In November 2021, the Social Housing Tenants’ Climate Jury launched its final report; their views as social housing tenants as to how tenants, social landlords, and other place-based organisations can work together to tackle climate change in our homes and neighbourhoods.

Central to the project was the pressing issue of retrofitting homes – making properties more energy efficient through improved levels of insulation and transitioning home heating systems away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy sources. In amongst the often-complex asset management factors posed by retrofit; identifying and assessing properties, funding sources, designing schemes, managing contractors; the tenant is at risk of becoming a secondary concern.

The Social Housing Tenants’ Climate Jury focussed on making decarbonising homes a tenant engagement consideration and a collaborative process between landlord and tenant.

As part of our commitment to promote and advance the Jury’s work, the NHC is working closely with members in identifying demonstrator homes across the North. This provides the opportunity for NHC members and their tenants to come and take a look at the different net zero measures in the demonstrator homes, to be able to see first-hand what the measures look like, how they work, impact on the environment, and savings to tenants. To this end, the NHC has arranged for members and their tenants to visit demonstrator homes in the North East and North West, hosted by NHC members Livin and MSV.

In partnership with Livin Housing, the NHC invited members and their tenants to a tour around Livin’s Jubilee Fields Estate in Shildon and their onsite Net Zero Measures Demonstrator Home. This is part of a wider placemaking and regeneration project to improve the quality of life on the estate and transforming the overall appearance – a walkabout around the estate was included in the tour.

Livin has set up the demonstrator home to enable visitors to learn about the various net zero and energy saving measures used in the home and provide money saving tips linked in with the cost-of-living agenda. Attendees were able to see first-hand how the net zero and energy efficiency measures in the home can save residents money, which is increasingly important given the current cost of living crisis.

The North West demonstrator tour was to MSV Housing’s Cosy Home in Rusholme, Manchester. The Cosy Home is a traditional pre-war brick-built terraced house in the heart of Rusholme – MSV has a further 1,300 homes similar to this one. The Cosy Home is a pilot and will provide the data needed to assess installation costs, how much energy is saved and what external funding can be achieved. The Cosy Home now benefits from an EPC A rating and household bills will be monitored for two years to assess the results of the work done and typical usage during that time.

Working with their 6 specialist partners, MSV’s Cosy Home has been fully retrofitted with:

• Internal Wall Insulation
• The latest PV’s which provide 5.8kw of energy storage
• An Air-source heat pump – air to water system
• New high-efficiency windows and doors

The aim is to showcase to the local and wider community how a property of this type can be much more energy efficient, kinder to the environment and help meet our net carbon zero targets. Housing accounts for up to 40% of carbon emissions according to the Committee on Climate Change, so we have a significant and important role to play in creating clean, green and thriving communities.

The NHC will be organising further demonstrator tours for members and their tenants in 2023, so keep an eye out for further details on this to follow. If you have any questions regarding the demonstrator tours or would like to be involved in the future, please contact Satty Rai (Member Engagement Manager) Satty.Rai@northern-consortium.org.uk

Last month, the NHC hosted a visit to West Yorkshire with officials from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC). Emran Mian, Director General for Regeneration at the department, and Josh Goodman, Director of Social Housing, travelled from London to visit a number of our members’ sites across the region. The tour took place over two days. Thank you to NHC Supporter member Ward Hadaway for supporting the visit.

The context of the tour was around the issues and solutions associated with three key priorities for the social housing sector: building safety and quality; new supply; and net zero.

In the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, there has been a need to invest in remediation and compliance and with a new Decent Homes Standard emerging, there is significant investment required in building safety and quality.

In terms of supply, the North has a persistent shortfall in the development of new affordable homes. Over 5 years, average annual affordable housing delivery across the North has fallen 45% short of the independently-assessed need.

On net zero, IPPR North analysis for the NHC estimated the cost of retrofitting and decarbonising the heating of the North’s 1.3m social homes at £23bn. The average SAP score for social housing in the North is SAP69 (a very low EPC C) suggesting that even if work was limited to retrofit, works would still be required in over 650,000 homes by 2030.

The tour began on the Thursday with a visit to two Leeds & Yorkshire Housing Association (LYHA) sites, with LYHA’s Mark Pearson (Chief Executive) and Joanna Chambers (Director of Assets and Growth) highlighting potential retrofit through government funding and new supply through Section 106. The first site was St. Mary’s Court in the Chapeltown area of Leeds, a 1970s built estate with three-storey blocks of flats. This site was subject to a bid for Wave 2 of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF), worked on within the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) consortium, and will hope to receive funding to complete retrofit works such as new heating systems and upgraded fabric.

Approximately 50% of LYHA’s growth is delivered through section 106 opportunities and this was showcased with a visit to Boggart Hill Gardens in Seacroft, to see homes delivered for both social rent and shared ownership. These homes were delivered through a S106 agreement between developer Strata and the council and have had strong demand.

The tour then moved on to two Leeds City Council (LCC) sites, with details provided by Paul Rounding (Capital Programme Manager, Leeds City Council). The first site was The Barncrofts, a number of high-rise housing blocks in the northeast of Leeds. The Barncrofts are one of six District Heating Clusters across the city which will provide renewable heat to be used for heating and hot water purposes. This scheme involves replacing the existing electric storage heating and hot water systems in 26 high rise housing blocks with modern and efficient heating, reducing carbon emissions. As part of the visit, attendees were able to speak to a tenant who has benefited greatly from the retrofit and can now heat the entire flat for longer and for cheaper.

The next LCC site was Roxby Close, another high-rise building in the Lincoln Green area of Leeds – a designated priority area for fuel poverty and unemployment. This scheme was created to address concrete works that need attention, as well as provide energy performance benefits to residents through installation of external wall insulation.

That evening, Ward Hadaway hosted a dinner at their Leeds offices, attended by housing association chief executives and local authority housing leads. The dinner gave our members the opportunity to discuss with DLUHC officials the key priorities for their organisations, tenants, and the sector. The discussion was focused on key issues for the sector such as the rent cap, decarbonisation, new supply and building quality.

On the Friday morning, we were joined by Naz Parkar (Director of Homes and Neighbourhoods, Kirklees Council) who took us to Abbey Road, located in the Ashbrow ward, an area with the highest levels of fuel poverty and carbon emissions within Kirklees. The scheme has raised the profile of retrofit and the needs of communities in the North with visits from the WYCA Metro Mayor Tracy Brabin and Sir Keir Starmer, who was “really impressed” and after speaking with tenants who said energy bills had plummeted. These homes had been retrofitted with various measures including external wall insultation, heat pumps and PV panels.

Outside homes on Abbey Road with DLUHC, Kirklees Council and NHC colleagues.

Naz Parkar then took us to Huddersfield town centre to visit Buxton House, a high-rise block that sits on top of an existing three-story commercial development. Kirklees Council are working on plans for the remodelling of the Buxton House block, which will require tenants to be decanted and will result in the provision of one and two bedroom flats, major fire safety improvements and the introduction of a new, more welcoming, entrance – with an estimated scheme cost of £16 million.

After visiting Kirklees sites we returned to Leeds where we convened at Yorkshire Housing’s new sustainable office, ‘The Place’ for a working lunch with a presentation from Helen Lennon (Chief Executive, Connect) and Nick Atkin (Chief Executive, Yorkshire Housing) who are also Chair and Vice Chair respectively of the West Yorkshire Housing Partnership. Helen and Nick provided an update for Emran Mian on the key priorities facing the regions housing sector and asks from DLUHC to help deal with these. We also had a presentation from Chris Thompson and Jonathan Wilson from Citu, the developers of the Climate Innovation District on which ‘The Place’ lies.

After lunch, Guinness Partnership hosted us at their new Points Cross site, one of the largest developments in Guinness’s 130-year history. Points Cross is located near Leeds Docks and the Royal Armouries Museum in the South Bank Regeneration Area. It has planning approval for 928 high-quality, energy efficient homes. This visit highlighted the positive effect that new supply can have on regenerating areas and the potential for high-quality new supply of affordable homes in the North.

On Guinness Partnership’s ‘Points Cross’ building site with Guinness CEO Catriona Simons and DLUHC’s Emran Mian.

The NHC would like to give a huge thank you to all members involved in this DLUHC visit for helping to relay the key messages for the sector to high-level civil service officials – Leeds & Yorkshire Housing Association; Leeds City Council; Kirklees Council; Yorkshire Housing; Guinness Partnership; West Yorkshire Combined Authority; and also to the West Yorkshire Housing Partnership and Citu for their presentations. We’d also like to thank all those in attendance at the dinner for contributing to a great discussion and give thanks to our supporter member Ward Hadaway for hosting the dinner at their Leeds offices.

In November, the NHC organised a series of three roundtables across the North with regional agents from the Bank of England. The agents provided an update on the UK economic outlook from the perspective of the Bank of England. This included the key economic forecasts published by the Bank, as well as discussing the key judgements that the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee make when making a decision about setting interest rates.

These roundtables were attended by chief executives and senior finance colleagues from NHC members across the sector and provided our members with the opportunity to hear from economic decision makers on issues related to the housing sector.

The first North East session was held on the 15^th November at Ward Hadaway’s Newcastle office with Mauricio Armellini, Bank of England’s agent for the North East. The second session was for Yorkshire and the Humber (Y&H) and was again hosted by NHC supporter member Ward Hadaway at their Leeds office on the 16^th November, with Y&H deputy agent Paul Mount providing the economic outlook. Finally, our supporter member JLL hosted us at their Manchester office on the 22^nd November for the North West session with agent for the North West, Alison Stuart.

Each of the regional agents began the roundtables by presenting the Bank of England’s economic outlook and details of the recent forecasts from the Bank. The agents explained the key judgements made ahead of changing interest rates and how these decisions will aim to impact inflation. Detail was provided on the unemployment rate, house prices, inflation forecasts for growth. Much of the discussions were centred around inflation, with members emphasising the effect rising costs are having on maintenance and development. There were also key conversations around mortgages, with a significant number of mortgage owners coming to the end of their fixed term rate in 2023, meaning a large increase in annual payments once the fixed period is over. The uncertainty and rising costs of buying a home will also cause further strain on the rented sector with more people choosing to remain in private rented or social rented housing. Furthermore, private landlords could also begin to change the tenure of their properties, with rising mortgage costs and imminent increased regulation in the sector, along with rising house prices motivating landlords to turn to owner-occupied tenure.

Linking to inflation, there were various discussions on the rent cap and how this could stifle development, with some suggestion from members of less focus on the decarbonisation agenda due to reduced capacity. Members raised the possibility of government grants for purchasing stock which could help to improve supply, noting that without any funding it will be difficult for providers to increase stock.

The NHC organise Bank of England roundtables yearly and will be looking to arrange a series of events for 2023, if you have any questions regarding these events or wish to participate, please contact Kate Maughan (Director of Member Engagement) Kate.Maughan@northern-consortium.org.uk

We’d like to thank our supporter members Ward Hadaway and JLL for kindly hosting these roundtables in their regional offices.