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Memorandum from the Sustainable Housing Action Partnership (SHAP) (BDH 18)
1. Summary of Evidence
· The Sustainable Housing Action Partnership (SHAP) is the Regional Sustainable Housing Partnership for the West Midlands with Partners from Social Housing providers and contractors including RSLs (Registered Social Landlords), ALMOS (Arms Length Management Organisations) Local Authority Housing Bodies and Housing Market Renewal Pathfinders together with representatives from Housing Bodies.
· SHAP was established by Sustainability West Midlands in 2005 as the Sustainable Housing Action Programme to deliver projects on behalf of the Regional Housing Executive (Regional Assembly) Advantage West Midlands and the Energy Savings Trust. SHAP also provides specialist input on Sustainable Housing to Regional Strategies especially the Regional Housing Strategy and, subsequently the Regional Spatial Strategy.
· The projects delivered by SHAP in the years up to 2009 identified an urgent need to embed energy efficiency and environmental standards into the retrofit of social housing.
· To meet this need the SHAP Partners have commissioned a report which will incorporate a costed Beyond Decent Homes Standard for Retrofit. The report will be published in October 2009 and one of the objectives is to identify opportunities for incorporating energy efficiency and environmental standards into the Decent Homes Standard from 2010.
· The report will include costed retrofit techniques for a range of housing archetypes typical of the social housing and private rented sectors which, if implemented, would meet the Government's targets for CO₂ emission reduction by 2020 and 2050.
· The report will also include case studies from the SHAP partners of best practice in retrofit.
· SHAP believes that the Decent Homes programme, or an equivalent programme, should be extended beyond 2010 and that the minimum acceptable social housing standards should be amended to take account of energy efficiency, CO₂ emission reduction, fuel poverty and environmental standards.
· SHAP submits that the Beyond Decent Homes report which SHAP is publishing in October 2009 will incorporate information and data, including best practice case studies, which will be very valuable for the programme beyond 2010 to ensure that decent housing standards are met and sustained.
· SHAP finally submits that the financing of the programme will need to be carefully considered as this will be different depending on the type of the housing organisation. The SHAP report will also include valuable data to support further dialogue in developing this aspect of the programme.
2. Introduction
The Sustainable Housing Action Partnership
(SHAP) is a Company Limited by Guarantee established by leaders in the West
Midlands housing sector to provide leadership in Sustainable Housing in the
The SHAP partners are:
· Accord Housing Group · Birmingham City Council Housing Services · Family Housing Association · RENEW - the North Staffordshire Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder · Sandwell Homes · South Shropshire Housing Association · Sustainability West Midlands · Urban Living - the Birmingham Sandwell Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder · Wates Living Space · Wolverhampton Homes · West Midlands Centre for Constructing Excellence
The SHAP Board is also attended by Advisors
from the Homes and Communities Agency, the Tenants Services Authority and the
Government Office for the
SHAP was originally established by Sustainability West Midlands in 2005 as the Sustainable Housing Action Programme to deliver projects on behalf of the Regional Housing Executive (Regional Assembly) Advantage West Midlands and the Energy Savings Trust. SHAP also provides specialist input on Sustainable Housing to Regional Strategies especially the Regional Housing Strategy and, subsequently the Regional Spatial Strategy.
3. Scope of the Evidence
The submission is limited to issues related to energy efficiency and environmental standards.
SHAP recognises the success and real value of the existing Decent Homes Programme in raising the living standards of social tenants and welcomes the opportunity to submit evidence on the Standard after 2010.
4. The SHAP Beyond Decent Homes Standard
4.1 Background
The projects delivered by SHAP in the years up to 2008 identified an urgent need to embed energy efficiency and environmental standards into the retrofit of social housing.
To meet this need the SHAP Partners have commissioned a report which will incorporate a costed Beyond Decent Homes Standard for Retrofit. The report will be published in October 2009 and one of the objectives is to identify opportunities for incorporating energy efficiency and environmental standards into the Decent Homes Standard from 2010.
The overall objective of this project is to establish a Beyond Decent Homes Standard (BDH) for the refurbishment of existing housing stock which moves beyond current practice for implementing the Decent Homes programme.
The Beyond Decent Homes Standard will set out the requirements for improving existing homes measured against the four provisional 'Categories for Improvement'. A degree of flexibility in compliance will be incorporated into the Standard, recognising the range of different housing typologies to which it will apply.
The report will include costed retrofit techniques for a range of housing types typical of the social housing and private rented sectors which, if implemented, would meet the Government's targets for CO₂ emission reduction by 2020 and 2050.
4.2 Methodology
The SHAP Partners have committed to provide relevant data and evidence to support the project including relevant case studies in Retrofit and Decent Homes.
4.2.1. This will ensure that learning from refurbishments is captured and standardised with the objective of producing a Beyond Decent Homes Standard (BDH) based on
· An Open Source Approach to learning from projects, with a specific focus on access to learning from 'live' projects that are aligning fitness and low carbon · Meeting the Governments targets for reductions in CO2 emissions by 2020 and 2050 · extending and aligning the Thermal Comfort provisions with CO₂ reduction benefits to a specific targeted 'fitness' level of Energy Performance Certificate rating · Identifying the potential benefits of the low carbon element of the proposed Standard for both tenant and landlord - building on the current 'efficient heating system' and 'effective insulation' elements · incorporating the requirements of tenants and occupiers · examining the application of the carbon element and health/wellbeing elements of Eco-Homes XB and the Code for Sustainable Homes · establishing the link with the new requirements for providing Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs), drawing on the findings from the Homes and Communities Agency's pilot RSL scheme and output from EPC pro-formas · incorporate the delivery of the BDH Standard through Environmental Management Systems such as ISO 14001 or EMAS, and through RSL Regulatory performance standards · identify the repeatable features of Eco-Neighbourhood projects using the Family Housing/Urban Living example
4.3 The Technical Element
4.3.1 Housing Types The report would include an analysis of the options that could be used to achieve a low carbon BDH standard for a number of typical house and flat types that will be representative of the participating RSL/ALMO's stock, to include:
· Pre 1900 Terraced House · Pre 1945 Semi detached House · 1945 - 1964 Semi detached house · 1965-1974 Traditional and non traditional including low rise and high rise flats
This will be achieved by a combination of site visits comparative case studies that demonstrate EPC improvements, and analysis/costing of solutions that are applicable to each typology
(This will be important in seeking to quantify the cost/benefit of works to achieve the low carbon BDH standard in each of the house/ flat types.)
Within these housing types, priority will be given to housing occupied by vulnerable tenants. As the target is social housing, the project be specific about what the definition of 'vulnerable' in the context of social housing.
4.3.2 Categories of Improvement The Standard will include four Categories of Improvement
● Building fabric, including insulation, glazing, air tightness and daylighting ● Energy supply, including low carbon options for heat/power supply ● Fit-out, including appliances and lighting (including good practice in access to Energy Efficient appliances ● Tenants Engagement including the scope for smart metering, and Dissemination of Information to Tenants eg "Green Doctor" schemes
4.3.3 Monitoring The report will identify practical means of monitoring the BDH standard based on this provisional list:- SAP and EPC ratings
● Capital cost per m2/dwelling ● Operating Costs ● Fuel Poverty ● CO₂ emissions
4.3.4 Cost and CO₂ Saving The report will also calculate the cost of meeting the BDH improvement standard in each of the identified house/flat types based on a standard set of improvement measures, as suited to that house/ flat type. The cost (£) versus CO2 saving potential of the range of measures that may be used to achieve the BDH standard in each of the house/ flat types will also be calculated to enable individual organisations to plan programmes of work based around an understanding of the CO₂ impact and financial cost of each measure.
5. Conclusion
SHAP believes that the SHAP Report incorporating the Beyond Decent Homes Standard will provide valuable data and information for the Select Committee and would welcome the opportunity to submit a copy of the report to the Committee when it is published in October 2009.
SHAP submits that the financing of the programme will need to be carefully considered as this will be different depending on the type of the housing organisation eg whether it is a traditional RSL, a LSVT (large scale voluntary transfer programme), a Local Authority or an ALMO.
September 2009
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