Eaga Partnership

The Energy Action Grant Agency, the Eaga Partnership, was established as a not-for-profit company in 1990. Following ownership changes at the tail-end of the 90s, the organisation became 100 per cent employee-owned - a business model that has proved successful for a handful of household names, most notably department store chain John Lewis.

As a group - Eaga also operates out of offices in Tyneside, Bristol, Cardiff and Dungannon - annual turnover is comfortably north of the £200 million mark. The Edinburgh operation is a major contributor, generating income of more than £50m.

"We may well be the largest employee-owned social enterprise in Scotland," says Mr Scobie, who jokes that his official job title, director of Scotland, makes him sound "very William Wallace".

Installing central heating

IT was hailed as a key accomplishment of devolution and remains a cornerstone of the Scottish Executive's policy programme. Free central heating for the elderly, ministers argue, will help eradicate fuel poverty a decade from now.

The ambitious multi-million-pound scheme was unveiled by the then communities minister Wendy Alexander in 2000 with the promise of an April 2001 start. Time-consuming European rules on allocating government contracts saw that date come and go.

When Edinburgh-based Eaga Partnership was eventually appointed to oversee the initiative in late August of that year, a sizeable backlog had built up.

Four and a bit years on, and heading into what could turn out to be one of the coldest winters on record, the programme appears to be running at full speed.