R1 R&R Sept '16 52 cc

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Industry Voice Warming to sustainability Older housing stock frequently has inadequate or non-existent insulation and few energy efficient appliances. We speak with Brody Isaac, the Sustainability Manager for Viridian Housing, about his organisation’s approach to improving housing standards. “If ventilation is not considered when improving the thermal and airtight efficiency of a property, damp and mould growth are nearly certain to crop up in a later year, if not immediately.“ Brody Isaac R&R: What projects have you recently been involved with that included retrofitting energy efficiency products and services? Brody: Viridian has been involved with several energy efficiency programmes from draft proofing to external wall insulation, all with the aim of improving the housing standard of our properties. Since the autumn of 2015, we have carried out cavity insulation in 383 homes which had been built in the 1990s and only had partial cavity fill. This work was funded via ECO. Over the past year we have carried out draft proofing and secondary glazing in over 150 of our properties to improve their thermal performance, and to give our residents some added comfort. We have also recently procured an external wall insulation (EWI), cavity wall and loft insulation contract. With this, we aim to focus on our lowest energy performing properties. This will include providing EWI to 300 homes as well as 1000 cavity wall installations and 1000 loft insulations jobs. R&R: What are the types of products/services you usually install? Brody: Our product of choice for cavity insulation is a blown bead insulation system. The external wall insulation uses EPS expanded polyester boards. Our secondary glazing is produced by a bespoke system, which uses magnets and polycarbonate plastic. The process creates value for money by driving down costs. R&R: How were these projects funded? Brody: Our cavity wall insulation contract, worth approximately £250k, was funded via ECO. The EWI, cavity wall and loft insulation contract has been funded completely by Viridian as part of our commitment to improving our homes and the lives of our customers. R&R: What funding/encouragement would you like to see made available to encourage RSLs/householders to improve energy efficiency to save money (and resources)? Brody: Housing associations should be allowed to increase rental income on homes where retrofit works have been undertaken; we would like to partially fund these over a 10- year period, based on a proportion of the energy savings. Also, corner junctions and edges are tricky aspects with EWI but there’s not enough detail about this in the design guidance. Having tighter design guidance in the new PAS2030 specification will help highlight the calculated savings in both pounds and carbon. Making these changes will tackle below-standard work by ensuring only the best quality of work is approved and best practice is adopted. Funding mechanisms, such as ECO, are currently focused on the quantity rather than the quality of the work. This can mean that poor quality jobs are approved and, as a result, it puts the industry off the idea of retrofit because it’s seen as a high technical risk. If the quality of the overall work was improved, confidence would be improved. As the majority of the UK’s worst performing residential properties are solid wall and F & G SAP rated, solid wall insulation certainly needs to be more attractive. The main constraints to low energy retrofit projects, like many others, are time and money. Where funding has been made available it usually dictates the time frames and how much money can be spent per property. This has multiple knock-on negative effects. For example, choosing a cheaper and quicker option can cause problems in the years to come. A key example of this is ventilation with solid wall insulation for both EWI and external wall insulation. If ventilation is not considered when improving the thermal and airtight efficiency of a property, damp and mould growth are nearly certain to crop up in a later year, if not immediately. This has negative impacts for the tenant in the property, decreasing their standard of living and putting their health at Continued on page 16... 14 Refurb retrofit magazine Sep/Oct 2016 <strong>R1</strong>
Nationwid de Windows has been providing high qualit y design, manufacture and installatio on of windows and doors to the social hou using sec tor for almost 30 y ears . Commitmen t to Quality Windows & Doors WORKING IN W N PA ARTNERSHIP to help raise social housing standards WITH US YOU CAN BE SURE OF: Thr ee Decades National of Design, partnering and Manufacture frameworks and Installation with the UK’s leading RSLs Customer Care Specialist H ousing Charter Driven Sta aff Training by KPIs Tel: 017888 569 228 | Fax: 01788 546 558 Email: enquiries@nationwidewindows.co.uk www.nationwidewindows.co.uk Trust Natio onwide Windows’ Expertise Smoke ventilation maintenance – the hot issue for HAs and LAs By Simon North – Service and Maintenance Division Manager with SE Controls Ongoing budgetary pressures and a lack of familiarity by local authorities and housing associations about the strict regulations that govern the maintenance of smoke ventilation systems, has given rise to a worrying trend that will leave them exposed to prosecution for non-compliance unless it is addressed. In an effort to integrate fire systems maintenance and save money in the process, many HAs and LAs are ‘bundling’ smoke ventilation maintenance into a multi-disciplined ‘fire service’ contract, where the contractor is responsible for all fire and smoke system maintenance, often across several locations and building types. However, under the scope of various British Standards, including BS9991, BS9999 and BS7346 Part 8, together with Building Regulations ADB; the European EN12101 standard and best practice guidance documents from the Smoke Control Association, there are specific maintenance requirements and procedures that must be followed. The real ‘teeth’ behind this complex and vital legislative framework is the Regulatory Reform Order (RRO). This gives fire service officers an extensive range of enforcement powers in situations where smoke control systems have been inadequately maintained under the demands of the various pieces of legislation. The penalties for non-compliance can be significant, including the prosecution of companies, building owners, landlords and individuals responsible for building maintenance, resulting in punitive fines as well as custodial sentences. At SE Controls, we have already been directly involved in a significant number of projects to correct problems caused where general fire contractors have found themselves out of their depth and unable to maintain the smoke control system within the demands of the regulations. In one instance the maintenance company had failed to notice a smoke vent that had been ‘nailed shut’ rendering it in operable and dangerous, while another recent case of poor maintenance from an inexperienced contractor resulted in an automatic smoke vent falling out of the building. A major internal review followed, together with the involvement of the HSE and prosecutions are now being considered. On a number of other remedial projects, fire officers or building control have already imposed close notices on the buildings, resulting in disruption, the removal of tenants and large unbudgeted costs for the housing association. Clearly, these could have been avoided if the specialised smoke ventilation maintenance contract was kept separate and handled by a specialist company, such as SE Controls. Nationwide Windows | Nat tionwide House | 74-88 Somers Road | Rugby | Warwickshire CV22 7DH Sep/Oct 2016 <strong>R1</strong> Refurb retrofit 15 magazine
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R1 R&R Sept '16 52 cc

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