Transforming Homes at the National Housing Maintenance Forum Conference
Author: Julian Ransom, Director iON Consultants, NHMF Management Committee
It was my sincere pleasure to welcome Professor Pete Walker (University of Bath), Professor Jo Patterson (Cardiff University), and Dr Louise King (University of Bath) to the National Housing Maintenance Forum (NHMF) annual Maintenance Conference at Stratford Upon Avon on the 21st January and chair a workshop session around the work of the Transforming Homes project.
This ‘reaching out’ by the Transforming Homes (TH) team is a deliberate approach to engage with the social housing sector, forge links and provide a pathway through which to disseminate and share the valuable research findings arising from the project. The decarbonisation demonstration projects currently being undertaken upon 1920s-1940s housing stock in Swansea and Bristol are typical of many properties owned or managed by Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) affiliated to the NHMF. As a longstanding member of NHMF Management Team, I am delighted to help provide a continuing link between the TH Steering Group and the NHMF; we will be fostering the co-working between the groups as the research project and Net Zero Carbon work of individual social landlords’ progress in tandem.
The NHMF represents around 80% of RSLs in the UK. This year’s conference attracted over 430 attendees, of which nearly 300 were representatives from social housing providers.
The primary themes of this year’s conference were:
- Building Safety.
- Net Zero & Decarbonisation.
- Healthy Homes.
- Technology
- Skills and Training.
Accordingly, invaluable insights were shared by those industry leaders speaking. All workshop and plenary presentations are now available to download under the timetable tab via the following links: click any session title to find the downloads under the speaker details.
The first tab, Transforming Homes workshop, provides access to the full set of presentation slides from Pete, Jo and Louise. By reviewing the full conference timetable, the other Net Zero & Decarbonisation themed presentations can also be reviewed.
– NHMF: Transforming Homes session
– NHMF: index – Bulletin
– NHMF: Best Practice – Best practice
– NHMF: NHMF Awards – awards
– NHMF: Regional Groups – Regional Groups
The TH workshop generated much interest, was very well attended and introduced the work of the project to delegates, including aspects around engagement with residents 1920s-1940s homes. The context and aim of the project to decarbonise their homes using natural insulation solutions rather than hydrocarbon derived materials with a heavily embodied carbon footprint was explored. The innovative co-design workshops and charrettes allowing residents to understand and consider the solutions they would want for their homes was also of particular interest to the group.
Jo, Pete and Louise bravely embraced technology by incorporating active feedback throughout the session via hand-held technology linked to the delegates conference App. Perhaps not as ‘seamless’ as would have been preferred, this did however provide valuable insight (in both directions) and active engagement to the workshop content by those attending. Post conference feedback has been excellent with many affiliations made and contacts established for further joint working and dissemination of findings from the TH project.
Credits: Louise King
Government money awarded to boost energy efficiency and cut emissions of homes in England, significantly through the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, places the spotlight upon social housing providers as leading exponents of retrofit/carbon reduction. Providing sound, practical guidance as to how to achieve this while enabling tenants/occupants to fully understand the benefits and necessity for the work, as well as exemplifying the use of low carbon materials as part of the decarbonisation approach, can be a valuable contribution from the TH team and pilot projects underway.
It would of course be remiss of me not to mention my professional interest and role of my colleagues at iON Consultants in the context of low carbon retrofit programmes for social housing providers. The HSE shares our concern that intrusive enhancement works can inevitably disturb asbestos containing materials otherwise dormant in roof spaces, cavities and the fabric of our historic building stock. The application of asbestos compliance, appropriate planning, survey and training of site operatives therefore must represent one of the essential considerations within a successful decarbonisation programme. Always happy to be part of that team. iON Consultants | Health and Safety Consultants (SHEQ) UK
Thank you again to Pete, Jo and Louise for a timely and much appreciated workshop session at the NHMF Maintenance Conference.
We look forward to further collaboration, presentations and opportunities to work together, particularly as the demonstration projects and monitoring come to fruition and we will be relaying future Transforming Homes events and resident charettes via the NHMF web site and links above.
Challenging, but exciting times …………
Julian Ransom BSc MRICS – Director iON Consultants, NHMF Management Committee, HAMMAR* Regional Committees, and TH Steering Group. julian@ion-consultants.co.uk
*Housing Asset Management Maintenance And Repair
Credits: Louise King