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RetroFit for Purpose

A Homes and Communities Agency / Cambridge Econometrics conference
on decarbonising existing UK housing stock

Tuesday 24 February 2009, Royal Society of Arts, 8 John Adam Street, London

 

The task ahead: to develop an action plan to reduce carbon emissions from UK homes by 80%. The context: recession and economic decline. Can we use the capacity this creates in the construction industry to find a route to achieving this vital objective?

This conference brought together experts in this challenging and exciting field, at a time when the government planned to consult on how to achieve the reduction in carbon emissions that must be made. The conference provided an opportunity to contribute to the development of government policy.  Feedback from workshops was synthesised in plenary session, chaired by Prof Michael Kelly, Chief Scientific adviser to the Department for Communities and Local Government.

The opportunity for very substantial investment has opened up as the housing market has gone into deep and prolonged recession. The workshops considered how the construction industry can respond, what is involved in funding retrofit by means of Energy Services Companies, the vital role that community action plays, and how to benefit from the expertise developed by the social housing sector.

Is it possible to co-ordinate and enhance investments in the housing stock (and commercial buildings) that are being planned? To upscale to a ten-year rolling programme aimed at largely decarbonising the stock by 2020?  

The conference was for those interested in co-ordinating initiatives and actions in retrofitting the UK housing stock to become low-energy, low-carbon and more resilient to climate change effects. The target audience were practitioners in developing strategic planning at all levels from the house-builders seeking to develop new work in retrofit to trade associations, local communities, housing providers, and government departments. The conference aimed to develop a consensus for co-ordinated action.

 

Conference Programme

8.15-9.00 Registration and tea/coffee (The Vaults)
     
9.00-9.05 Welcome by Dr Terry Barker, Chairman, Cambridge Econometrics / Director, Cambridge Centre for Climate Change Mitigation Research (4CMR), Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge
     
9.05-11.00 Plenary session: The Task Ahead (The Great Room)
     
  Chair: David Orr, Chief Executive, National Housing Federation
  Speakers:

Prof Bob Lowe, Professor of Energy and Building Science, Bartlett School of Graduate Studies, University College London
Physical meaning of task and the scale of the challenge to decarbonise the stock by 2020, e.g. how many houses, what work to be done
Neil Johnson, Mortgage Policy Adviser, Building Societies Association
Mortgage and other finance required
Nicholas Doyle, Head of Sustainable Development, Places for People
What can be done - the example of the Existing Homes Alliance
Brendan Ritchie, Managing Director, Innovation Sustainability and Community, Inspace Partnerships, Willmott Dixon Group
A construction perspective
11.00-11.15 Rt Hon Margaret Beckett MP, Minister for Housing and Planning (The Great Room)
     
11.15-11.30 Tea/coffee served in break-out rooms, where workshops will take place.
     
11.30-13.00 Workshops to be held in parallel. Participants will be asked to focus on deriving three key aims/actions from each session for discussion in the plenary session at 13.45.
     
  Workshop 1 The Construction Response (Tavern Room)
    This session will review the current capability in the construction sector to respond to the retrofit challenge, identifying the materials, technologies and skills required and the current gaps in capability. The session will engage participants to highlight key actions to address these gaps in the short to medium term.
  Chair: John Alker, Communications and Public Affairs Manager, UK Green Building Council
  Speaker: Pat Bowen, Sustainability and Housing Manager, Skills Strategy, Construction Skills
  Discussants: David Adams, Zero Carbon Hub and Head of External Affairs, Knauf Insulation
Leona Patterson, Housing and Regeneration Skills Adviser, Department for Communities and Local Government
     
  Workshop 2 The Energy Service Company Response (Adelphi Room)
    The Energy Service Company concept could be a route to fund the installation costs of microgeneration and renewable energy sources to our existing housing stock. Could it work? What is involved? Hear from funders, experts, and housing providers who are putting this into practice.
  Chair: Alison Mathias, Policy Manager, Homes and Communities Agency
  Speakers: Aniko Dobi-Rozsa, Managing and Finance Director, Global Environmental and Social Business (on funding aspects)
Joanne Carr, Director of Business Development, National Energy Action (on practice)
Charles Smith, Partner, Brodies (on legal aspects)
     
  Workshop 3 The Community Action Response: Engaging Households and Communities (Benjamin Franklin Room)
    Households and local communities have a crucial role in achieving widespread retrofitting of the housing sector. This session will give an overview of the challenges and opportunities for engaging the public, using case studies. The role of the various bodies who can act to engage and incentivise the public will be discussed, and recommendations for action will be made.
  Chair: Dr Jennifer Schooling, Research Business Manager, Ove Arup and Partners Ltd
  Speakers:

Peter Capener, Principal Associate: Climate Change and Communities, Big Green Challenge, NESTA
John Doggart, Chairman, Sustainable Energy Academy
  Discussant: Dr Sarah Darby, Research Councils' Energy Programme Research Fellow, Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford
     
  Workshop 4 The Social Housing Response (Romney Room)
    What can we learn from the professionals who are already grappling with this problem? What do they need to scale up their activities? The strategic approach, taking account of the realities of planned maintenance in housing.
  Chair: Andrew Eagles, Managing Director, Sustainable Homes
  Speakers: Richard Baines, Director of Sustainable Development, Black Country Housing Group
Paul Ciniglio, Sustainability & Innovation Manager, Drum Housing Association / Radian Group
Dr David Jenkins, Research Associate, School of the Built Environment, Heriot-Watt University
     
13.00-13.45 Lunch  
     
13.45-15.15 Plenary session: Feedback and the Official Response (The Great Room)
     
  Chair:

Prof Michael Kelly, Chief Scientific Adviser, Department for Communities and Local Government / Prince Philip Professor of Technology, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge.
  Facilitator: Prof Paul Ekins, Professor of Energy and Environment Policy, King's College London
  Discussant on planning: Prof Philip Allmendinger, Professor of Land Economy, University of Cambridge
    The feedback from the workshops will be presented and synthesised, with a focus on co-ordination and identifying gaps, potential inconsistencies, overlaps and synergies, and how to scale up. The Government's 'Heat and Energy Strategy Consultation' will be discussed. There will be questions-and-answers. There will be discussion of how the process could be taken further as an action plan.
     
15.15-15.40 Tea/coffee break
     
15.40-17.00 Plenary session: Towards an Action Plan (The Great Room)
     
  Chair: Richard Lewney, Managing Director, Cambridge Econometrics
    Bringing together planning, funding, new materials, re-training, and community responses in defossilising dwellings and reducing regional unemployment 2009-2020
  Panel: Dr Terry Barker, David Adams, Alison Mathias, Dr Jennifer Schooling
     
    Presentation of special forecast prepared for conference on wider economic implications of investing in decarbonising the UK housing stock
  Speaker: Dr Terry Barker
     
17.00 End of Conference
   
   
Cambridge Econometrics is a trading subsidiary of The Cambridge Trust for New Thinking in Economics, which was pleased to sponsor the attendance of a number of students at the conference whose studies were relevant to the conference topic.