Social Value Conference back for 2022

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Now in its eighth year, HACT and NHC’s Social Value conference is firmly established as a must-attend event showcasing the latest thinking from across social housing and beyond.

This year’s conference take place Thursday 17th February as a full day online conference and as in recent years NHC members can attend at no extra cost as part of their membership.

As ever, attendees can expect to hear from, and engage with, leading practitioners giving invaluable insights into the future of social value, supporting your thinking and ambition for driving value for your residents, communities, and business.

Soon to be released, the event’s agenda has been curated to promote the role of social value in addressing the sector’s most pertinent challenges:

The importance of social value and sustainability is clear. With the growth of ESG funding requirements, organisations are required to look beyond the financial cost and consider how the services they deliver, or commission might drive positive economic, social and environmental impact.

Similarly, over the last decade Social Value has played an increasingly important role in procurement. Post-Brexit, the introduction of new legislation will require a new understanding within the sector to both manage frictions and grasp new opportunities. We’ll be getting to grips with the implications for contractors, suppliers and tendering organisations.

Ten years on from the pivotal Social Value Act 2012, key stakeholders will reflect on their experience over the last decade. Have the challenges of the past been met? And what more can we do to overcome them in the future both within and across the social housing sector?

Across the North, place-based organisations are maturing an understanding of their role as anchor institutions and the role of Social Value in maximising their local impact. Based on a case study from the NHC, the conference will explore ethical procurement approaches that supports the fight against inequality and climate change, and centres health and wellbeing.

And with the Government’s Levelling Up White Paper on the horizon, with its emphasis on community pride and quality of place, the conference will look at how to build social value into every aspect of neighbourhood regeneration. From selecting a Joint Venture partner, to contractual requirements, to resident engagement, attendees will hear from speakers who have successfully applied a Social Value framework onto a ground-breaking renewal project.

The Social Value Conference forms part of the close relationship between the NHC and HACT, who been pioneering the use and understanding of Social Value since 2012. Having launched the Social Value Roadmap in 2020, and with Phase 1 soon to be complete, HACT will use the day to update attendees on what comes next. Attendees will learn how the Roadmap will incorporate work on ESG reporting, community investment, procurement, and the social value of tenancy. HACT will also be exclusively previewing their new, dynamic online environment where you can model, monitor and measure your social impact. Be the first to discover the future of social housing!

This year the conference will be held on a unique online platform designed to maximise interaction between attendees. Come to hear from, and engage with, key speakers but also make valuable links and discuss key topics with other attendees.

Whether attending for the full day or for sessions most relevant to you, register your attendance via MyNHC now to receive joining instructions prior to the event.

The 2022 Building Regulation Changes (CO2 Emissions) Policy Brief

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Introduction

The Future Homes and Buildings Standard is a set of standards that will complement the Building Regulations to ensure new homes built from 2025 will produce 75-80% less carbon emissions than homes delivered under current regulations.

Certain home improvements in existing homes will also be subject to higher standards.

The Future Homes Standard was first announced in the government’s spring statement in 2019. There have been two consultations into the Future Homes Standard, which proposed a variety of measures for new and existing homes.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) announced Building Regulations changes will come in from June 2022.

A technical specification was confirmed in the government’s response to the Future Buildings Standard consultation, which will be consulted on in 2023, with the necessary legislation introduced in 2024, ahead of implementation in 2025.

Local authorities will continue to be allowed to set higher energy efficiency standards for new homes in their area once the Standard is published.

 

Summary

  • As of the 4th of January 2022, Plans for New Building regulation amendments that are to be implemented on the 15th of June 2022 have been released in several different documents, these cover the following topics:
  • Ventilation (Document F)
  • Conservation of Fuel and Power (Document L)
  • Infrastructure for the Charging of Electric Vehicles (Document S)
  • Overheating (Document O)

 

  • The most significant news regarding this development is that new homes following all these measures will produce 30% less CO2 than current homes according to a government press release on the documents

 

What do the Documents Say?

Document F- Ventilation

As stated previously document F focuses on the issue of adequate ventilation in homes and this particular priority revolves around the ideas of improving indoor air quality for the health of occupants, ensuring fewer cold draughts in homes and preventing damp/mould.

The document also introduces minimum ventilation rates in buildings (page 18/table 1.3) which monitors the effectiveness of household appliances in extracting a certain number of water litres per second. Finally, the document also covers mechanical ventilation’s extensive role in heat recovery where it is present (page 24/25) which implies that it likely links itself tangentially to the documents concerning energy efficiency and CO2 reduction below.

 

Document L- Conservation of Fuel and Power

The most important document regarding emissions and efficiency as this sets out a “target emission rate” for all dwellings in regulation 26 as well as stating all new builds must be near zero energy in regulation 25B (both on page 16)

Furthermore, Regulation 25A (1A-D) (page 28) also outlines the government’s recommended alternatives for high energy efficiency these include: cogeneration, use of renewables, heat pumps and district/block heating and cooling. It will also be a required measure to limit heat gains and losses through building fabric and any other part of the structure as per Requirement L1(a) (page 31).

 

Document S- Infrastructure for the Charging of Electric Vehicles

Intention is to provide greater accessibility for electric vehicles and requirements are being ushered in to supplement this. For example, Requirement S1 on page 11 has made it so that all new housing developments must have electric charging points and cable routes in their parking spaces. The number of these charge points varies but must be one of the two following:

 

Option A

The total number of parking spaces around the development, where there are fewer parking spaces than there are dwellings contained in the residential building

 

Option B

The number of parking spaces that is equal to the total number of dwellings contained in the residential building, where there are the same number of parking spaces as, or more parking spaces than, there are dwellings.

 

Document O- Overheating

Finally, this document covers the issue of overheating, the main requirements of which surround heat mitigation in the event of unwanted solar gains in the Summer with potentially even mechanical assistance (page 12).

This requirement according to the document can either be achieved by categorising building risk based on the solar gains it experiences as well as its cross-ventilation performance (page 13) or through a less simplistic method known as “dynamic thermal modelling” (page 16) which is method of building modelling that predicts/analyses the internal conditions and energy demands of a building using weather data and building characteristics.

Although this method is more complex the government states that if utilised it can provide more flexibility for designers than simply measuring cross ventilation particularly in buildings that have high levels of insulation or airtightness (page 16).

However, in new builds using this second method there must be a demonstration on the part of the housebuilder that the house meets the Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) methodology for overheating known as TM59 in order for the development to be fully compliant (page 16).

 

Wider Implications

Although not yet fully in place the impacts of all of the requirements found in these documents could see a reduction of CO2 in new builds by up to 30% which would clearly be a massive boost towards the success of the government pledge for net zero and with these regulations coming as soon as June 2022 this could be to help gauge the sector response to carbon cutting measures which will also certainly be part of the Future Building Standard that will be implemented in 2025.

 

Conclusion

In conclusion these changes seek to drop carbon emissions in new homes by a third by focusing on energy usage and building composition which may become further nuanced by the time the Future Building Standard is introduced in 2025. Needless to say the recent changes are definitely linked to the government’s efforts of working towards net zero and will likely be part of an incremental process in adapting building design to suit the 2050 target.

Furthermore, for context, Respondents to the original consultation raised concerns regarding the energy performance of buildings which were beyond the scope of the consultation or existing Building Regulations, including questions about embodied carbon and tackling the performance gap. In response, DLUHC and BEIS are developing a Statement of Intent that will consider what needs to be done by government and industry to deliver net zero buildings by 2050. This will be published shortly and will be part of the considerations while developing the full technical consultations for both the Future Buildings and Future Homes Standards.

Finally, if members are interested in compliance and the wider aspects of adapting to building regulation changes Consortium Procurement offer a number of solutions to assist Members in remaining compliant with a wide array of building regulations and legislation, including our Asbestos, Legionella and Mould framework, HVAC+R, Drainage and Plumbing DPS, and Property Safety and Security framework.

 

 NHC contact

For any policy enquiries about the new building regulations and the means to address them please contact:

Joseph Breen – Policy Specialist in MMC

Joseph.Breen@northern-consortium.org.uk

 

Northern Housing Monitor – Invitation to Shape the next edition of the Monitor

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The Northern Housing Monitor is an analysis of Northern housing data, creating a ‘State of the Region’ report describing emerging trends and identifying the developments which have the most significant impacts on people, homes and neighbourhoods in the North.

The first edition of the Monitor was published in the autumn 2021.

The Monitor is part of the NHC’s commitment to building an evidence base on the issues that matter to our members and as a useful, instructive and unique source of Northern housing data.

The 2021 edition of the Monitor focused on energy efficiency with chapters covering a wider suite of analysis on the North’s housing markets.

The Monitor was accompanied by an interactive geographic look-up tool – the Northern Housing Databank – providing a level of local analysis.  This will work to build responsiveness to housing needs at a local level, to support developing targeted strategies that respond to the differing needs of local areas.

The NHC is now working towards the next edition of the Monitor to be published in the autumn of 2022.

Member Reference Group

To ensure that the Monitor continues to meet members’ needs fully, we will set up a small Member Reference Group from across our membership.

The Member Reference Group will be a key component in shaping the content of the Monitor and to act as a sounding board as the work develops.

WE ARE INVITING INDIVIDUALS FROM MEMBER ORGANISATIONS TO PUT THEMSELVES FORWARD TO TAKE PART IN THE REFERENCE GROUP.

We anticipate that the group would meet virtually to determine the key data needed to underpin the Monitor. In addition, the group will comment on the outputs including visual and graphical outputs as well as narrative text.

The timeline for the group to meet will cover March – August 2022 and meetings will be held virtually or use an online tool to share information. We would anticipate this would involve three or four meetings, with other consultation being held offline to ensure that the final document is fit for purpose.

If you are interested in being part of the group, please email karen.brown@northern-consortium.org.uk by 11th March expressing your interest.

Social Housing Tenants’ Climate Jury Webinar Series to Launch Next Month

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In November 2020, the Social Housing Tenants’ Climate Jury launched its report and recommendations to the sector; their views, as social housing tenants, as to how tenants, social landlords, and other place-based organisations can work together to tackle climate change in our homes and neighbourhoods.

As part of its commitment to promote and advance the Jury’s work, the Northern Housing Consortium has arranged the Social Housing Tenants’ Climate Jury webinar series. Across five thematic webinars the series is designed to build on the Tenants’ Climate Jury project, exploring the recommendations and beginning a conversation within the NHC membership as to how the Tenants’ Jury’s views, concerns, and ambitions can be incorporated into our work to ready homes and communities for a Net Zero future.

The series launches in February with the webinar Retrofit Standards & Accreditation. As part of the Jury discussions were held with residents who had lived experience of their home being retrofitted. Both positive and negative experiences were heard about the quality of their experience and the Jury came away with a desire to see the sector ‘get it right first time’ – to both preserve a positive customer experience and ensure the retrofit itself is sustainable in the long run.

The Tenants’ Climate Jury project is delighted to welcome back Professor Anne Power, Emeritus Professor of Social Policy and Head of LSE Housing and Communities, who will give a keynote address as part of the first session. Professor Power previously gave ‘evidence’ to the Jury as an expert commentator discussing the agency of tenants in retrofit and regeneration projects.

Here, Professor Power will discuss her work with a particular focus on the findings of the LSE report Retrofit to the Rescue: A social impact evaluation of one of the most ambitious retrofit projects of it’s kind; the largest social housing block to have been refurbished to the EnerPHiT standard with close engagement with residents who remained in their properties throughout.

Over the coming weeks, the webinar series will discuss the key themes the Jury highlighted; the creation of a ‘resident-centric retrofit journey’, expanding climate knowledge within the sector for both tenants and officers, making retrofit one part of a holistic approach to neighbourhood renewal, and being upfront on costs and protecting residents through the energy transition.

For further details on all sessions, and to confirm your attendance, please visit MyNHC.