Author: goodhomeskb

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Tool

Social Value Toolkit for Architecture

The Social Value Toolkit for Architecture has been developed to make it simple to evaluate and demonstrate the social impact of design on people and communities.

Social value outcomes are increasingly being considered necessary benefits in public and private procurement through quality scores of bids and tenders. To provide evidence that meets these key performance targets and metrics, practices need to demonstrate value quantitatively and this toolkit provides a post occupancy evaluation survey and methodology for reporting social value as a financial return on investment.

The Social Value Toolkit was developed through a research project led by the University of Reading and included representatives from the RIBA and research leaders in architectural practice. Download the guidance below to hear from some of these researchers on how their practice is building social value into their projects and design processes.

Author: RIBA

Publication date: June 2020

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Report

Electricity Storage: Pathways to a Net Zero Future

The Electricity Storage Network has released a report outlining the role storage can play in tackling the climate emergency. As the UK looks to a green recovery from the pandemic, the paper calls for a clear signal from government to set a trajectory for storage over the next decade which will help create jobs and economic growth while enabling the electricity system to become zero carbon.

The paper has been built from a broad evidence base, building on our extensive engagement with ESN members and wider industry, government, Ofgem and National Grid ESO. Regen has written two previous major reports on storage in 2016 and 2017 and this paper builds on those findings, aiming to give an overview of storage and its uses, a snapshot of where the industry has got to in 2020, and what needs to change if we’re to face up to the climate emergency over the next decade.

The paper outlines six key recommendations for government and industry to ensure we build a sustainable industry that allows storage to deploy at the scale needed to support the UK’s transition to net zero.

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Author: Regen

Publication date: June 2020

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Tool

Hotmaps

The overarching goal of Hotmaps is the development of an open source heating/cooling mapping and planning toolbox and to provide default data for EU28 at national and local level. These data and tool allow public authorities to identify, analyse, model and map resources and solutions to supply energy needs within their territory of responsibility in a resource and cost efficient way. Those results will help authorities to develop heating and cooling strategies on local, regional and national scale which are in line with RES and CO2-Emission targets on national and EU level.

www.hotmaps-project.eu

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Video

Delivering Healthy Homes: Tutorial 3 Placemaking

Content available for Good Homes Alliance members only.

If you are already a GHA member, please Log In or Sign Up for an account. Check our Member Directory to see if you are a member.

Find out the benefits of membership and sign up as a GHA member to access this content.

If you have any queries, please contact richard@goodhomes.org.uk.

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Video

Delivering Healthy Homes: Tutorial 2 Acoustics

Content available for Good Homes Alliance members only.

If you are already a GHA member, please Log In or Sign Up for an account. Check our Member Directory to see if you are a member.

Find out the benefits of membership and sign up as a GHA member to access this content.

If you have any queries, please contact richard@goodhomes.org.uk.

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Guidance Standard Tool

Assured Performance Process (APP)

What is the Assured Performance Process (APP)?

There is often a huge difference between how buildings are supposed to perform, and how they actually do.  The assured performance process provides independent and expert input to the development process to minimise this energy, overheating, and indoor air quality performance gap.  As well as helping to reduce carbon emissions and climate change, this improves the health of people using buildings.

The Assured Performance Process TM (APP) maps to the RIBA Plan of Work and has five stages of expert, impartial review and assessment. APP assessors are accredited by The National Energy Foundation for their expertise and they offer two services:

  • APP implementation across all five key stages – supporting the client throughout the development process. This is a bespoke service.
  • One off reviews tailored to the stage of the development

Who is behind APP?

The Good Homes Alliance has secured a two year license for the Assured Performance Process (APP) from the original developer and owner, the National Energy Foundation (NEF).

NEF is a charity which has been meeting its mission of “improving the use of energy in buildings” for more than 20 years.  NEF has established other nationally recognised quality systems.

Contact Julian Brooks at julian@goodhomes.org.uk to find out more.

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Report

Re-thinking local

The COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed the communities in which we live and work. The next six months have the potential to shape the direction of this country for years to come.

The challenges ahead are as great as those we faced during the pandemic. We need to rebuild our economy, get people back to work and create new hope in our communities. As we begin to look forward and rebuild, we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to not just recover but to go even further – to address the stark inequalities the pandemic has exposed and that have been entrenched for too long; to connect with people’s identities and sense of community; to harness the energy and dynamism which have been the hallmarks of our response to this crisis; to rebuild the economy so that it benefits everyone.

This document sets out a series of offers to Government, alongside a set of asks and is the start of a process. A process to re-think our approach to these problems and a process that leads central government to re-think its view of us. We collectively need to re-think local and we hope this is the first step.

Now is the time for national government to grasp these opportunities and to lay the foundations for a future that is local.

Author: Local Government Association

Publication date: June 2020

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Guidance Tool

Right to Build Toolkit

The Right to Build toolkit has been developed by the Right to Build Task Force, a professional advice service, and part community-interest company, that supports a range of organisations in their ambitions to deliver more Custom- and Self-build homes in the UK. The Task Force is supported by a team of experts able to provide advice to help unlock the growing demand from people that want to build, or commission, their own home.

Although set up by the National Custom and Self Build Association (NaCSBA), the Task Force operates completely independently, with an ethical wall between the two organisations. This is because while NaCSBA lobbies government for change, the Right to Build Task Force is solely focused on providing advice to a range of stakeholders to bring on more owner-commissioned homes, including community-led homes, working within the framework of the Right to Build legislation.

Author: National Custom and Self Build Association (NaCSBA)

Further information: righttobuildtoolkit.org.uk.

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Video

Delivering Healthy Homes: Tutorial 1 Overheating

Content available for Good Homes Alliance members only.

If you are already a GHA member, please Log In or Sign Up for an account. Check our Member Directory to see if you are a member.

Find out the benefits of membership and sign up as a GHA member to access this content.

If you have any queries, please contact richard@goodhomes.org.uk.

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Guidance

Easi Guide to Passivhaus design

Levitt Bernstein, alongside sustainability engineers Etude, have campaigned tirelessly for faster change in the built environment to achieve zero carbon. But they have found that often the best way to effect change is to collaborate with others, lead by example and share learning along the way.

They believe that the first step to zero carbon is to create an ultra-efficient building design. Through their project work with Etude, they have discovered that the benefits of low energy design can be unlocked by viewing Passivhaus considerations as an opportunity, rather than a constraint.

This led them to develop the ‘Easi Guide to Passivhaus design’, which has been endorsed by the Passivhaus Trust.

The guide graphically sets out ten simple principles that form the foundations of good Passivhaus and zero carbon design. They encourage clients to use it to set their briefs and architects to use it when designing their buildings. The main body of the guide emphasises key considerations at RIBA Stage 2 to allow design teams to meet Passivhaus within the contextual needs of their site, while a checklist offers the next steps if full certification is to be pursued.

By providing open access, they hope that you enjoy our guide, make many zero carbon buildings and share your learning with others.

Author: Etude/Levitt Bernstein

Publication date: June 2020

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