Levelling Up funding support

Stantec supports UK councils in securing £71.5m of

Stantec, a global leader in sustainable design and engineering, has supported local authorities across the UK in successfully bidding for more than £71 5m worth of levelling up funding After working closely with Stantec, Reading Borough Council, Dundee City Council, East Lothian Council, and Shetland Islands Council have all seen their projects receive investment as part of the second round of levelling up funding

Stantec worked with East Lothian Council on a successful bid that will provide nearly £11 3m of funding to help free up land at the former coal fired Cockenzie power station The remediation and preparation works will support future green regeneration and the development of one of Scotland’s fastest growing local authority areas, as well as the wider Edinburgh City Region Stantec provided vital updates to the project's masterplan and subsequent bid submission, including a socioeconomic baseline assessment, capital cost

Levelling Up

funding.

DIARY DATES Futurebuild

estimates, and detailed economic modelling of the potential project benefits

Stephen Findlay, Senior Associate Economist, comments: “We’re proud to have supported these essential projects in gaining funding which will help futureproof communities across the UK Developing local economies in the most sustainable and forward-thinking way is so important when looking at our resilience on a national level ”

To gain an overview of Stantec’s overall success when it comes to supporting local authorities in securing levelling up funding, view their interactive brochure here www rdr link/lah001

£2bn OSHA MMC framework

The Off-Site Homes Alliance (OSHA), an alliance of 23 housing associations and local authorities, has announced the volumetric and panelised home manufacturers that have won a place on its new £2bn MMC framework

A total of 13 supply partners were successfully selected, based on their technical competence, price and commitment to social value The successful bidders were: PMO Cast Consultancy, Cat 1 suppliers Beattie Passive, Ideal Modular Homes, ilke Homes, TopHat and ZED Pods and Cat 2 suppliers Donaldson

Timber Systems, Frame-Tech Structures, GreenSquareAccord, Mansell Finishes, Modularize, Project Etopia UK, Saint-Gobain

Off-Site Solutions and Sipco Limited

Matthew Harrison (pictured), Chief Executive of OSHA member Great Places Housing Group, says: “We’d like to congratulate the suppliers who have been awarded a place on the OSHA MMC framework, and Cast Consultancy for their appointment to manage the project management office The framework was scoped following extensive feedback from our Alliance partners, and we look forward to working with the successful suppliers, Cast Consultants and manufacturing partners to realise our development ambitions of delivering much-needed affordable homes ”

The framework will be administrated by Great Places Housing Group on behalf of OSHA and will run from February 2023 to February 2027

This event returns to ExCel in London from the 7th to 9th March, providing an opportunity for specifiers from across the built environment sector to see the latest technology and construction innovations, network with peers and debate key issues affecting the building industry The conference programme includes sessions on planning to create resilient communities, circular construction, rebuild or retrofit, Passivhaus, ‘ zero bills’ homes, net zero energy, offsite construction, sustainable infrastructure and digital transformation

For more information and to register visit www.rdr.link/lah002

Abloy UK has announced its new schedule of Academy Foundations and Foundations Plus CPD courses for 2023, which offer attendees invaluable insight into emergency and panic escape compliance

The Foundations course is designed to help delegates understand the minimum legal performance criteria for access control locking applications for fire and escape doors, BS EN 179 and BS EN 1125 and help attendees to specify only compliant solutions They also include the new BS EN 13637 standard on electronically controlled exit systems for use on escape routes

For more details on the dates for both courses or to book a place click here www rdr link/lah003

I s f a b r i c f i r s t r e a l l y t h e b e s t s t r a t e g y ?

With global temperatures rising at an alarming rate and homes producing 40% of the UK’s carbon emissions, we look at whether a fabric first approach to retrofitting homes is the best strategy. Here, Steph Willis, a Data Scientist at Sero, presents an alternative approach, which prioritises reducing carbon emissions and decreasing energy bills at a realistic upfront cost to enable faster uptake.

Historically, a fabric-first approach to retrofit made sense in the uK, but several key developments mean this is no longer the case: l Heat pumps can now decrease energy bills because gas prices have risen faster than electricity prices, and heat pump performance has improved l The carbon intensity of the uK’s electricity grid has plummeted, so replacing a gas boiler with a heat pump will now more than halve a home’s carbon emissions l Getting off gas has become a priority following russia’s invasion of ukraine

These factors mean that we should be accelerating high quality heat pump installations, not delaying them yes All a heat pump needs to do to keep a home warm is to provide heat at the same rate the home loses it A poorly insulated home might need 20kW of heating on a cold day, and there are heat pumps that can produce 1,000’s of kW of heat So, there is absolutely no problem finding heat pumps with adequate power to heat a home

But wait; do heat pumps actually work in poorly insulated homes?

It’s all about the radiators

This myth is really about radiators, and the ‘flow temperature’ of the water running through them Heat pumps can produce very hot water but doing so reduces their efficiency The lower the flow temperature, the more efficient the heat pump, lowering both energy bills and carbon emissions But radiators running at a lower flow temperature emit less heat you need to offset this by:

1 Changing how the heating is controlled so it is on lower, for longer

2 Increasing the radiator area

3 Improving the home’s insulation

So, what is the right approach?

The cheapest way of ensuring that a heat pump running at a low flow temperature can keep a home toasty will normally be a combination of changing how the heating is controlled, increasing the radiator area, and doing easy insulation measures, such as loft and cavity wall insulation Add solar panels to that combination and you have a pragmatic retrofit that delivers significant bill savings and massive carbon savings, at a reasonable upfront cost

A ‘fabric first’ approach, including external wall insulation, floor insulation and new windows instead of bigger radiators, is likely to cost about £20k more than the pragmatic approach And while it will deliver bigger bill savings, it will only deliver fractionally bigger carbon savings for those that have the cash and want the comfort and resiliency benefits of excellent insulation, the fabric first approach might be the right solution, but those who want a more cost-effective solution might opt for easy insulation, bigger radiators, solar and a heat pump

Whatever the decision, it should be made with clear understanding of each alternative and its implications n To read more about this approach to retrofitting in greater detail, please click here www.rdr.link/lah004

Matthew Warburton, Policy Advisor at the Association of Retained Council Housing (ARCH), discusses the action being taken on damp and mould, and the issues surrounding the quality of local authority data on the condition of their homes and the work needed to bring them up to Decent Homes Standard

Following the tragic death of Awaab Ishak from a respiratory condition caused by damp and mould in his home, Housing Secretary Michael Gove wrote to every local authority in England demanding reassurance that damp and mould issues are being adequately addressed, both in any council housing they own and in the private rented sector Simultaneously, the Regulator for Social Housing wrote seeking similar reassurances from all Registered Providers ARCH members and other councils with housing, were expected to respond to both letters

The Regulator is now working through over 400 responses from Registered Providers, in diverse formats and of variable quality depending on the stock condition data available to each landlord. Analysis is likely to prove challenging

O n e p r o b l e m i s t h a t l o c a l a u t h o r i t i e s a r e u s e d t o a s s e s s i n g a n d r e p o r t i n g w h e t h e r t h e i r h o m e s m e e t t h e D e c e n t

H o m e s s t a n d a r d H o w e v e r , t h e

R e g u l a t o r ’ s l e t t e r d i d n o t a s k f o r t h i s i n f o r m a t i o n b u t i n s t e a d f o r a n a s s e s s m e n t o f t h e n u m b e r o f h o m e s w i t h c a t e g o r y 1 o r 2 d a m p a n d m o u l d h a z a r d s , a s d e f i n e d b y t h e H o u s i n g H e a l t h a n d S a f e t y R a t i n g S y s t e m

( H H S R S ) . T h i s w a s p r e s u m a b l y t o e n a b l e c o m p a r i s o n w i t h r e s p o n s e s r e l a t i n g t o p r i v a t e h o u s i n g , w h e r e H H S R S i s t h e b a s i s f o r a s s e s s m e n t a n d e n f o r c e m e n t a c t i o n a g a i n s t p r i v a t e l a n d l o r d s

Category hazards

There is an overlap between HHSRS and the Decent Homes Standard Every Decent Home must meet the current minimum standard for housing, defined as being free of any HHSRS category 1 hazard The Decent Homes guidance makes it clear that the existence of a category 1 hazard should be a “trigger for remedial action unless practical steps cannot be taken without disproportionate expense or disruption”; the latter caveat is expected to be used only in very exceptional cases and with the full knowledge of the tenant.

B u t t h e S t a n d a r d i s s i l e n t o n t h e i m p l i c a t i o n s o r a c a t e g o r y 2 h a z a r d , w h e t h e r j u s t s h o r t o f c a t e g o r y 1 o r l e s s s e r i o u s I n r e l a t i o n t o t h i s p a r t o f t h e i r r e q u e s t , t h e R e g u l a t o r i s a s k i n g f o r i n f o r m a t i o n a l a n d l o r d i s n o t r e q u i r e d t o k e e p a n d w h e r e t h e r e i s n o o f f i c i a l g u i d a n c e o n t h e a p p r o p r i a t e r e s p o n s e R e s p o n s e s a r e l i k e l y t o b e u n e v e n a n d d i f f i c u l t t o c o m p a r e

G o v e ’ s l e t t e r d r e w a t t e n t i o n t o t h e i n c r e a s e d r i s k o f d a m p a n d m o u l d

“ D a m p a n d m o u l d i s n o t t h e o n l y h a z a r d o f c o n c e r n ; i t i s l i ke l y t h a t ma ny m o r e h o m e s a r e a t r i s k o f a c a t e g o r y 1 h a z a r d o f e x c e s s c o l d . ” p r o b l e m s i n a “ c h a l l e n g i n g ” w i n t e r w h e n t e n a n t s f a c e s p i r a l l i n g f o o d a n d e n e r g y c o s t s B u t d a m p a n d m o u l d i s n o t t h e o n l y h a z a r d o f c o n c e r n ; i t i s l i k e l y t h a t m a n y m o r e h o m e s a r e a t r i s k o f a c a t e g o r y 1 h a z a r d o f e x c e s s c o l d T h e t w o p r o b l e m s a r e l i n k e d , b u t m a n y m o r e h o m e s a r e t o o h a r d t o h e a t t h a n s u f f e r f r o m s e v e r e d a m p a n d m o u l d

All this suggests that the current spotlight focused on damp and mould will bring into the light a wider range of problems, both about the quality of local authorities’ data on the condition of the homes they own, and the amount of work still needed to bring them all up to the Decent Homes Standard and keep them there www.arch-housing.org.uk