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White paper case study: Aston Group

Written by Lucy Mowatt

When Aston Group wanted to showcase the amazing results of its whole-house retrofit project, they called on Method Marketing to create an in-depth business white paper.

When a building services company in Greater London successfully completed a project to reduce the carbon emissions of a pre-war home, they naturally wanted to celebrate their results and promote their work with a wider audience.

Having worked with the Method Marketing team to produce several case studies in the past, Aston Group got in touch with our white paper writer team and requested a business white paper, exploring all of the measures implemented and the results achieved.

Here’s what happened…

The background

Aston Group is a building services and facilities management company based in Romford, Essex. In 2020, it was asked by the London Borough of Waltham Forest to completely retrofit one of its Victorian terraced houses in Walthamstow as part of the Retrofit London programme.

The aim of the programme is to extensively retrofit the capital’s housing stock, leading to an average Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) Level of B by the year 2030. The London Borough of Waltham Forest is one of the leading councils on the project. As such, it invited Aston Group to extensively update a Walthamstow property to show how the energy-saving could be achieved.

Between January and July 2021, Aston Group made many improvements to the vacant property, including:

  • the installation of solar panels
  • full insulation of the walls, roof and floor space
  • the installation of a heat pump, and
  • replacement of all light bulbs with energy-efficient alternatives.

On completion of the project, the property had an 82% improvement in its energy use, an 81% reduction in its CO2 emissions and a 64% improvement in its running costs. Overall, the property’s EPC rating changed from E to the highest possible level, A.

A greatly reduced reliance on fossil fuels means carbon emissions for properties like this will be a fraction of their current levels, thanks to the work carried out by Aston Group.

The challenge

Aston Group was justifiably proud of its part in such an important project and sought to produce a business white paper that would showcase its achievements, encouraging other local authorities and landlords to implement similar measures. Having worked with Method Marketing for a year, producing case studies, the company naturally turned to our white paper writers to help.

With so many different disciplines involved and a tight timeframe for publication of the white paper content, our research and planning skills were put to the test.

The solution

We kicked off the white paper content writing with a meeting to find out about all of the work they’d carried out in Waltham Forest, before mapping out the white paper content structure to ensure that we would cover all aspects of the project. From there, page plans were then drawn up for the white paper content, setting out the format of each page and defining which Aston Group employees could be called upon to provide detailed information.

Once this stage was complete, our white paper writers started work on the research phase of the B2B content marketing white paper, drilling down into the data on climate change and UK housing stock. This served to introduce the main body of the business white paper and establish the context – and urgency – of the project.

After this stage, we set up interviews with project stakeholders, which required us to familiarise ourselves with building practices, housing standards, terminology and regulations. By questioning the experts, we were able to understand the techniques used and their benefits, before distilling the information into a format that the general public would find accessible.

When the written drafts of the business white paper were signed off by the team, our white paper writers were able to support Aston Group’s team with design, layout and proofreading, to ensure the white paper was professional, polished and high quality.

The results

By working closely with the engineers and management at Aston Group, our white paper content marketing team developed a deep understanding of the retrofitting process and its wide-ranging benefits. This enabled our white paper writers to create a white paper full of engaging content about climate change and the modern building practices and materials that are vital to reducing global carbon emissions.

Professionally designed using high-quality photography, the white paper content presented 34 pages of narrative, statistical and graphical information in an easy-to-read format.

Aston Group was pleased with the finished content marketing white paper, and we were delighted to create a lasting record of a project they’re rightly very proud of.

What the client says about our white paper

“Method Marketing helped us design and write a white paper, which was a first for us. The purpose was to help educate the general public about retrofitting their homes. They interviewed our engineers, gathering complex processes [and] translating [them] so members of the public could easily understand the processes themselves. We’ve had a great response to both our case studies and the white paper and will continue using Method Marketing going forward.” – Julia Dunn, Aston Group

Read the white paper here.

Looking for a white paper writer?

If you’d like us to help you create your own white paper content, please get in touch! You can contact our white paper writers to discuss your white paper content writing needs by calling 0330 0430736 or emailing hello@methodmarketing.org.

11th March 2024

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