The Home Supply Chain Sustainability Launch

The Home Supply Chain Sustainability School was launched on the 3^rd of November at the London RIBA headquarters. This is a free online tool which aims to promote sustainable practices within the construction industry from all involved; from supplier to occupier and all those involved in between.  The website provides a variety of resources for learning, which are tailored to the level of knowledge (determined by an online assessment) and cover all aspects of producing sustainable homes.

The main drivers behind the launch of the school include the push for one million new homes by 2020 and the EU target for almost all new homes to be zero carbon by 2020 also. These factors, coupled with the current issues in the UK surrounding fuel poverty and the shortages in the housing market, are the main forces driving the school’s launch.

Speaker 1 – Julia Moulder, Catalyst Housing – What sustainability means to housing associations

Within the next 10 years, 180,000 new homes will be built by the 15 largest housing associations (HA’s) in London, this will equate to around 10% of the one million new homes by 2020 target.

The matter of factors which act as the main drivers for providing sustainable homes for Housing Associations as a whole were raised; debating the effect of government pressure versus pressure from the market. Julia was strongly of the opinion that the sector is now strongly market driven; at risk of being too strongly driven to the point where innovation is no longer prioritised. This is due to the importance placed on carbon saving, social purpose, commercial benefits (key within HA’s), quality, regulations and accreditations, such as Code for Sustainable Homes.

The key challenges within HA’s regarding sustainability were identified as:

• Cost – there is an inability to invest in innovation whilst also keeping capital gains high and ensuring low rental cost for consumers
• Design and consumer need imbalance – this is a common trend across much of the housing market; the main cause of this is believed to be a lack of consumer feedback
• Industry behaviour – a sense of unwillingness amongst the industry as a whole to embrace innovation and change in order to improve standards. This also relates to the standards in the UK compared to other European countries such Germany; practice and quality standards are incomparable
• Education – there is a lack of education for customers who occupy low/zero carbon homes. Their general lack of understanding has led to extremely high running costs as people do not understand how to run such homes efficiently – examples of the benefits being counteracted included running tropical fish tanks and wearing shorts in winter months while blasting the heating. Efforts are made to overcome this however there are challenges in this itself as a large proportion of occupants have little to no education or poor spoken and written English.

Speaker 2 – Gwyn Roberts, BRE – The consumer demand for sustainable homes

The introduction of the Home Quality Mark by the BRE later this year has been brought in following the abolition of Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH) from UK Government policy. However, this assessment criteria is voluntary, and therefore focuses on the market demand for sustainable homes.

The demands of the end consumer often varies from those involved in the sector directly, as discussed above in the limiting factors of the current system. The HQM will focus on the wants and needs of the end user, and therefore this must create a balance for the familiar head Vs heart scenario. It should satisfy both their demand for things such as low running and maintenance costs, secure investments, quality, proximity to amenities, space, noise and something that has been outlined as a major influential factor for end users; community.

The HQM also aims to rectify, or at least lessen, the current lack of trust which exists between home owners/occupants and the construction industry. The performance gap that currently exists between the theoretical performance of dwellings based on certification such as EPC’s, and the actual performance is a major issue and cause for the lack of trust. The HQM certification would, in theory, represent a trustworthy home; one certified by an external, unbiased, non-governmental body. Studies and surveys have uncovered three very interesting points regarding end-user preferences.

• 1 in 5 people would be willing to pay extra for a home with HQM
• 90% of people would prefer a home with an independent mark, rather than a developer’s claims or government certification (EPC)
• 96% of people have made changes to their homes in an attempt to make it more sustainable – however what these changes were was not specified.

Speaker 3 – Duncan Baker Brown, Director at BBM Architects – Sustainability challenges

There is a wide variety of ways in which sustainability can be defined; most people will have different opinions on this. Throughout this presentation a number of factors considered to influence the sustainability of a dwelling were discussed. The need for looking past the lifespan of a dwelling in order to create a truly sustainable dwelling was noted. It should not just focus on the immediate impact of the materials used and the energy that will be consumed during occupation. For this, the potential for using materials after the materials to outlast the dwelling, and consequently have the potential to be reused is a matter which is often overlooked in the industry. This should also be coupled with ensuring these materials are reducing pressures on natural resources.

To find out more about sustainability practices in the construction industry, speak with a member of the Syntegra team today