Memorandum submitted by English Partnerships
1. WHAT IS
THE ROLE
OF ENGLISH
PARTNERSHIPS (EP)?
English Partnerships (EP) is the national regeneration
agency, sponsored by the Department of Communities and Local Government
(CLG), with an overarching aim of "supporting high quality
sustainable development in England, delivered through five core
business areas:
— Developing our own portfolio of strategic
sites.
— Acting as the Government's specialist
advisor on brownfield land.
— Making sure that surplus Government
land is used to support wider Government objectives.
— Helping to create communities where
people can afford to live and people want to live (supporting
the urban renaissance by improving the quality of our towns and
cities).
Although EP is measured in terms of outputs
including housing units supported or developed on our sites, we
also play a role in demonstrating or piloting quality and sustainability
standards on behalf of the Government. Our quality standards have
helped pave the way for several reforms of building regulations
and the content of the Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH).
We have been tasked by CLG to test the early
implementation of the Code for Sustainable Homes, such that homes
briefed from April 2007 onwards are at Code Level 3, rising to
Code Level 6 by 2013, some three years in advance of the mandatory
target.
We are commissioning the construction of larger
scale zero carbon (Code Level 6) developments to help the house
building industry and its suppliers gear up to the Government's
2016 zero carbon homes target. We have already run a competitive
process for the first site in Bristol, at Hanham Hall for 168
homes, which is being developed by Barratt Homes as its premier
exemplar housing project in the UK. We have a further three sites
where developers are currently bidding in Wigan, Doncaster and
Peterborough. The largest site is at Wigan on a former colliery
site with the potential to deliver 650 zero carbon homes in a
mixed use low carbon development.
English Partnerships is primarily land focused.
We seek to use our own land holdings for the widest possible regeneration
benefit. We seek to act as a catalyst for development—we
get involved at an early stage to prepare sites for development,
ie land acquisition, site assembly, land remediation, masterplanning.
We bring considerable funding at early stages
of projects to prepare difficult sites for the market. We have
the scale and resources to support this work.
We have widespread experience and expertise
in these areas and we seek to take the long view.
We are also able to be a source of practical
best practice we can develop and test out the highest standards
of design, construction and environmental sustainability firstly
through our demonstration projects and further throughout our
programme.
2. REDUCING CARBON
EMISSIONS FROM
NEW HOMES
EP pioneered the creation of sustainable communities
with the Millennium Communities (MC) programmes. These programmes
were initiated in 1997 and created sustainable places to live—not
just innovative environmental homes. These homes were briefed
to the BREEAM Ecohomes specification which is not comparable with
the CSH. To date, 1,200 Ecohomes "Excellent" have been
built on our sites or supported projects and 1,000 more are under
construction. In total we expect to deliver 9,000 Ecohomes with
planning permission by 2014.
We have recently received a report on the forecast
for the carbon impact of the MC programme homes, and benchmarked
the performance against the Building Regulations that were in
force at the time (2002) and against current 2006 regulations.
Each developer has adopted different strategies
to reach the improved energy standards, however, we have learnt
common lessons which are proving themselves invaluable in accelerating
delivery of the CSH. The environmental standards are incorporated
as part of a commercial scheme in which the developer makes a
profit without subsidy from EP.
On average a home built to MC Standards uses
23% less energy than a home built to 2002 Building Regulation
standards and impressively 11% less energy than the more stringent
2006 Building Regulation standards.
The report predicts that "by 2032 each
MC home will have saved around 145,000 tonnes CO2 compared to
a home built to 2002 Building Regulations". (A tonne
of CO2 would fill a balloon measuring 10m diameter.)
By initiating and persisting with high environmental
standards, EP has proven to the construction industry and its
stakeholders that it is possible to accelerate the take up of
higher standards and build confidence in the use of new methods
and technologies.
We hope that the Government does maintain the
ambitious timeline to zero carbon—any sign of flinching
will undermine the many co-ordinated efforts which are now evolving.
3. DELIVERABILITY
OF THE
CODE FOR
SUSTAINABLE HOMES
EP has been briefing developers to build at
Code Level 3 since April 2007 and our developer partners appear
to have made the transition smoothly.
We have evidence of developers meeting Code
3 with and without incorporating micro generation. This has mainly
been achieved through improved construction procurement, modern
system building, supply chain engineering, use of architects and
QS advisors as well as through tighter supervision of construction
staff to achieve homes with a better standard of airtightness.
Currently we have four schemes which are voluntarily
proceeding at Code Level 4. EP has an internal project monitoring
database with predictions for future programme delivery. For the
three years 2010-12 we are predicting 93,000 housing starts commissioned
on site.
What is going to require a significant shift
in approach, attitude and technical application is that once you
start building at Code Level 5 & 6 then the development is
much more about the energy infrastructure than the housing. Under
the present definition future projects will require private wire
connection to on-site energy solutions in the majority of cases.
With this longer term energy infrastructure
requirement EP has commissioned research on how best to maximise
land value and support the upfront and integrated provision
of energy solutions to encourage the take up of our sites. This
includes scenarios with energy and other utilities such as waste,
water and digital technologies.
There are significant opportunities to derive
energy from waste solutions here, and for Ecotowns, which need
to be grasped—if this agenda is to move forward house builders
need to liaise with waste management companies.
EP's Carbon Challenge retains the ambition of
up to ten large-scale pilot schemes. Given the cooling market
and a weakening appetite for house building generally, we are
focusing on getting developments under way on four initial sites
for the time being.
One difficulty the house builders have is meeting
the costs of achieving Code Level 6 plus affordable homes plus
EP quality standards plus Lifetime homes on the same development,
which can leave zero profit margin and possibly negative land
values.
EP is also scoping research with BRE and NHBC
Foundation to explore with major house builders and Housing Associations
the real costs of delivering at high Code Levels. Early work done
in this emerging area has not taken account of the real reductions
of delivering at scale, given that no developments have yet been
built at zero carbon and it is only English Partnerships Carbon
Challenge Initiative which is currently gathering competitive
bids.
4. IS THE
HOME BUYING
AND RENTING
PUBLIC READY?
The NHBC Foundation recently produced a report
which asked the public their views on what they expect living
in a zero carbon home will be like. The questions led to skewed
answers. For example, people were asked if they would like it
if they were unable to open a window in an "airtight"
home or if they would accept low flow and small baths—neither
of which are necessarily downside features for zero carbon living.
Within EP we have commissioned research, due
in September, which explores residents living experiences in our
three most advanced Millennium Communities. Initial responses
show that people do enjoy and value the sense of place and the
lower running costs.
We want to find out if people choose to live
in eco-friendly homes in communities for longer periods, and whether
they are prepared to pay more money to buy in to this lifestyle.
We are also researching sale values benchmarked against comparable
"ordinary" homes.
In times of a buoyant housing market everything
sells, we believe that in less buoyant circumstances homes with
environmental quality and a sense of places, would sell with a
premium.
House builders have expressed concern that they
do not want to be building homes which people do not want to live
in.
We believe there is a role for all players in
the housing sector to help create a positive vision for what it
will be like to live in a low carbon community and provide practical
support and advice on how to live in a zero carbon home and the
reasons to embrace the lifestyle changes.
If we were to extrapolate current trends then
it might be that the people who actually end up living in zero
carbon homes are those tenants of RSLs and the most ecologically
committed, ie the poorest and the greenest members of society.
The majority of the housing which exists now
will still be with us in 2050. People who do not want to live
in zero carbon homes will still have plenty of choice.
5. ENABLING DELIVERY
There is concern that many SME builders will
not have the skills, abilities or command of their supply chains
to respond to higher levels of the Code.
There are at least two issues here to be addressed.
Firstly, there is a serious issue around skills in the work force
to design, install and maintain these homes and technologies.
Secondly, the supply chain for these products needs urgent development
in the UK.
There is a role for BERR in encouraging a co-ordinated
approach in both these areas. The majority of our experience in
EP in respect of the Carbon Challenge is that products are being
sourced outside the UK, and mainly from continental Europe and
some non-European sources.
With respect to the Code delivery, where we
have on site production of power, we expect that there will issues
with excess heat generation, especially if biomass CHP is chosen
as the solution.
Within the definition of zero carbon in the
Code, which will shortly be out for consultation, we would encourage
incentivisation of heat distribution to neighbouring needs. At
the moment BERR does not incentivise distribution of heat from
renewable resources. In some circumstances waste heat from zero
carbon developments could be utilised in neighbouring existing
homes and building if the provision of the distributed pipe network
could be subsidised.
One factor not adequately dealt with by the
Code is overheating of homes, exacerbated by improved thermal
efficiency requirements, airtightness and the poor rating of concrete
solutions. We have therefore introduced a measure to prevent overheating
as part of our new Quality Standards—introducing improved
thermal mass, shading, shutters and landscaping.
We have also commissioned research to look at
the ways in which EP can accelerate the supply of energy infrastructure
to a site. This will include the potential role of Energy Supply
Companies (ESCOs) and Multi Utility Supply Companies (MUSCOs).
6. LAND SUPPLY
EP is working closely with Government, RDAs
and Local Authorities to implement the National Brownfield Strategy
which seeks to identify and prioritise brownfield land for appropriate
reuse.
The Strategic Land Division within EP is facilitating
the supply of 200,000 homes by 2016 by working with other public
sector partners.
We ran the Register of Surplus Public Sector
Land on behalf of the Government. EP has been successful in purchasing
or assisting the development of many surplus public sector sites
for housing, including 96 former NHS sites and several former
MOD sites.
The other factor which needs to be taken into
account is flood risk management in line with PPS25. Under PPS25,
the Environment Agency have the authority to take a more stringent
line and planning permission is unlikely to be given for new homes
in Flood Zone 3 (risk of flooding 1 in 20 to 1 in 100 years).
Flood risk is often a major factor in bringing
forward brownfield land which is not surprising given the heavy
reliance on water borne transport and water power for much of
the country's industrial period. For instance, recent EP research
showed that 41% of all recorded brownfield land in London was
located in flood risk areas.
Furthermore, in November 2008 DEFRA expects
to release the Climate Impacts Programme (CIPS) report, which
will increase the risk factors and uncertaintanties for storm
intensities and coastal surges. The results of this study could
significantly increase the number and size of sites within the
Flood Zone 3 categories, which in turn could knock on in terms
of land availability. We are currently working with the Environment
Agency to look at risk quantification, best practice in terms
of construction design and alterative productive uses for FZ3
land such as sites for wind turbines and growth of biomass.
Eco Towns are intended to help meet the need
for 3 million new homes across England by 2020, in a highly sustainable
way to simultaneously tackle climate change. They will spearhead
the house building industry's contribution to reducing the UK's
CO2 emissions.
As the Government's regeneration expert, English
Partnerships is supportive of the Eco Towns concept and is currently
testing many of its approached and technologies necessary for
success through its Carbon Challenge programme, which will build
the first communities in England to meet the highest level of
the Code for Sustainable Homes, equal to zero carbon.
6 May 2008
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