Tag: Building Performance

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Video

Webinar: How can BPE support the Warm Homes Plan

This webinar took place on Tuesday 24th February 2026

With the UK government’s Warm Homes Plan now officially announced, energy efficiency and retrofit policy are back at the top of the national agenda. The plan sets out up to £15 billion of public investment over this parliament to upgrade up to five million homes, cut energy bills, tackle fuel poverty and support net zero goals by promoting solar panels, heat pumps and low-carbon technologies with a mix of grants and new low or zero interest loans.

This webinar, the first in a series supported by Knauf Energy Solutions, was chaired by Professor David Glew, Director of the Leeds Sustainability Institute and a board member of the Good Homes Alliance, and will look at how Building Performance Evaluation (BPE) methods are essential to turning policy ambition into real benefits for households and for climate outcomes.

Professor Glew was be joined by Barry Lynham from Knauf Energy Solutions who will present on Knauf’s SMETERS work, showing how smart metering and monitoring data can help build the evidence base needed to improve retrofit quality and ensure delivered performance matches design expectations.

We were also delighted to be joined by Rachael Owens, Co-Director of the National Retrofit Hub who will help ‘set the scene’ by updating how the Warm Homes Plan will impact the wider retrofit agenda.

Plus, we’ll heard from Carly Woodbridge, Lead Projects Manager at Clarion Housing Group who will provide the housing association perspective on how BPE could be utilised as part of the Warm Homes Plan to ensure good outcomes for their tenants, building stock and the environment, including lessons learned from past post occupancy evaluation (POE) and resident engagement projects.

This session is especially relevant for local authorities, housing providers, designers, contractors and retrofit practitioners who are interested in practical pathways to delivering the Warm Homes Plan’s objectives.

Chapters and presentations

00:00:00 Welcome and introduction: Professor David Glew, Director of the Leeds Sustainability Institute and a board member of the Good Homes Alliance

00:07:03 How the Warm Homes Plan will impact the wider retrofit agenda: Rachael Owens, Co-Director of the National Retrofit Hub

00:16:59 Knauf’s SMETERS work: Barry Lynham, Knauf Energy Solutions

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00:34:20 The housing association perspective on how BPE could be utilised as part of the Warm Homes Plan to ensure good outcomes for their tenants, building stock and the environment: Carly Woodbridge, Lead Projects Manager at Clarion Housing Group

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00:50:34 Q&A

Recording

 

Categories
Guidance

Data interpretation, reporting and taking action – BPE Module 4

This series of guidance documents aims to help anyone involved in a building project to understand what Building Performance Evaluation (BPE) is and how it can increase occupant satisfaction, lower environmental impact, and reduce risk.

There are 5 separate training modules. A fuller description of all of these is provided in Module 1.

  1. BPE: What, why and the benefits that it brings
  2. Planning a BPE: Where to start and common techniques
  3. Undertaking dwelling BPE
  4. Data interpretation, reporting and taking action
  5. The performance golden thread: BPE and robust QA (coming soon!)

Module 1 explains what BPE is and why we need it, Module 2 discusses how to begin a BPE programme, and Module 3, describes how data is collected and analysed. This module, Module 4, explores what happens next: how we interpret data, communicate it to different audiences, and use it to take meaningful action. This stage is essential to quality BPE, it requires interpretation of data to determines the reliability and relevance of findings, and appropriate reporting of insights for different stakeholders is needed to ensure outcomes and lessons learned are identified.

All modules are freely available to download from the GHA Knowledge Base.

Module 4 is authored by Dr Kate van Someren & Dr Samantha Mudie with contributions and peer review from Prof David Glew and Dr Tom Dollard.

The development of the guides have been supported by Ecology Building Society.

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Video

GHA Bitesize Webinar Series – People and their data – Ethics and engagement of building performance evaluation

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.

Categories
Guidance

Data Ethics Canvas

It encourages you to ask important questions about projects that use data, and reflect on the responses. These might be:

  • What is your primary purpose for using data in this project?
  • Who could be negatively affected by this project?

The Data Ethics Canvas provides a framework to develop ethical guidance that suits any context, whatever the project’s size or scope.

Data Ethics Canvas

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Why has this document been added to the GHA Knowledge Base?

The Data Ethics Canvas framework was featured by William Box, Founder, Carnego Systems at a BPN/GHA webinar on 11th July 2023 – ‘People and their data – ethics and engagement of building performance evaluation‘.

Further information

https://www.theodi.org/article/the-data-ethics-canvas-2021/

Categories
Report Research findings

Welsh Zero Carbon Housing Performance Hub

The findings of a report that explored the potential of establishing a Zero Carbon Housing Performance Hub for Wales have been published.

This report is the conclusion of a three-month scoping study which brought together the Good Homes Alliance (GHA), Woodknowledge Wales and the Building Performance Network (BPN) to prepare a proposal for what the Hub’s core purpose could be, how it could add value to the housing sector in Wales, and how it could further the Welsh Government’s objectives.

The report includes a foreword from Julie James MS, Minister for Climate Change for the Welsh Government:

 “This Zero Carbon Housing Performance Hub scoping study shows that there is strong support from the housing sector for a government endorsed body where industry, academia and NGOs can collaborate to share research, debate the issues and help shape future policy. The Hub could therefore become a resource for all similar initiatives to ensure a cohesive and coherent direction.

The Hub will also play its part in enabling a zero-carbon economic recovery that is purposefully aligned with the supply chain in Wales. Importantly for Wales, the Hub will enable the social housing sector to go zero early, bringing the benefits of low energy bills and healthy home environments to those that need them most. In short, the Hub will help facilitate and accelerate zero carbon high performance solutions that can be rolled-out at scale across all the housing sectors in Wales. We were delighted to be able to fund this scoping study and will give consideration to how we can support its implementation.”

Authors: Good Homes Alliance, Woodknowledge Wales and Building Performance Network.

Report prepared for ClwydAlyn with funding from the Welsh Government Collaborative Research and Innovation Support Programme (CRISP).

Study completed in March 2021 and conducted by Nicola O’Connor (Mandarin Research) and Ross Holleron (Building Performance Network) for the Good Homes Alliance in collaboration with Woodknowledge Wales and the Sustainable Development Foundation.

Publication date: August 2021

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Categories
Guidance

Model Employer’s Requirements and Design Brief Clauses

The clauses are free-to-download and set minimum requirements for performance standards for energy (net zero), emissions, health, comfort and building performance evaluation.

Developed in collaboration with:

With input from our local authority (Vanguard) and housing association (Pathfinder) network members via a workshop.

The work has been kindly funded by the MCS Charitable Foundation.

About the clauses

The new clauses can be adopted by clients (i.e. local authorities, RSLs) and included in Employer’s Requirements and Design Guides. The clauses principally intend to:

  • Drive up standards by placing new build housing developments on a trajectory to net zero carbon and avoiding the need for retrofit work to be undertaken in future;
  • Improve and enhance the comfort, health, well-being and satisfaction of occupants while additionally maintaining provision of affordable warmth; and
  • Ensure that homes are built to perform in accordance with the design stage intentions (or better) by closing the ‘performance gap’.

The clauses provide minimum requirements set out as a performance specification which can be used in connection with both self-promoted and Section.106 developments, they should not be relied upon for any other purpose. Additionally, the clauses seek to clarify the responsibilities of designers and developers in satisfying the requirements.

The ERs are built around standards set by LETI in their Climate Emergency Design Guide, the Future Homes Standard and Woodknowledge Wales BPE Guidance.

Authors: For the Good Homes Alliance, authored by Paul Ciniglio, BM3e Principal, Boulter Mossman with input from Jim Allman, Director, Boulter Mossman and Prof. Tim Sharpe, independent consultant.

Publication date: June 2021, v3

Downloads

Main document:

DOWNLOAD MAIN DOCUMENT

Appendices:

DOWNLOAD TABLE 1

DOWNLOAD TABLE 2

Launch event video

On June 1st 2021 we hosted the Model Employer’s Requirements and Design Brief Clauses launch event. You can watch the video of the event below. 

Speakers included:

  • Julian Brooks, Programmes Director, Good Homes Alliance
  • Adrian Ramsey, CEO, MCS Charitable Foundation
  • Paul Ciniglio, BM3e Principal, Boulter Mossman
  • Prof. Tim Sharpe, independent consultant
Categories
Guidance

A housing market catalyst to drive carbon emission reductions

The UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) published a new report, entitled A housing market catalyst to drive carbon emission reductions Low energy adjustment to Stamp Duty Land Tax, showing how a stamp duty incentive could help transform the energy and carbon performance of the nation’s homes.

The report demonstrates how a modest adjustment to Stamp Duty Land Tax could catalyse and drive the market to deliver both energy efficiency improvements and low carbon heat and power, whilst also being revenue neutral to HM Treasury.

Author: David Adams, Director, Good Homes Alliance 

Concept development, review and testing
Jenny Holland, UKGBC
Pedro Guertler, E3G
Nick Eyre, Oxford University Professor of Energy & Climate Policy
Lynne Sullivan, Good Homes Alliance
Mike Roberts, Good Homes Alliance
Steven Heath, Knauf Insulation

Publication date: April 2021

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Guidance

RIBA Plan for Use Guide 2021

Plan for Use is the RIBA’s interpretation of the Soft Landings Framework produced by the Usable Buildings Trust and BSRIA. Its aim is to encourage a more outcome-based approach to briefing, design, construction, and handover, both within the architectural profession and (by extension) to the construction industry as a whole. The Plan for Use is embedded within the RIBA Plan of Work 2020.

The building performance evaluation guidance and toolkit, produced for Woodknowledge Wales on behalf of the Home-Grown Homes project has been referenced in the guide. The document was authored by Susie Diamond & Julie Godefroy, for the Good Homes Alliance.

See the BPE guidance HERE

Author: Mike Chater, Principal Architect Property Services, Hampshire County Council
Project Manager: Alex Tait, Head of Technical Practice, RIBA
Editor and Case Study Curator: Jess Hrivnak, Sustainable Development Adviser, RIBA

Publication date: March 2021

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Categories
Video

BPE Tutorial: Fionn Stevenson

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.

Categories
Guidance

Building Performance Evaluation Guide

This guidance is aimed at housing clients, and anyone interested in Building Performance Evaluation (BPE) who wants to evaluate and improve the performance of homes.

Its purpose is to provide an introduction to applying BPE in practice on projects, with:

  • Information for clients and project managers to gain an overview of the benefits of BPE, what the main BPE techniques can do, how to procure it, and the main activities to plan throughout a project from design to occupancy
  • Guidance on the main BPE techniques available
  • Tools for day-to-day use on projects, complemented by more detailed guidance, examples and references.

This guidance recommends a “core” BPE scope for clients and project teams wanting to understand and improve the performance of their homes. This provides a holistic look at performance, including people, the indoor environment, fabric performance, energy use and water use. It highlights how BPE techniques can work together, and the interactions between energy performance, people, and the indoor environment. It limits the involvement of experts and expensive equipment. Instead, the aim is to embed building performance throughout the project stages and empower project teams to deliver high performance.

Authors: This guidance has been produced for Woodknowledge Wales on behalf of the Home-Grown Homes project. The document was authored by Susie Diamond, Inkling & Julie Godefroy Sustainability, for the Good Homes Alliance.

Publication date: January 2021

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