Quadrant Housing Issue 01

How do we provide smart, safe, affordable social housing?

essential that the most vulnerable

society

access to high-quality,

targets are rapidly approaching and demand for social and affordable housing increases, it is becoming more apparent that we need a framework to build sustainable housing fit for the future.

In this issue, we explore how modern methods of construction can cut waste, time and money as we push to build more

Additionally, we highlight the UK Government’s recent Renters Reform Bill and what this means for social

and tenants.

industry

many changes in the near future,

looks at how current housing projects,

and policies are shaping the sector as we push for a net zero future.

Floyd March

£250 Million Site To Enhance Connectivity In Stockport

The latest development within Stockport’s major £1 billion transformation has been revealed by the Stockport Mayoral Development Corporation (MDC). Quadrant Smart looks at the £250 million site and investigates how it will enhance connectivity in the town centre.

Creating a new digitally capable, walkable neighbourhood will compromise over 1,000 new homes with early-stage plans, including retail, leisure, and office spaces.

Location Is Key To Establishing A New Cultural Destination

The site is adjacent to the town’s viaduct and the Stockport Interchange, a significant new redevelopment in partnership with Transport for Greater Manchester and will see the creation of a new urban park alongside enhanced connectivity.

The Site Could Be A Leading Regeneration Project

Established by Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and chaired by Lord Bob Kerslake, the former Head of Civil Service and the first Chief Executive of the Homes and Communities Agency, Stockport MDC is the delivery vehicle for GMCA Stockport Council’s regeneration plans across the district called Town Centre West.

Plans will see the delivery of up to 4,000 new homes, new employment space, significant public transport improvements, new green space, local amenities, and attractions over the next 15 years.

Andy Burnham

T he MDC is a powerful about rapid change £117 million to the every year.

Greater Manchester Mayor

Mayor

Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham, said: “This new site offers an exceptional opportunity to be part of one of the leading regeneration projects right now, not only in Greater Manchester but across the UK."

It Is Essential To Scale Up Community Engagement Work

The Stockport MDC states in the Strategic Business Plan 2021-2026 that it will aim to complete at least 250 homes per year until 2026; this includes housing of all types and for all income groups.

In addition to this improvement, MDC hopes to support more comprehensive planning for future health and education facilities in the town by producing a credible and deliverable plan for the social infrastructure investment requirement in Town Centre West.

The MDC will raise its profile as an exemplar regeneration delivery vehicle through its communications partners and scale up its community engagement work. Also, the MDC will bring forward the project inventions that enable it to deliver significant carbon reductions, ensuring that Town Centre West is an exemplar green urban neighbourhood. Redevelopment of Stockport Station and the surrounding area will maximise the economic significance of Stockport Rail Station and its role in the Greater Manchester and Northwest transport network.

powerful tool to bring change and will add the local economy

£13m Quayside Regeneration Project To Boost Employment In Newcastle

Attracting Young People To The City Is Key For Newcastle’s Regeneration

James Forrester, said: “While we’ve always played a prominent role in the North East new-build sector, we’re extremely proud and excited to further this influence by opening our new site within the heart of what’s arguably the most exciting regeneration project in the city’s history.

Newcastle based property developer

Stripe Property Group has announced the next step in its expansion plans, with the acquisition and opening of its Quayside base of operations. Quadrant Smart looks at the regeneration project and investigates how it will boost employment opportunities.

Launched in 2017, Stripe Property Group specialises in housebuilding with a focus on residential and student accommodation across the North East and now has recently expanded down to the Midlands.

With 20 years of experience within the industry across the UK and Europe, the company is headed by Newcastle-born Managing Director, James Forrester.

The £13m scheme that is being developed is located on Skinnerburn Road and will comprise 118 luxury studio and one-bedroom apartments. As part of their commitment to the regeneration of the area, Stripe Property Group has also acquired and opened its new office adjacent to the site on Forth Banks.

All of these projects add to Newcastle's aim of 'A city of investment and growth.'

As outlined on Newcastle City Council's website, it is essential to grow the city's economy but the growth must have a purpose: "We know that if the growth of our economy has a purpose, it is to ensure that the whole city prospers."

“Newcastle is undergoing a great deal of positive change at present and the Quayside West redevelopment is probably the most significant sign of where the city is heading."

Part of this master plan is to attract young people to come and live, work and study within the city, while also bringing a boost to the local economy and providing further employment opportunities.

The Regeneration Project Will Bring 1,000 Job Opportunities

Quayside West Studios is the latest in many regeneration projects that are benefitting the area, with the council-led organisation of the Stephenson Quarter entering its second phase. It has already delivered new hotels, office space, and shopping venues, and brought 1,000 new jobs with it.

In addition to this, the area will benefit from the Quayside West regeneration project, which is due to transform 15-acres of former industrial land and is expected to see its main contractor in as little as 12 weeks before opening an additional sales office to support the sale of its Quayside West Studio units.

Newcastle and those who live, work and visit the city will benefit from regeneration projects like this by the boost in employment opportunities and the local economy.

How Will Technology And Innovation Help Build Better Social Housing?

At Quadrant’s first Smart Housing event, held in Birmingham, industry leaders discussed how technology and innovation are essential for net zero, retrofitting and improving our social housing stock.

The panel discussion allowed the audience to interact with industry leaders from the housing sector.

Alex Parker, Regional Specifications Manager at Aico was joined by Paul Jordan, Innovation Support Lead at Energy Systems Catapult and David Kemp, Associate Director at Turner & Townsend, to discuss technology and innovation in the intelligent housing sector.

For several years, the social housing sector has discussed the use of smart technology and its benefits. However, outlined in The Internet of Things and Smart Heat Controls in Social Housing: Market intelligence report 2020, it was revealed that only 56 per cent of the social housing organisations that were surveyed had either implemented or trialled IoT solutions.

Now, technology and innovation will lead the way in how the sector builds better social housing; this was the key focus of the discussion.

5G Will Have A Positive Effect On Innovation

Starting the discussion by talking about 5G and how it will support social housing landlords to take a scalable and futureproofed approach with their IoT strategy,

Alex said that from Aico’s perspective, 5G won’t make much difference at all to their specific product but has a crucial role in the industry: “The data that we are dealing with is a very small amount of data.

“It's like a text message or an email ping, which can be done via a 2G network so absolutely, just from our perspective, not much impact."

Continuing, Alex told the audience: “However, when you're dealing with companies who are using security or visual technology, and things that need to be live video images, then certainly the rollout of 5G should be a massive help to companies that do that, and organisations that want to adopt that technology as well.”

Paul Jordan was optimistic about the effect 5G is going to have on innovation, stating that it is going to open up a lot of new opportunities for the housing industry: “Having something like 5G where you can move much closer to realtime does allow much faster response on certain things.

“For instance, if you turn something off in the home, you can aggregate that quickly and that can help manage the local energy system.”

Potentially, 5G can allow those rapid responses and reactions on the system, but there are lots of other potential things that 5G can open up as well.

David Kemp expressed that: “It doesn't matter what the 'G' is, as long as it's not able to be unplugged. It's not dependent on our householder’s or a tenant’s or resident’s Wi-Fi broadband connection. That's where the real benefit lies in this, as well as technology.”

He continued to speak about the technologies that are being put into properties now, such as batteries and heat pumps.

For these technologies to work effectively, they need to be turned on and off quickly: “If 2G is just too slow, that is going to have limited factors on the revenue that can generate for you as landlords but equally, a few of those segments that the tenants and residents can benefit from.”

Tackling Barriers Is Key For Social Housing

There are many barriers when it comes to scaling up the use of technology and innovation in social housing. Tackling these barriers is essential if the housing industry is to improve its housing stock. Alex explained that when it comes to scaling up, the first barrier is cost: “We have experienced the housing associations which have money, and we have experienced the local councils of 1000 properties, who are on the verge of bankruptcy in some instances.

"Cost can always be a challenge to scaling up. So, we need to find ways of making that not as much of a barrier."

To Alex, other barriers include education and priorities. With these in place and the sufficient funding available, he said that he believes this will help to address the issues that social housing currently faces. David added that it is important to understand the benefit of any particular piece of kit: “If we can articulate the benefit and if we recognise that the total cost of acquisition of this piece of kit is beneficial to the landlord organisation. It is more about the financing thing, rather than the actual capital cost itself.”

As the conversation continued, the message was clear. Though the housing sector has come a long way in the last decade and is currently seeing technology and innovation providing many benefits, there is still a long way to go.

How Will Local Communities Reach Net Zero Through MMC?

Housing provider Raven Housing Trust has secured planning permission to build 32 net zero carbon affordable homes in Lewes.

Delivered on the site of the former Pells Church of England School, the project will be Raven Housing’s second net zero carbon new-build scheme.

Designed and built by Raven Housing, the scheme will comprise two and three bedroom semi-detached homes for shared ownership. Also, there will be one and two bedroom flats for affordable rent.

The new homes will be built using Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) and are due to be completed by late 2023.

Quadrant Smart spoke to Marc Marsh, Senior Development Manager at Raven Housing Trust, who expressed how this project will help positively drive environmental efficiency and benefit the local community of Lewes.

Affordability Is Key

For Raven Housing

Marc said that in 2019/2020, Raven Housing outlined that a very strong commitment to their development pipeline, would be a focus on achieving net zero carbon.

When it comes to why the Lewes project is the right project, he explained that Lewes hasn’t seen a lot of development in recent years in terms of new housing provisions, particularly new affordable housing provisions.

Marc told Quadrant Smart: “There is a few schemes but not a great deal. For us as an affordable housing provider, it was key that whatever we can get on this site would be net zero, and it would be 100 per cent affordable.”

A total of 32 units have been approved with a mixed tenure approach, with some being shared ownership. The rest will be a mixture of two different types of rented products – standard affordable rent and Lewes Local Housing.

Marc described Lewes Local Housing as “a rent which is like a stopgap between social rents or old council rents as people know them as, and affordable rent. It is based purely on localised average household earnings.”

It Is Essential To Reach Net Zero

By using MMC, Raven Housing hopes to achieve net zero carbon affordable homes. Marc said they reached out to several contractors who offer MMC: “We’ve gone out to a number of those contractors, and because MMCs are being produced in a factory, it is like manufacturing a car, they will do things as efficiently as possible."

Reducing construction waste is essential as highlighted in Construction Products Associations’ briefing paper ‘How much waste is produced by the construction

sector?’ as 2018 saw a total waste in the UK of 222 million tonnes. 50 per cent of 2018’s total waste was from construction and demolishment.

Comparing a traditionally built house with full volumetric modular, Marc explained how an average traditionally built house will have many deliveries of all the widgets to get that house built. Whereas with full volumetric modular, the ground floor, first floor and the roof could be in within four or five lorries.

Therefore, this benefits the project and decreases the carbon emissions emitted: “The construction period is shorter, the number of deliveries to the site is less.”

Local Communities Will Benefit From Net Zero Projects

Benefitting the local community is another aim for Raven Housing, with its mantra being “building homes, changing lives”. They hope that this will be achieved through the net zero approaches: “It is about having a zerocarbon position on managed energy usage. It is about heating, hot water and ventilation, so regulated energy usage will be a carbon outcome. That is combined with an efficient building that is incredibly airtight and thermally efficient.

“When you pull those pieces together in a large jigsaw you get what will be a very sustainable and positive outcome for the local community and for those people that are going to live there for us as the landlord and ultimately the owner of the building.”

Ensuring that tenants get the right information and getting tenants onboard with the concept and outcome is essential. Through this, Raven Housing will be able to receive feedback and data, Marc explained that listening to customer feedback must be taken seriously.

"The two are pretty much going to progress through construction at a very similar time. It is about being honest to ourselves that we might not get it 100 per cent right the first time, but we will learn from it."

The Industry Needs To Enact Change Now

Marc finished by highlighting the impact that this project will have not only on Lewes but on the housing industry. He said that it is important that the industry makes a change now, not wait for it to happen: “Raven were one of the first to come out so boldly in 2020/2021 to say we are doing net zero builds. Ignore what the sector is saying, we are in a climate crisis.”

Raven Housing has just secured a large chunk of finance, Marc revealed, which will help to support their future development pipeline. Funding already secured will help support deep retrofit projects as well.

Fire Reform White Paper: What Are The Main Changes?

The most comprehensive plans for fire reform in decades was set out on 18 May in the UK Government's Fire Reform White Paper.

Changes that have been announced include the commencement of the Fire Safety Act 2021, which aims to make sure that all blocks of flats are properly assessed for fire safety risks. The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 will aim to help people feel safer in their homes.

After the Grenfell Tower Tragedy, it is now more essential than ever that there are improvements to fire rescue services' efficiency, effectiveness, and culture. A focus is needed on funding for fire protection and helping services across England.

Public Safety Is The Focus

The government hope to achieve public safety by improving the professionalism of the fire and rescue services through modern workforce practices and potentially establishing a College of Fire and Rescue.

Through the proposals to transfer fire governance to a single elected individual and delivery will be overseen by operationally independent Chief Fire Officers, improved accountability is delivered.

Better engagement with the public will be encouraged through a 10week consultation that will see the government listen to the views of the public and stakeholders, finalising its reform programme.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said: "The government's priority is keeping the public safe, and the reforms we've set out today will strengthen and support our hard-working fire and rescue services."

Keeping The Public Safe Through Prevention, Protection And Response Work

In September 2021, the Cabinet Office's Resilience Strategy Call for Evidence closed. The Home Office has consulted with the National Fire Chief's Council (NFCC) to ensure that the fire sector continues to play an essential role in national and local community resilience.

The White Paper outlines that firefighters need to be prepared and equipped with the right skills and expertise to "respond to a range of incidents, across the complex, built environment and national infrastructure."

HMICFRS inspections have shown that the operational response is a strength of services but has reported a considerable variation in how prevention and protection work is conducted, understood and prioritised.

The government has said that "we will continue to work with the NFCC to develop and implement prevention and protection programmes."

Supporting Vulnerable Residents Is Essential

Highlighting the key focus of public safety, also announced is the commencement of the Fire Safety Act and the launch of the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022.

Paving the way for meeting many of the remaining Grenfell Tower Inquiry recommendations, these changes aim to deliver fire safety improvements in mutioccupied residential buildings.

As revealed in the UK Government's 'Detailed analysis of fires attended by fire and rescue services, England, April 2020 to 2021', there were 4,057 primary fires

that involved an evacuation, a decrease of 22 per cent compared with the financial year 2019 to 2020 (5,184). However, the decline is thought to be due to the covid-19 pandemic.

Ensuring That Services Have The Necessary Information Is Key

Fire and Rescue Services will be provided with up-to-date information on where the residents live within the building, with this information being used to inform their operational strategy and prioritise resources to assist further and affect the evacuation of these residents.

Fire Minister, Lord Greenhalgh, said: "I am delighted to introduce this comprehensive reform plan for our fire and rescue services and improvements to fire safety.

"The Grenfell Inquiry and independent inspections show reform is needed, and we are tackling issues head-on with this White Paper."

Services Must Be Supported By Research

To ensure that services can effectively serve their communities, they must be supported by the best available evidence and research.

A central fire and rescue research capability could benefit services by undertaking many activities. One of these is by providing a permanent set of skilled analysts to collaborate with others, including services, in order to promote research.

Directly undertaking research, including reviews of existing evidence and the identifying of emergent issues, opportunities, and ongoing fire-related research that is undertaken will also benefit services.

Strengthening Our Fire And Rescue Services

As recommended by HMICFRS, the role of fire and rescue services needs clarification with greater local flexibility for firefighters and staff.

Responding to local needs in line with national expectations and guidance is the aim. It is outlined in the White Paper that services are hoped to be helped make the best use of the resources available to them, with the ability to come together quickly and respond safely to local and national emergencies.

It is explained that chief fire offices will be skilled leaders and managers: "with clear responsibility to run and manage their services effectively and efficiently, in order to meet their local risk."

Using data and evidence to inform decision-making will be essential and will support services to embrace learning and share best practices and innovation.

When it comes to the staff, it is vital that fire and rescue services "create an environment where they get the best out of people." The reform agenda seeks to drive improvement in three essential areas: well-trained and supported people, high levels of professionalism, and strong and effective governance.

Social Housing Regulation Bill: Stronger Protection For Tenants

Recently, the UK Government introduced the Social Housing Regulation Bill into parliament, following on from its inclusion in the Queen’s Speech.

The Social Housing Regulation Bill will include several reforms that will have a positive effect on the social housing sector and mean that more people will be living in decent, well looked-after homes. The Bill will form a key part of the UK Government’s mission to level up across the country.

Under the Social Housing Regulation Bill, the Regulator of Social Housing will have stronger powers to issue unlimited fines and enter properties with only 48 hours’ notice instead of the previous notice of 28 days.

In giving the Regulator of Social Housing expanded powers, the watchdog will be able to access landlords on consumer standards, such as health and safety, repairs performance and complaints handling.

Tenants Will Be Given A Voice To Push For Changes

To make tenants feel safer in their homes, tenants will now be able to demand information and rate their landlord as part of new satisfaction measures.

With a new 250-person residents panel, which will see tenants share their experiences with ministers every four months, inform policy thinking and help to drive a change in the sector, tenants will have a direct line to the government.

Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, said: “In 2022 it is disgraceful that anyone should live in damp, cold and unsafe

homes, waiting months for repairs and being routinely ignored by their landlord."

The Serious Detriment Test Will Be Scrapped

Another change will see the serious detriment test scrapped. The test sets a high legal bar for when the Regulator of Social Housing can intervene on consumer issues, and only when tenants are at a serious harm risk. In recent years, it has meant that action against landlords has only been taken in the most serious of cases.

Now, all social landlords will have a named person who is responsible for health and safety requirements, and housing associations will now be subject to Freedom of Information-style information-sharing requirements.

If the regulator finds that the standards of the property are putting tenants’ lives at risk, it will be able to order emergency repairs, with landlords footing the bill.

More Measures Must Be Put In Place To Help People

Crossbench

Peer and Founder of The Big Issue, Lord John Bird, said: “I’m pleased to hear that the government has committed to introducing legislation through the Social Housing Regulation Bill to strengthen protections for private renters and socially rented sector.”

Alongside the Bill introduction, the UK Government is seeking views on electrical safety standards for social housing via a consultation so that they can ensure that tenants feel safe in their homes.

Can Lincoln Use An Online Tool To Report Housing Repairs?

Lincoln Council has launched a new reporting tool for housing repairs developed with support from the Local Digital Fund of the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

Developed with public sector technology company Made Tech, tenants can book non-emergency repairs online, with the system sending an email or a text to confirm the booking.

From the Local Digital Fund, Lincoln received £350,000 for the project. Now, the tool will be available to other local authorities, and there are plans to add more features, including the ability to amend or cancel a booking, report communal repairs, and offer repair options to leaseholders.

Portfolio Holder for Quality Housing at City of Lincoln Council, Cllr Donald Nannestad, said: “Thanks to the hard work of the City of Lincoln Council and the Made Tech team, we’ve developed a new service that improves services for our tenants in Lincoln."

Technology Needs To Close The Digital Divide

As outlined in the Lincoln City Profile - 2021 - 2022 Population document, around 20 per cent of Lincoln city's population is over 65, compared to around 30 per cent of its population which is in the 15-29 age bracket. The aim is that the online tool will help to close the digital divide between the two age groups, and help improve how accessible information is and connect with

services and organisations. Tackling this digital divide is crucial to addressing social and economic inequalities.

The Local Digital Fund Will Support Local Governments

Aiming to help local authorities implement the Local Digital Declaration, the Local Digital Fund focuses on training digital skills and projects that address common local service challenges in reusable ways.

All signatories of the Local Digital Declaration are invited to apply for funding to support collaborative digital projects. Successful projects will receive dedicated support from the Local Digital Collaboration Unit.

The Shared Vision Of The Declaration

The Local Digital Declaration consists of over 280 local authorities, sector bodies, and government departments committed to the Declaration's shared vision.

Ensuring that changes start to happen in practice, culture and outcomes, organisations that sign must commit to doing a declaration project in the next year, in line with the Declaration Principles.

Focusing on the needs of people using them, services will be redesigned, and technology will play a key factor. Breaking dependence on inflexible and expensive technology that doesn’t join up effectively, in favour of modular common components and open data standards is essential.

Other principles include the design of safe, secure, and useful ways of sharing information to build trust among our partners and citizens, and the demonstration of digital leadership.

A Fifth of Renters Paying Over 1/3 of Their Income for Poor Housing

After the Government announced the Renters Reform Bill, which will ban Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions and new legislation for social renters, Quadrant Smart highlights whether the reform goes far enough.

In an attempt to drive up the living standards within private rented and social housing in the UK, the Government’s plans will be put in place for the 4.4 million households privately renting across England by extending the Decent Homes Standard to the private rented sector for the first time.

Currently, 21 per cent of private renters in the UK live in homes of an unacceptable standard, so new legislation hopes to drive up quality for private renters, extending the Decent Homes Standard to the sector for the first time and giving all renters the legal right to a safe and warm home.

No Fault Section 21 Evictions To Be Outlawed

Focussing on the social housing standards, the Government have also introduced plans for regular rigorous inspections and stronger powers to tackle failings by social housing landlords.

So-called ‘no fault’ Section 21 evictionsthat allow rogue landlords to terminate tenancies without giving any reasonwill be outlawed, so renters can remain in their homes and communities and continue supporting the local economy. Shockingly, 22 per cent of people who moved in 2021 did not end their tenancy by choice, coming at an average cost of

£1,400 in moving costs per household. It is hoped these reforms will keep tenants in their homes for longer, which will relieve part of the cost of living crisis.

No Legislation Regarding Rent Controls As Cost Of Living Spirals

One of the main concerns from the bill was a lack of policy surrounding rent controls and caps. According to Statista, in December 2021, the average rental payment was £874, while the average first time buyer mortgage repayment was £759.

This is an increase in renting costs of £113 per month in the last five years, while an increase in wages has followed a much slower growth rate.

On top of this, many tenants cannot make changes to the properties they live in, such as improving boiler efficiencies, insulation, and replacing old windows.

The Government hopes to improve the second part of the dilemma through the new bill but has no commitments to prevent spiralling rent costs.

A new Private Renters’ Ombudsman will be created to enable disputes between private renters and landlords to be settled quickly. The ombudsman will cover all landlords letting properties and ensure that when residents make a complaint, landlords take action to put things right.

Levelling Up and Housing Secretary Michael Gove said: “Too many renters live in damp, unsafe and cold homes, powerless to put it right, and under the threat of sudden eviction.”

Quadrant Smart heard: “The New Deal for renters announced today will help end this injustice, improving conditions and rights for millions of renters.”

Creating Sustainable Homes for the Future

6 October, 2022 The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester

Why Smart Housing?

Housing is an integral part of the evolution of the Smart City. Never has it been more important to create sustainable urban areas which are designed for the future, whether that be retrofitting existing homes, achieving net zero carbon emissions, to smart placemaking.

By utilising the Smart Housing mindset, the entire housing sector can come together to deliver the urgent need for more sustainable homes, designed for future generations to live and work together.

Join us on 6 October 2022 at The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester , where housing leaders, experts and innovators will be discussing what is needed right now to drive meaningful change and create communities for the future.

Join the conversation #SmartHousing