exposure to wind-driven rain, cavity width, the state of the brickwork and pointing), your loft (depth, ventilation, wiring and storage) and where the draughts get in.
In writing: what we’d fit, why, what it costs and whether any funding applies.
Our own team, on a day that suits you. A typical loft or cavity wall job is done within the day.
Cavity wall insulation comes with an independent 25-year guarantee that stays with your home if you sell. Funded jobs follow PAS 2035, with a retrofit assessment and coordinator.
Grants and Funding
No scheme insulates every home for free, whatever you may have heard. Here’s what actually exists in October 2026, in plain English. We’ll check what applies to your home at the survey.
Council Scheme · Waiting Lists
Councils pay for insulation in full for some owner-occupiers: household income of about £36,000 or less, certain benefits or an eligible postcode, plus an EPC of D to G. In Cambridgeshire and Essex this year’s money is allocated, so new applicants join a waiting list.
Ends 31 December 2026
The energy-supplier scheme runs until 31 December 2026 for households on certain benefits in homes rated D to G. Funding is now very limited, you may be asked to contribute, and there won’t be a successor.
Until 31 March 2027
Installing insulation in a home is zero-rated for VAT until 31 March 2027, then 5%. That applies to everyone, whatever their income.
Orion is TrustMark registered and PAS 2030 certified for cavity wall and loft insulation, the standards funded work requires. See Our TrustMark Listing (opens in a new tab) IAA Installer List (opens in a new tab)
The Great British Insulation Scheme closed on 31 March 2026, and the government’s Warm Homes Plan is a long-term programme, not a grant you can apply to. Sources: GOV.UK, Ofgem, HMRC, Action on Energy Cambridgeshire and HEAT Essex, checked October 2026.
From Modern to Historic
Cambridgeshire, Essex and Suffolk are full of homes built long before cavity walls: solid brick, timber frames, lime mortar and render. They need insulation that lets moisture move. For historic homes and buildings we use sheep’s wool in lofts and roofs, and we’ll tell you where insulation could do more harm than good.
Homes and Buildings
From one cold bedroom to a whole estate, the same teams survey, fit and stand behind the work.
Warmer rooms and lower bills, fitted on a day that suits you, with the mess cleared away.
Book a SurveyUnder plans announced in January 2026, rented homes will need an EPC of C by October 2030. We’ll show you which jobs move the rating, with tenants in place.
Talk About Your LettingsEnergy solutions for new homes, from the insulation specification to installation on site.
Talk About a BuildSurveying, project management and funded programmes for public bodies, housing providers and commercial buildings, including council homes in the region.
Talk About a ProjectAbout Orion
Orion has been insulating homes and buildings since 1991, and it’s still run by Martyn and Kim Jones from Fulbourn, just outside Cambridge.
The people who survey your home and the people who fit your insulation work for Orion, not a call centre or a subcontractor three counties away. We’ve insulated private homes, rented homes and council homes across Cambridgeshire, Essex and Suffolk, from new builds to listed cottages.
The record speaks for itself. In the Cavity Insulation Guarantee Agency’s annual reviews, Orion recorded a 0% claim rate in 2016/17, among the 25 lowest of any installer, and again in 2020/21.
Sources: Companies House; CIGA Annual Review 2017 (opens in a new tab) and CIGA Annual Review 2021 (opens in a new tab) (the 2016/17 figure under the earlier company name, Orion Insulation and Construction Services).
Questions
Something else on your mind? Call 01223 500000 and ask the people who'll do the work.
Not when it’s fitted in the right wall. Problems come from filling walls that are exposed to driving rain, have damaged brickwork or pointing, or have a cavity that’s too narrow or full of debris. Most of Cambridgeshire and Essex sits in the most sheltered band of the building regulations’ driving-rain map, which helps, but we still survey every wall, and we’ll say no if yours isn’t suitable.
It depends on your home. The Energy Saving Trust estimates that filling the cavity walls of a typical gas-heated semi-detached house saves around £200 a year, and insulating an empty loft to 270 mm around £190 a year, at fuel prices as of July 2026. Topping up a loft that already has about 120 mm saves much less, around £17 a year for a semi, so we’ll tell you when a job won’t pay its way on its own.
Look at the brickwork. If every brick shows its long side in a regular pattern, the walls are probably cavity walls. If some bricks show their short end, they’re probably solid. Most homes built from the 1920s onwards have cavity walls, and most built since the 1990s were insulated when they were built. We’ll confirm at the survey.
Most loft and cavity wall jobs in a typical home are finished within the day, and cavity walls are filled from outside. We’ll give you a time when we quote.
We need clear access to the loft floor, so anything stored up there will need moving first. If you want to keep storing things in the loft, ask us about raising the boards so the new insulation isn’t squashed.
Yes. Cavity wall insulation comes with an independent 25-year guarantee covering defects in materials or workmanship, and it stays valid for later owners if you sell. Orion is on the installer list of the Installation Assurance Authority, formerly CIGA, the Cavity Insulation Guarantee Agency.
Yes, for cavity wall and loft insulation (TrustMark licence 1741841 (opens in a new tab)). TrustMark is the government-endorsed quality scheme for work done in and around the home, and registration is required for funded insulation work.
Usually, with the right materials. We use sheep’s wool in the lofts and roofs of historic homes because it lets moisture move. If your home is listed, check with your council’s conservation officer before any work; we’ll tell you what to ask.
For some households. Councils’ Warm Homes: Local Grant pays in full for some owner-occupiers with a household income of about £36,000 or less, or certain benefits, in homes rated D to G, but Cambridgeshire and Essex currently have waiting lists. ECO4 runs until 31 December 2026 with very limited funding. Everyone pays 0% VAT on insulation until 31 March 2027. We’ll check what applies at the survey.
Homes and buildings across Cambridgeshire, Essex and Suffolk, from our base in Fulbourn, just outside Cambridge. Use the distance check on this page, or call 01223 500000.
Book a Survey
Tell us a little about your home and we'll call to arrange a survey. Prefer to talk? Call us.