"Home upgrades don’t just lower emissions – they have a real positive impact on people and society in many ways often under-considered next to net zero goals"
- Derek Horrocks - Sustainable Building Services (UK) Ltd
Decarbonisation of all types of housing stock is a key step in addressing climate change. However, the real-life benefits for residents, communities and society are felt most acutely within the social housing sector, and work towards creating a levelled-up country too.
There are some 29 million domestic properties across the UK, with a huge majority of these requiring significant energy efficiency and microgeneration improvements. Roughly 4.5 million of these properties are social homes in England – a number that increased by 31,000 last year alone.
Social landlords are eager – and in many ways already are – to lead the way on housing decarbonisation, seeking to tackle the climate emergency and ongoing energy crisis. However, it’s important not to neglect the other widespread social benefits that can be achieved while tackling these key aims – all of which will benefit the millions of people living in their properties.
Physical health
Home upgrades don’t just lower emissions – they have a real positive impact on people and society in many ways often under-considered next to net zero goals. The health benefits are not limited to short-term avoidance of winter bugs in the colder months, but longer-term too including better management of chronic conditions.
For example, better thermal comfort through heating and insulation upgrades can keep homes warmer in the winter, but also cooler in the summer – and with climate change seeing us having to cope with hotter weather year-on-year, this reduces the risk of heat exhaustion.
Elsewhere, improved air quality in homes reduces the exposure to pollutants, creating lower risk and easier management of respiratory problems like asthma.
Better levels of overall health mean fewer lost school or workdays, allowing people to maximise the opportunities afforded to them, while wider society and the economy benefit from higher levels of productivity too. Plus, people living healthier lives will mean lower pressure on the NHS, reducing the current escalating high demand in every service area.
Mental wellbeing
Equally, the mental tax of living in poor housing is evident. The first and most obvious point is that higher-quality homes are comfortable, feel safer and are more pleasant to inhabit, leading to happier residents.
However, social housing is often home to vulnerable and lower-income households, who are disproportionately impacted by the current energy crisis and fuel poverty. Research carried out by the National Housing Federation in late 2022 revealed that social renters in the most inefficient homes were having to spend 15.5% of their income on heating – equivalent to two months’ salary.
The same report showed that more than half of social homes are rated at EPC A, B, or C, but upgrading those remaining could save residents upwards of £700m annually in heating costs – equating to a substantial average household saving of 42% or £567.
In simple terms, by upgrading the energy efficiency of homes, the amount of energy required to run them is reduced which means lower bills for tenants. There is no question that this will promote better well-being in residents, reducing the financial burden and stress.
Again, this creates a snowball effect. Improved well-being means less pressure on those resources within the NHS, reducing overall waiting times for support. It also means fewer days taken as sick leave – which according to the Labour Force Survey averaged 18.6 days for stress, depression or anxiety in 2021/22. In turn, this means lower levels of wage loss for earners and more money back in their accounts as a result.
Maximising funding opportunities and accessing expertise
With the second wave of funding through the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund – valued at £800m – set to be announced imminently, registered social housing providers need to be ready to maximise on the opportunity that comes with funding and mobilise as quickly as possible.
Whether successful or not, housing providers must be considering their options, seeking the suppliers best positioned to provide end-to-end solutions in order to streamline processes – and budgets. For those projects being funded by the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, all installers are required to be Trustmark registered and work must be delivered to PAS 2035:2019.
We provide full ‘turnkey’ large-scale PAS retrofit project management and installation solutions, allowing clients to reap the benefits of having a single supplier taking responsibility for all roles, alongside project management and energy efficiency and microgeneration measures installation.
And – as required under PAS 2035 – our network of retrofit supply chain partners, including assessors, designers and coordinators, provide clients with unbiased project support, following best practices and the Fabric First principles of the specification.
We are one of a small number of contractors who have delivered decarbonisation projects at scale under Local Authority Delivery (LAD), Home Upgrade Grant (HUG) and Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) Demonstrator and Wave 1 – and we are already delivering Wave 2 schemes too.
From this experience, we are able to advise clients on the best approaches and blended funding options, which can also include privately owned households – and we know that collaboration and stakeholder engagement are central to the effective delivery of work.
It’s important that all stakeholders know the expected outcomes and have a clear, team-wide idea of how those outcomes will be achieved from the earliest possible point. This is key to ensuring that budgets are used effectively and that the maximum number of residents benefit from the works.
Too often, since the introduction of the new PAS standards, a lack of clarity on the part of inexperienced stakeholder teams has led to an underestimation of costs and timescales. This is because the groups involved haven’t been familiar with the demands of the process, nor how to deliver multiple measures in a timely and efficient way. As a result, costs can escalate, and the number of treated properties has to be reduced.
Critically, the early engagement must include residents. A ‘right-first-time’ approach is, of course, needed to minimise any disruption to people, but as the work we carry out is on their
homes, we must make sure they know what will happen and when – but mostly the ways in which it will benefit them.
The final note
Local authorities and housing associations essentially have a golden opportunity in front of them. Instead of just improving the energy efficiency of their building stock, they are able to take the unique step of combining numerous benefits in one swoop, which works to achieve net zero, making homes safer and improving people’s quality of life together.
Plus, a highly skilled retrofit and maintenance ‘green’ workforce is needed. This is a fast-emerging sector that provides huge opportunities for job creation through new practices, processes and innovation along with the physical delivery of decarbonisation schemes.
The message is clear; one coordinated approach to work towards solving a multitude of the UK’s biggest challenges. It’s up to specialists like us, the emerging specialist supply chain and housing providers to collaborate and make it a reality.
