Living and learning green

It can be quite a challenge keeping up with the constantly evolving requirements of the green agenda, so it’s useful to have someone on hand who knows the score.

That’s where the consultancy Sustainable Homes comes in – it does all the hard work so clients can reap the benefits

We live and we learn. The sustainability agenda has certainly involved a steep learning curve, not only for the industry but for society as a whole, but as the lessons are taken on board, the results are finding expression in practical use.

The consultancy Sustainable Homes, part of the Hastoe Housing Group, was founded in 1997. Since then significant changes have taken place as the zero carbon and the wider sustainability agenda has gained ground. Inevitably, the process has been one of a long period of debate and discussion, followed by the technical exploration of the problems and most appropriate solutions, leading through to the contemporary efforts to implement green measures in our homes.

For all that, there remains much to learn, new ideas to take on board, and gaps in the knowledge to fill.

Sustainable Homes aims to help its clients do just that by keeping abreast of the latest developments in thinking and research, in regulations, best practice and more, on their behalf, and then passing it on through training and other consultative activities. In essence, it was established to form a ready source to pull together the latest fruits of green thinking for the housing and associated industries.

Among its primary clients are housing associations, ALMOs and local authorities, for whom it provides benchmarking services, training, and independent assessments of their green credentials. The company also works with developers, architects, builders, planners and so on, advising on how to build or refurbish homes in an ecologically sustainable way. The company may work directly to
provide technical advice and assistance, or it may provide its services at one remove, for instance, as in its role of training the assessors for the Code for Sustainable Homes.

The challenge is massive. It’s not just the issue of building the new homes the country needs to a high eco-friendly, zero carbon standard, there are millions of older properties that must be brought up to a sustainable standard, and much that remains to be researched and developed to ascertain the most cost-effective, not to mention environmentally-effective, means of doing so.

“The chief scientific adviser to government has said it is the single biggest engineering challenge this country has ever faced and we are helping people with that,” said Andrew Eagles, the consultancy’s managing director. “We are working with government, architects, and housing associations on the newbuild side, as well as on the refurbishment of existing homes. There are some 26 million homes in this country that need to be refurbished to almost zero carbon standards over the next 30 years.”

As part of its efforts to help the industry fulfil its commitments to the zero carbon agenda, the consultancy runs the Sustainable Homes Index For Tomorrow (SHIFT). The initiative provides for an independent assessment of members’ green credentials – covering the whole organisation’s entire operations, from head office to its homes – and it is a forum whereby best practice and experience can
be shared. The initiative is backed by the Homes & Communities Agency (HCA), the Tenant Services Authority (TSA), the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the UK Green Building Council.

SHIFT is not only sharing information and best practice, through its work it is also revealing new lessons that need to be addressed. One of the lessons that has emerged is the need to ‘join the dots’ as it were between mitigation efforts to forestall climate change – cutting those carbon emissions – and the necessity of adapting to climate change. So, while there is a strong focus on energy efficiency to reduce CO2 and make homes cheaper to heat in the winter, there is a tendency to overlook the opposite clime – of cooling a home during the rising heat of summer.

“Many housing associations aren’t thinking about how the climate has already changed,” Eagles said. “They are thinking of reducing carbon emissions, but they’re not thinking about adaptation. Heavier rainfall means more risk of localised flooding. It also means that in urban areas, some homes are overheating.

Visit the company’s website at: http://www.sustainablehomes.co.uk/