“Where’s the switch?”

Life with renewables and Code for Sustainable Homes Sovereign Vales experiences

John Martin MCIOBDevelopment Liaison Manager

31st May

Sovereign Housing Association• 33,000 homes - £194m turnover• Covering 40,000 sq.km – All counties South and South

West• £250m bond issue just agreed - for new homes• 20,000 boilers• Vehicles cover 5,000,000 miles a year• 12 largest Housing Association in England• Sovereign Development Consortium - £31.5m HCA

grant for 1856 homes over the 4 year contract, 1100 will be provided by Sovereign Housing Association

• 218 homes completed in Oxon and Bucks in 2011/12

BL Green Breakfast

Reminder -Why code for sustainable homes?• Climate change - UK Commitment to reduce CO2

emissions by 80% by 2050 – Kyoto protocol• Make the built environment more sustainable• Introduced in 2006 operational in 2007 and revised in

2010.• A national environmental standard for new homes

encouraging continuous improvement in sustainable home building.

• Social housing grants tied to meeting CSH level 3 • Housing associations (and their residents) at the

forefront of renewable products.• Idealistic?

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Perceptions & concerns• New heating products would be expensive to install • Design targets too prescriptive – skills shortage?• CO2 reduction aspirations were linked to energy

efficiency statements which in turn means lower energy bills.

• Visually unacceptable• Water supply and low water use w.c. performance?• Condensation worries• Is it affordable?

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Realisation - story so far• Completed - 326 Solar Thermal systems (3 versions), 35 MVHR (3

types), 16 house p.v., 6 communal p.v., 22 ASHP., 11 AESHP (NIBE) over 50% via section 106 sites

• Co2 reduction is nothing to do with affordable warmth• Some systems threw them into fuel poverty – definition greater than

10% of income – Benefit is £65.50 p.w. average gas and electric is £24 p.w. (ordinary gas wet)

• A “renewable” 3 bed home had annual Electric bill of £2000! - extreme case but not unusual.

• Housing association residents are in an agenda which they didn’t write - little awareness and a lot of concern - can they afford it – do they understand it – can they control it?

• 40% of SV residents are on Housing Benefit (HB)

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Realisation – story so far pt 2DON’T SWITCH IT OFF – Educate, Support , Train everybody

• A lot of management time and abortive visits educating residents on how to use and live with the technologies

• Locks being placed on airing cupboard doors • Systems being designed by sub contractors – rushed? Skills

shortage • Little design awareness/integration by developers – left as a bolt on • SHA Bristol office removed 11 AESHP units within months, – extra

£4500 per unit – understand your customer.• Solar panels do fail -• Faults post occupation due to poor or incorrect commissioning • Self commissioning and design accreditation faults• NHBC struggling to understand the installed technology

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Beckett Close Aylesbury Bucks7 Homes mixture of 4 bed, 3 bed and 2bedBrown field site developed by Sovereign by ROK the partner contractorSecond NIBE (and last) site.We rewrote the instruction manualConstantly dealing with heating comfort and electric bill complaintsROK went into liquidationSovereign undertook and independent assessment of the design – wasn’t approved by NIBE(?) – design found to be flawed – radiators changed.Sovereign Surveyor spent a lot of time with residents – result costs are significantly reduced to normalAdditional cost - £20,000 plus staff time

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NIBE experience

Airing cupboard challenges –

top left to right Kingspan Solar thermal, Grant solar thermal + ASHP + underfloor , composite thermal with Valiant, ASHP ,Solar thermal with Valliant boiler

Mechanical Ventilation and Heat Recovery (MVHR)

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MVHR Eynsham

Aesthetics

PV and ASHP CombeSolar thermal Long Hanborough

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PV panels + ASHP (off gas) & Solar thermal (with gas)

Aesthetics pt 2Solar thermal -

evacuated

tubes -

WendoverPV tiles –

communal

Solar century -

Wendover

BL green breakfast –

Evacuated tubes solar thermal and PV tiles

Going Forward• Education,

Education,

Education. –

Signs are that we are

getting there!........example low energy light bulbs!• Learn from past – NHBC Foundation Research in use reports• Architects/designers need more ownership - orientation solar heat

gain, systems management – M and E integrated into design – Airing Cupboards too small

• 2016 Zero Carbon? Fabric first best – Zero Carbon Hub reports

– UK “Passive”

House version?

reduce interaction – keep it simple

• Revised Building Regulations due 2013• More training for installers better support from Manufacturers• More in use management systems & costs- air filters, solar pumps,

solar panel replacements - are costs really factored in?• Controls need specifying – simplicity is the key• Ongoing resident support – getting better

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Johns tongue in cheek option• √

Meets MMI

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Prefabricated• √

Speedy erection

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Available now• √

Recyclable

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Sustainable• √

Low environmental impact

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Flood plain suitable• √

Encourages social mobility

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Wind Turbine (WT)

PV & Solar Thermal

ASHP

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(WT) Converts to Thrust Propeller

PV & Solar Thermal

ASHP

Inflatable buoyancy aid

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Thanks, questions & debate…