Peterborough City and its housing strategy

As a city, Peterborough has aspirations for growth, raising the overall skill level within the city and attracting more influx of workers, residents and students. In particular, the city is working towards becoming the centre for cleantech and environment and has just received £3 from the Technology Strategy Board to assist its Future City ideas (http://www.peterborough.gov.uk/news/latest_news/2013/april/peterborough_secures_%C2%A33million.aspx). The city’s aspirations are summarised in the comprehensive Peterborough Core Strategy Development Plan Document (2011) at http://www.peterborough.gov.uk/pdf/Plan-policy-ldf-cs-adoptedCS.pdf.

Photo: Peterborough Hampton

Peterborough conducts a regular Strategic Housing Market Assessment.  The first one was published in 2008 and an update was completed in 2010.: http://www.peterborough.gov.uk/pdf/housing-shma-peterboroughhna_part1.pdf.

With the help of this and similar documents, Peterborough can identify the needs for successful housing growth and development. Current planning is over 15 years, with a review planned in 2014/2015 to take the city up to 2031.

Affordable homes UK

According to the UK Housing Survey, 2012 briefing paper, the UK construction market is still behind the target for new housing to fulfil housing needs. (http://www.york.ac.uk/res/ukhr/ukhr1112/UKHRbriefing2012.pdf). This is also reflected in a continued deficit in the construction of affordable housing where there is a 7 year low. Cuts in public spending have not been compensated by rises in private construction. The Homes and Communities Agency has an Affordable Homes Program (2011-2015) that attempts to address this with an investment of £4.5bn (http://www.homesandcommunities.co.uk/affordable-homes). The objective is to achieve 170,000 new affordable homes by 2015, primarily through housing associations.

Affordable Homes Peterborough

Anne Keogh, Housing Strategy Manager for Peterborough City Council, gave me some of her time to fill me in on the approach to housing in Peterborough, with particular reference to affordable homes.

In line with the rest of the UK, Peterborough has to tackle a lack of affordable housing. According to the finding of the 2010 SHMA update the city currently requires 1008 new affordable homes per year to meet current and newly arising housing need. Peterborough City Council itself does not own any stock; 10,000 properties had been transferred to the Cross Keys Homes housing association in 2004 following a ballot of tenants to decide on their landlord. The construction of affordable homes therefore has to come from the housing association sector.

Peterborough City Council influences the provision of affordable homes through its requirement, that new developments of 15 dwellings or more should contain 30% affordable homes. However, this is viewed pragmatically and with a certain degree of flexibility so that the overall ratio is achieved. Housing associations can also benefit from recycled capital grant funding, where the proceeds of sales of existing properties built with funding in the past are used to build new affordable homes.

In 2011-2012, 767 (gross) houses were built in Peterborough, of which 114 were affordable homes and suggested figures for 2012-2013 are circa 770 homes in total of which 276 homes have been confirmed as  affordable homes. Present and future figures (i.e. after this article) can be found at http://www.peterborough.gov.uk/housing/housing_strategy_team/affordable_housing_delivery.aspx.

One of the upcoming developments is the “Vista” development by Morris Homes, a Carbon Challenge Site at Code 6 where 256 homes are to be built. Forty per cent of the homes – 72 houses and 48 apartments – will be offered under social rented or shared ownership terms to people on the housing needs list. This is enabled by a grant of £7.8 million from the HCA’s National Affordable Housing Programme 2009/10. http://www.peterborough.gov.uk/news/latest_news/2011/february/peterborough_leads_%E2%80%98zero_carbo.aspx.

A recent change making an impact on affordable rental homes is that, where these were previously set as “social rents” or “target rents”, the calculation has now been replaced with “affordable rents”. Affordable rents can be set  at a maximum of 80% of the market value and are therefore higher than previously. An illustration is given here http://www.guinnesspartnership.com/~/media/files/Publications/Guinness%20South/Leaflets/Affordable_Rents_explained_Fact_Sheet_Final.ashx.

Peterborough City Council was one of the first to adopt the Local Authority Mortgage Scheme. In partnership with the local Lloyds TSB, they set aside £1m for the “Local Lend a Hand” Scheme. In this scheme, subject to Lloyds TSB's usual lending criteria, borrowers are able to select any property within the local area, up to a maximum loan size of £123,500.  First time buyers put down five per cent of the property price instead of the standard 25%. Peterborough Council provides a cash-backed indemnity of up to 20% as additional security. The local authority then earns interest on this amount. The first time buyer thus owns the property in its entirety and has access to a range of products at a lower rate of interest than would normally be available (http://www.peterborough.gov.uk/housing/local_lend_a_hand.aspx).

Housing for Students and Senior Citizens in Peterborough

Peterborough is up-skilling itself. In August 2008 a joint venture between Anglia Ruskin University and Peterborough Regional College was formally established to create University Centre Peterborough. http://www.anglia.ac.uk/ruskin/en/home/your_university/anglia_ruskin_campuses/associates_east/university_centre_peterborough.html. It offers degrees from Accounting to Archaeology, Computer Science to Criminology.

Currently most of the students are existing residents of Peterborough. The first privately built student’s residence is Taverners Hall with 54 units (http://www.tavernershall.co.uk/). As Peterborough becomes established, demand by an influx of students from beyond Peterborough will expand.

For those looking towards enjoying retirement, there is also the thought about the additional needs and care that may arise with increasing years. One of the solutions is Extra Care which offers self contained  apartments within a designated complex. The ideal is to ensure that these include a mix of social spaces, shops, restaurants and activities near the accommodation. There are currently five extra care schemes in Peterborough providing a total of 231 units of accommodation. A further scheme for 79 units of extra care is currently under construction and should be completed in the early part of 2014/15.

Summary

Peterborough is an aspiring city, striving to up-skill itself, both in education and in becoming a future green city. The city’s housing strategy also looks to address the deficit in affordable homes. It is achieving this through flexible planning policies that ensure affordable housing is built by the local private developers and housing associations.

Applying Passivhaus to Retrofit Projects seminar at Ecobuild ‘13

Guest Blog by Jane Thomas

This is a personal summary based on the Passivhaus seminar, ‘Applying Passivhaus to Retrofit Projects’ at Ecobuild 2013 and of the data analysis report put together by the Technology Strategy Board:  ‘Retrofit Revealed – The Retrofit for the Future projects data analysis report’ . http://www.innovateuk.org/_assets/pdf/publications/6231%20TSB%20Retrofit%20for%20the%20future%20AW5.pdf 

It was followed by a presentation of various facts and figures drawn from a few of the case studies.
 

Retrofit Revealed – The Retrofit for the Future projects data analysis report

The information presented the first analysis of data collated from the Technology Strategy Board’s Retrofit for the Future programme, and a review of the final reports submitted by the Retrofit for the Future project teams.

The Retrofit for the Future competition acted as a catalyst for the retrofit of homes across the UK, with an ambition of achieving an 80% reduction in the in-use CO2 emissions of each property. The properties were mainly two-storey dwellings, with a couple of bungalows included too. All homes had two or more bedrooms.  A total of 86 projects were awarded funding of up to £150,000 each to demonstrate just what could be achieved.

Analysis of monitoring data provided by the Retrofit for the Future project teams aimed to:

• identify the energy and carbon performance achieved by Retrofit for the Future projects
• explore whether this performance is being achieved at the expense of other factors, such as occupant comfort or satisfaction
• identify common success factors, lessons and challenges from the delivery of Retrofit for the Future projects, to provide insights to the industry.

Key Findings

Of 37 properties included in the analysis, three achieved a reduction in CO2 emissions equivalent to over 80% compared with 1990 average levels. A further 23 achieved a reduction in CO2 emissions equivalent to between 50% and 80%.

The analysis shows a strong correlation between good air-tightness and lower CO2 emissions.

The data also suggests that air-tightness and emissions reductions are usually being achieved without compromising the comfort of residents. Almost all of the properties in the analysis stayed within comfortable boundaries for temperature and relative humidity. The analysis also considers energy costs.

Keys to a successful retrofit project:  Project Planning; Site Management; Understanding Supply Chains and Working closely with residents.

Perceived comfort can be improved:

(Source: Retrofit for the Future Projects data analysis report)

Common Challenges

Various challenges were encountered by the retrofit teams, though others managed to overcome most of the problems.  These included:

• Lack of competition, choice or availability of products and services
• Supply chain skills, quality and integration
• Unexpected changes to project team
• Site issues
• Planning
• Residents and their neighbours
• Cost overruns and delays

Other issues identified by a smaller number of project teams included:

• poor quality data or records relating to the property
• having to deal with multi-tenanted properties
• challenges around modelling, particularly where interventions are not included in SAP
• difficulties sourcing and working with monitoring equipment
• identifying and providing low energy appliances
• Procurement issues, for example working with a framework agreement with a limited choice of (non-specialist) suppliers.

Some challenges remain, however, and these may need intervention at a more strategic level:

• Local planning was an obstacle for many projects. Local approaches to planning help to create and preserve vibrant individual communities; however, lack of consistency in decision-making, uncertainty over what is permitted development, and the time and resources needed to secure planning permission presented challenges to Retrofit for the Future project teams
• Many of the product markets are immature, either in the UK or globally. Price volatility affected project budgets and long or delayed lead-in times were frequently blamed for project overruns. If low-carbon retrofit is to scale-up in line with Government ambitions, then product markets need to mature rapidly
• The supply chain for delivering whole-house low-carbon retrofit could face capacity issues as demand grows, and there will likely be opportunities for new players. In Belfast, the Grove Housing Association project significantly influenced the supply chain in Northern Ireland, such that there are now twelve businesses operating in the low-carbon retrofit sector, whereas previously there were none.

The Future

The analysis suggests that there are considerable challenges ahead for the retrofit market. Equally, it has identified some concrete examples of innovation, and further opportunities for product and service development.

To support the development of a thriving retrofit market in the UK, the Technology Strategy Board has made the full data set from Retrofit for the Future available through a database called ‘embed’. This database provides a valuable resource for anyone considering a retrofit project. It can be accessed via http://www.retrofitanalysis.org (Registration required).

To understand more about the relationship between costs and carbon reductions, the TSB has launched the ‘Scaling-Up Retrofit of the Nation’s Homes competition’, which aims to stimulate significant cuts in CO2 emissions from existing homes.

The main retrofit analysis report can be viewed here.

Example Case Studies

The Oxford Whole House study is mentioned in the report.  I found the other two via internet research.

The Hounslow Council Passivhaus Retrofit

Using the Passivhaus Planning Package, bere:architects took a fabric‐first approach to the retrofit. The monitored data (appendix 6 & 7) demonstrates that this approach has worked very well in achieving a massive reduction in overall energy consumption, mainly by means of reducing the Specific Space Heating Demand of the house.
The details of the Hounslow Council Passivhaus Retrofit can be viewed as a report here: http://www.bere.co.uk/sites/default/files/research/371gr%20130109jb%20RftF_Final_Report%20%28anonymised%29.pdf

Hockerton Housing Project 

HHP has refurbished two homes in Newark, using low tech durable solutions including insulation, passive solar heating and community renewable energy to deliver 80% cuts in carbon emissions.
Information about the Hockerton Housing Project Retrofit can be viewed here: http://www.hockertonhousingproject.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Case-Study-Retrofit-vOct2010.pdf

Oxford Whole House Carbon Reduction Project

This Oxford City Council Victorian semi-detached house in Nelson Street with two rear extensions added in 1972 and 2003, was described as a very cold house by the residents, especially the first floor bathroom that had three exposed external walls and a roof.  Retrofit achieved a reduction in CO2 emmissions of 80.7%.
Information about the Oxford Whole House Carbon Reduction Project can be found here: http://architecture.brookes.ac.uk/research/lowcarbonbuilding/whole-house-carbon.html

Other Links

Low energy building database: http://www.retrofitforthefuture.org/
Retrofit Analysis reports from Institute for Sustainability: http://www.instituteforsustainability.co.uk/retrofitanalsyis.html
Delivering and funding housing retrofit: a review of community models: http://www.instituteforsustainability.co.uk/housingretrofit.html

Air-tightedness Pre- and Post-Retrofit

(Source: Retrofit for the Future Projects data analysis report)