Scottish Housing Day: River Clyde Homes sets out innovative, design-led approach to asset regeneration

By Richard Orr, Head of Asset and Regeneration, River Clyde Homes.

In the coming months, at River Clyde Homes, we are setting out an innovative, design-led approach to asset regeneration.

Faced with rising cost pressures, overheated energy markets, uncertainty in global supply chains, net zero targets, and increasing market competition, we’re seizing an opportunity to do better and future-proof our approach to asset management.

We plan to deliver a multi-storey retrofit programme that overhauls the building’s fabric in order to improve its energy efficiency and set a course to meeting our net zero ambitions.

This is part of a strategy to maximise the impact of some necessary upgrades, whilst also tackling fuel poverty and reducing our carbon consumption. As a part of this strategy, we have established an in-house team with the expertise and experience to manage a design-led process that does more than just refresh tired stock.

Our appointed architectural firm are commissioned to design a fabric-first solution in line with the AECB CarbonLite Retrofit Standard. The solution would reduce energy demand through a mixture of air tightness, ventilation, insulation, and mitigation of thermal bridging.

It is expected that the works would bring the current average energy demand per unit down by approximately 60–80%, thus easing our residents’ carbon consumption along with their energy costs.

We plan to test the design in situ too. Sensors would be installed to track heat, humidity, and air quality at key locations within each home, enabling us to observe the effectiveness of the measures in real time

The insights, into our design’s performance, will provide data to help formulate further asset strategies within our portfolio.

The reason for our approach isn’t just driven by a desire to reduce carbon consumption, it’s economically pragmatic too. At a time when markets for materials and labour are increasingly competitive, it’s massively important for us to invest our capital wisely, and effectively.

Statutory obligations in terms of fuel poverty and targets on carbon consumption loom large, therefore it is important that we invest in our building stock with a clear long term strategy for the benefit of our customers

It is probable that if energy prices continue to rise to tenants will heat their homes less. The inevitable damp and mould that follows is certain to increase the burden on our budgets.

Fabric improvements that reduce energy demand and retain heat will improve the resilience of the whole system, as well as providing healthier, more comfortable homes for our customers.

Also, while markets have been in flux, our team have even been able to find opportunities in volatile market conditions, fluctuating prices in both materials and utility supplies have meant that fabric-first solutions we once considered prohibitively expensive are now affordable, albeit in relative terms.

With an experienced professional team in place, we are now able to collaborate with our designers and adapt the proposed programme in line with prevailing economic winds.

We have opened up the programme to new funding streams via the Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund, to help secure additional funding.

With this programme, we aim to make improvements that can deliver sustainable cost-effective accommodation that our customers need, alongside a future-proofing vision that benefits the association too.

Social housing providers need to act sooner rather than later on sustainability, given the multiple crises around us.  Wise and possibly alternative investment decisions should be made to provide a cost-effective housing stock from the perspective of both tenant and landlord.