Category: Report

Report

Overheating In Homes – The Big Picture

These report presents preliminary findings from the project, with a particular focus on reflecting what the housing sector has told us about their concerns and level of preparedness to tackle overheating. It is the ‘big picture’ on overheating. It is evident from the feedback the Zero Carbon Hub has received that many organisations are at the beginning of the journey. For others, processes intended to minimise overheating risk are being embedded in their businesses.

Author: Zero Carbon Hub

Publication date: June 2015

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Tags Health and Wellbeing, Overheating

Report

Superdensity: the Sequel

This new report, Superdensity: the Sequel, consists of a series of short essays and case studies which show how patterns of development in London have evolved since the first report was published and offers some ideas about the way forward. It does not revisit the design guidance in the original, which we think still holds good and is now widely accepted and practised. The new report does not try to be comprehensive. For example, it does not deal with the hugely important subjects of utilities, transport and community infrastructure. Rather, it aims to provide some fresh perspectives on how to create successful homes and places at high densities up to around 350 homes per hectare.

Although London is the focus of this report, the observations are relevant to other UK cities, and hopefully will become increasingly applicable as and when economic growth starts to exert development pressure more evenly across the country.

Author: HTA, Levitt Bernstein, PRP, Pollard Thomas Edwards

Publication date: May 2015

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Further information: www.superdensity.co.uk

Tags Urban Design

Report

The Case for Home Performance Labelling

The question is how best to introduce information to the marketplace, what information would be best made available, and how to overcome the various obstacles involved?

The Housing Forum has brought together a wide range of contributions from across the industry seeking answers to these questions over recent years. This work has culminated in the Home Performance Labelling Pilot which has engaged designers, homebuilders and suppliers in a forward looking exercise.

By creating a comparison website (homeperformancelabelling.co.uk) they have anticipated a time when customers might make choices about their next home, fully informed about standards and running costs, as well as price and location.

This exercise has provided invaluable experience of the processes and techniques that might be involved, as well as providing a signpost to the first step towards the introduction of a system that could ultimately offer consumers all the information to which they are properly entitled, when making choices about the most expensive purchase they will ever make.

They consider the range of parameters for assessment, the reasons behind the choice for our pilot and possible other measures. They assess the obstacles to implementation and consider the wide range of applications for the information in the future.

The outcome of the pilot exercise amply justifies the premise that more information should be conveyed to home seekers than is currently the case. The range of running costs even amongst new homes built to contemporary standards is almost £3,000 per annum.

In this report, the immediate history leading up to the study is summarised, acknowledging diverse contributions to the development of thinking and techniques. They note the emerging context of housing standards and the quality agenda established by recent reviews of planning, housing standards and regulations.

Author: The Housing Forum

Publication date: January 2015

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Tags Standards

Report

Closing the Gap Between Designed and As Built Performance

In recent years, the housebuilding industry and government have grown increasingly concerned over the potential gap between design and as-built energy performance. It could undermine a building’s vital role in delivering the national carbon reduction plan, present a reputational risk to the housebuilding industry and damage consumer confidence if energy bills are higher than anticipated.

In response, the Zero Carbon Hub was commissioned to review evidence for the significance of this gap, explore potential reasons for it and set out proposals to address these reasons.

The project has engaged more than 160 industry experts from across 90 companies, seeking to understand the nature of the Performance Gap and provide solutions.

Author: Zero Carbon Hub

Publication date: July 2013-July 2014

Tags Net Zero, Performance Gap

Report

Alternative Forms of Housing and the Next London Plan

Author: UCL Department of Geography and Bartlett School of Planning – Arinola Akinyemi, Olga Di Gregorio, Jim Hudson, Francesca Leccis, Sara Özoǧul, Hannah Rich, Bengi Sullu

Publication date: December 2019

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Tags Alternative Housing Models, Cohousing

Case Study Report Research findings

GHA Monitoring Programme

Phase 1

This report provides an overview of the findings, observations and recommendations resulting from Phase 1 of the Good Homes Alliance (GHA) monitoring programme. Phase 1 is based on post-construction testing of a series of new-build residential projects, across a range of construction types.

This project was funded by DCLG, EST and NHBC Foundation.

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Phase 2

This document focuses on the key results of the Phase 2 Post-Occupation Evaluation and compares the findings of the in-use performance data from the houses in terms of energy and water consumption and Indoor Air Quality (IAQ), the performance of installed building services, and occupant behaviour/ perceptions.

This project was funded by DCLG, EST and NHBC Foundation.

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Case studies

The following projects were used as case studies for the research:

Old Apple Store, Stawell

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Derwenthorpe

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One Brighton

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Tags Building Performance, Indoor Air Quality, Performance Gap

Report Research findings

Preventing Overheating

High temperatures in homes are known to cause real problems for occupants. These range from discomfort and mild health effects, to serious health effects. Elderly people and other vulnerable groups are most at risk from these effects, and with an aging population, greater urbanisation and climate change predicted, the risk of overheating needs to be addressed.

Author: Good Homes Alliance

Publication date: February 2014

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Tags Health and Wellbeing, Overheating

Case Study Report

Design for Future Climate – One Brighton

The scheme is part of a highly sustainable Masterplan for the regeneration of the New England Quarter adjacent to Brighton Rail Station. Completed in 2009 to BREEAM Excellent standard, One Brighton is an outstanding example of a contemporary urban, green apartment building. Sustainability was integrated throughout the design by following the ‘One Planet Living®’ model developed by BioRegional, together with WWF International.

This report considers a retrofit adaptation strategy to reduce the risk of overheating in a contemporary apartment block, One Brighton. The project is unique in the TSB Design for Future Climate Portfolio in two respects. Firstly, it is the only study, which is considering pure retrofit as opposed to new-build or more large-scale refurbishment of a building. Secondly, it builds upon the work of the TSB Building Performance Evaluation (BPE) Programme already undertaken for the development.

Author: Good Homes Alliance

Publication date: 2014

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Photo credits: FCBStudios

Tags Building Performance, Overheating

Report

Housing our Ageing Population: Plan for Implementation (HAPPI2)

The APPG inquiry found there were far reaching benefits from developing good quality housing for older people, including a reduction in health and social care costs, as well as the freeing up of family housing and has made a series of recommendations to create movement in the housing market, improve the health of older people and create new housing options for younger people and families. These include:

A Cabinet Office Task Force should bring together the Departments of Health and for Communities and Local Government to take forward the nationwide drive to build the homes needed by an ageing population
The Department for Communities and Local Government should encourage and incentivise the private sector and registered social landlords to meet the rising demand of those seeking to move to elegant, functional, sustainable and manageable homes for later life
The Department of Health should tailor its £300m Health, Care and Support Housing Fund to ensure more schemes are designed to HAPPI principles
Private sector and registered social landlords, with government support, should develop a HAPPI kite mark to raise HAPPI’s market profile
Working alongside local authorities, the Homes and Communities Agency should lead in championing HAPPI to ensure that a clear targeted strategy for housing older people forms part of every local plan and that, where necessary, appropriate sites are brought forward specifically to fill any identified shortfall in market provision
Planners should recognise the special nature of high-quality retirement housing in their requirements for affordable housing and for Community Infrastructure Levy charges
Local housing and social care departments should give strategic priority to assessing and investing in older people’s housing; and maintain accessible housing registers

Author: Housing our Ageing Population Panel for Innovation

Publication date: 2012

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Tags Ageing Population, Design

Case Study Report Research findings

LowCarb4Real

Drawing on detailed academic studies at Stamford Brook along with GHA member experience, the GHA disseminated and implement this learning by providing education and technical support to GHA Developer members and others.

The LowCarb4Real project, funded through the UrbanBuzz programme (project No. 388), lies in the UrbanBuzz target area “Energy efficiency and sustainable housing: harnessing academic understanding”. As is recognised in the Urban Buzz programme, the contribution made to sustainable communities by reducing carbon emissions from housing is considerable.