Agenda item

The Committee is invited to comment on a report in respect of the Low Carbon Housing Pilot Project.

Contact:

James Hinchliffe, General Manager - Development

A report was submitted in respect of the development of a Low Carbon Housing Pilot Project.

A report seeking approval to move forward with the project, specifically to appoint a specialist design team, was to be submitted to Cabinet on 5^th April 2022.

Naz Parkar, Service Director – Homes and Neighbourhoods and James Hinchliffe, General Manager – Development attended the meeting to introduce the report and gave a presentation covering the following:

·       The context and background to the project and the associated challenges, from both a local and national perspective. This included: fuel poverty, the impact of the rising cost of living, addressing the climate emergency, inefficient older stock, provision of healthy living conditions, the drive for sustainable standards, volatility within the energy market, and regulatory changes.

·       The approach to achieve the necessary behavioural change.

·       Details of the project to construct 125 homes on a site in Liversedge, with a minimum of twenty units to Passivhaus standard, one zero-carbon house and the remainder achieving a minimum 31% reduction in carbon emissions on current building regulations. There was an intention to incorporate modern methods of construction and the scheme would also allow the Council to share learning, to assist in raising design standards for the future.

·       A summary of the Passivhaus approach.

·       The Forward Plan; including a start on site in 2023 with completion by 2026.

Questions and comments were invited from Committee Members, with the following issues being covered:

·       The specification for a minimum of 31% carbon savings would apply to all the units on the site other than the zero-carbon and Passivhaus units. It was anticipated that the specialist design team may be able to assist in achieving an improvement on this figure. By 2025 the Government would require all new homes to produce 75 to 80% fewer carbon emissions, however the technical guidance had not yet been published and this proposal had been put forward in anticipation of this change.

·       Significant exploratory work had been undertaken through talking to, and visiting, those authorities and designers that had already undertaken such projects, in order to benefit from their knowledge and experience, and research undertaken in relation to off-site manufacturing methods.

·       The sharing of information and learning, both internally and externally, was important; the ambition was to share learning with the wider market and local contractor base and to develop construction skills and techniques to support new approaches to housebuilding in the future.

·       It was questioned whether the proposed numbers of Passivhaus (20) and zero-carbon units (1) would be sufficient to provide the necessary data and demonstrate the principles and benefits that the Council was hoping for. In response it was explained that the stated numbers were a minimum and it was believed that they would be adequate to test the principles. The Council would take advice from the design team, once appointed, to assess if this could be increased. The scheme was at an early stage and the Council was open to testing different technologies and approaches to achieve the goals, with the focus being on outcomes rather than accreditation.

·       It was agreed that proven outputs should be the primary focus. It was questioned whether air pressure testing would be undertaken as standard, in order to ascertain how energy efficient the units were, as there was a concern about the potential performance gap between the specified build standard for a unit and what was actually achieved. It was explained that the specialist design team would advise on dealing with performance gaps and building-in tolerance.

·       In terms of the need to build capacity to undertake such work, this project intended as a starting point, to test the principles and the concept and get the right model and measures in place which should then allow the development of such schemes to be quickly expanded.

·       The necessary expertise for this project would be commissioned, and the report to Cabinet was seeking authority to take this forward.

·       External water management for a Passivhaus build would be undertaken through the use of more passive methods, such as swales, rather than traditional methods.

·       In order to try and encourage active travel and reduce reliance on carbon-using transport, liaison would be undertaken with bus operators serving the site and electric vehicle charging points would be provided.

·       Further thought was needed around how the excess power generated from zero-carbon homes would be used and who would benefit from this, and advice would be sought from the specialist design team.

·       A scheme in Sheffield had used a community solar panel system to supply a group of homes and this sort of practice should be given consideration. Arrays of panels could achieve economies of scale.

·       Work would be undertaken with the new/prospective occupiers in respect of the lifestyle changes and adaptations needed to live in these new homes.

·       Reference was made to the report of the Working Group on Passive Housing and the progress since that point. It was explained that the Council had gone to the market with a proposal for a Passivhaus development in 2016 but the costs at that point in time had meant that it was not taken forward.

·       The objectives in terms of addressing the climate emergency and fuel poverty aligned, for example making a house more efficient would lower bills and making a contribution to energy generation meant less reliance on other technologies.

Resolved -

1)       That the Low Carbon Housing Pilot Project be welcomed.

2)       That the following points be taken into account in moving forward:

- The ambition should be to achieve more than the minimum number set out in the design brief.

- Consideration should be given to whether the numbers of Passivhaus and zero-carbon homes proposed in the pilot will be sufficient to gather the necessary data and demonstrate the principles and benefits.

- The alignment between addressing the climate emergency and fuel poverty should be acknowledged.

- Clarity is needed in respect of how the data will be collected and the skills and learning shared.

- The focus should be on the outputs achieved and outcomes should be specified.

3)       That the proposal to consult the Ward Councillors be noted.