On 9th February 2022, the Social Housing Retrofit Accelerator scheme held an online masterclass to demonstrate the benefits of larger scale retrofit projects. The webinar focused on the DREEAM community regeneration scheme, which was delivered by SBS in 2018 and led by the social housing provider Places for People.
As main contractor, SBS managed and installed a range of energy efficiency measures on the £2 million scheme, which was developed as part of a wider, international pilot project. Details of the pilot can be found here in our original news item.
The project was extremely successful, winning industry awards and featuring in a case study video produced by the DREEAM project team. As the video explains, it yielded clear reductions in energy usage by residents, solved a number of problems relating to damp, and met with high levels of customer satisfaction.
Now, in 2022, as housing professionals come to terms with new standards and funding streams, the Social Housing Retrofit Accelerator is using this and other projects to highlight industry best practice. Ultimately, its remit is to help social housing providers to develop higher quality bids for the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF).
The DREEAM masterclass was presented by Derek Watters, Head of Environmental Sustainability at Places for People who explained some of the key ‘lessons learned’.
Derek also explained that although the work was delivered in 2018, it closely followed principles and methodologies that are now recognised as part of the PAS2030/35:2019-compliant process, which was introduced in 2021.
SBS Director Gary Lawson commented: “It was great for another of our projects to be cited as an example of best practice.
“This was a scheme on which we worked very closely with all stakeholder partners, from a very early stage, to develop plans and designs that would deliver the best possible efficiencies and value. This included working with well-established supply chain partners such as PermaRock Products Ltd.
“It was an excellent example of a multi-measure retrofit, successfully delivered at scale, so it made an ideal subject for an SDR Accelerator webinar. We’ve developed tremendous experience of managing PAS-compliant projects, so we’re now ideally placed to help social housing providers to plan and develop really strong SHDF-funded project bids.”
Further Information on the SHDF
The webinar was part of an ongoing series of presentations, briefings and workshops. A full calendar of live events can be found on the Social Housing Retrofit Accelerator website.
See also:
- SBS good practice cited in “Each Home Counts” by Peter Bonfield
- SBS cited in BEIS report: “”Understanding Best Practice in Deploying External Solid-Wall Insulation”
- SBS perspective: SHDF Wave 1 / Learning from the Past
- SBS perspective: Q&A on the Heat & Buildings Strategy
- Gov.UK – list of successful bids for SHDF Wave 1
- Gov.UK – full text of the Heat & Buildings Strategy
(External links open in a new window.)
