When the Ecohomes standard was introduced, followed by the Code for Sustainable Homes which replaced it, these standards were first compulsory for Grant Funded Affordable Housing, that is, most housing developed by housing associations.
As a result the first to respond in a significant way to the demands of these codes were the developing housing associations.
Some associations built special ‘one off’ projects, for real tenants, in an attempt to demonstrate that sustainable living was possible. It was common for these schemes to be designed to environmental standards far beyond the requirements of the time, and to be seen as opportunities to make large strides into unknown territory. As a result the schemes often included unusual houseplans, experimental materials and technologies that would require significant changes in lifestyle for residents.
As the demands of sustainability legislation began to affect the construction industry as a whole, organisations like the Building Research Establishment [BRE] set up “Exemplar” houses which were not for occupation, but experiments to test new construction technologies, techniques and materials – such as the houses at the BRE Innovation Park. These houses are routinely funded by construction companies and product manufacturers, and designed by competition, with the concomitant media enthusiasm.
If you are a housing association developing affordable housing for rent or shared ownership, or a developer working for the open market, these types of approach, whilst interesting, do have their disadvantages.
- You may find yourself with properties which are so unlike ordinary houses that residents need a complete lifestyle change to benefit from the technologies. The designs, different from the familiar, may not be popular, may be costly to build and maintain, and ultimately are unlikely to be built in any volume;
- The innovative, experimental nature of ‘exemplar’ homes and the fact that they are developed through sponsorship can create a cost environment which, whilst generating some data and much interest in the press, is difficult to reproduce in volume without further additional steps in development, on a more competitive cost base, and with residents.
But in the meantime we have been working on a different, bottom-up approach.
Five years ago Barefoot and Gilles proposed to our long term clients Flagship Housing Group and their agents, Oxbury & Co, that we should start with the homes, methods and people as they are and work from there, instead of trying to get the highest eco-credentials and failing to meet any other criteria, in particular, capital and operating cost.
GreenGauge Homes are real houses with real tenants. Each scheme is designed for a particular site as normal. The client decides what particular approach they want to trial in the scheme (e.g. they want to be EcoHomes Excellent and trial various renewables technologies, as in the first project at Lingwood, or perhaps they want to be better than CSH Level 4 and with potential to easily meet Level 5, as the second scheme at Horstead) the effects are monitored and the result is a working group of houses and with a wealth of data to inform the briefing process for the next generation of the client’s housing.
GreenGauge Homes are:
Sustainable - one step ahead of the current required standards, i.e. what the developer will be building in 2 years time. Not the ‘best’ but ‘more than good enough for now’. Through small steps we aim to reach further in a meaningful, affordable way.
Flexible - not a kit house, but each designed for the site and the time. Using tried and tested techologies rather than risky new-to-market products which don’t have a history or reliable future. Maintenance is a big issue for Housing Associations. It is worth noting that this approach means GreenGauge Homes can look different and be built using different materials. What is important is that they are appropriate.
Affordable - Able to be built within the standard grant funding structure. Additional technologies are funded by grants wherever possible, but we aim to keep additional costs low – as little as 3-5% above a standard home of the time. The client can use their preferred contracting team who are not fed big surprises (or additional risk). Also, if you would like tenants to benefit from reduced energy bills, and learn more about sustainability, these can be additional objectives.
Measurable - each project is monitored after the tenants/owners move in so as to learn the most about the energy use and residents experience. The first houses at Lingwood have now been monitored (under occupation) for a year and there are a wide range of findings we hope to publish in the coming months. In particular we have learned a great deal about how people react to the homes, as well as if they save energy!
We intend each scheme of GreenGauge Homes to improve on the previous ones, creating a body of knowledge and expertise for future projects and generating decisions about strategy so that the RSL’s we work with can update their Design Brief for all their housing safe in the knowledge the changes have been tested.
