Disjointed works scheduling undermining decarbonisation in social housing

An expert panel of commercial partners has called for government grant awards to be considered more holistically or risk undermining the social housing sector’s ambitions for decarbonisation.

Speaking at the Specify and Build Magazine UK retrofit roundtable, Peter Dyer Head of Commercial, Deceuninck, said that despite a deemphasis on the fabric first approach in the Future Homes Standard, building product choice remained fundamental to the Government’s decarbonisation targets.

He said that the Government’s focus on renewables, for example heat pumps without first addressing insulation and airtightness, raised fundamental questions about the social sectors ability to fulfil ambitions for decarbonisation.

“Government policy is steering the direction of travel. The emphasis it is putting on heat pumps is indicative of the importance it is placing on renewables”, he said.

“That is something we completely support, but it is hard to see how without corresponding investment in improving the performance of the building envelope as a whole, the social housing sector will be able to hit targets for decarbonisation.

“The grants process needs to be re-thought so that the building is considered as a whole. Not an individual element of building performance in isolation.”

He explained that in addition to keeping homes warmer, the building fabric also played a critical role in keeping homes cool in the face of rising summer temperatures.

A leading manufacturer of energy efficient PVC-U, composite and aluminium window and door systems, Deceuninck is at the forefront of innovation in window and door technology. This includes pioneering lower carbon manufacture while it has committed, to reduce its absolute Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by 60% by 2030 against a 2021 baseline through the Science Based Targets initiative.

In addition to manufacturing a wide range of ultra-energy efficient windows and doors, Deceuninck is also committed to supporting architects and specifiers to specify windows and doors more effectively.

This includes a CPD programme encompassing low carbon specification and explain the practical impact of the Future Homes Standard on window and door specification.

Concluding his call to action he said that if policy for the decarbonisation of the housing stock was to be effective, it had to transgress parliaments and extend beyond party politics.

“We’ve seen the Green deal come – and go. We’ve spent time training solar engineers, now we’re training heat pump engineers. If we are to be effective in addressing the very real challenge of climate change, while also improving UK housing stock, we need to move towards longer term planning.

“This includes a design to delivery approach, which brings the right teams together early to deliver the right products – but equally importantly partnerships – as a foundation for effective delivery.”

For more information about me please visit https://www.deceuninck.co.uk/en-gb/specification or call 01249 816 969.