Moving towards a carbon zero future
For many registered providers (RPs) and local authority landlords it can be a daunting challenge to match the aspirations of the net zero agenda with the realities of their existing housing stock. This is especially the case when there is pressure for fast progress when money remains tight, cost inflation remains high and many other priorities, like the implications of the Building Safety Act, clamour for attention.
As we have discovered at Just Housing Group (JHG), the journey to net zero is certainly a complicated one, but it can be both rewarding and successful. We will shortly be adding to our case studies hub with a new example of how we have worked with a consortium of three housing associations and one local authority to build a coherent, carbon reduction strategy across 30,000 homes. Crucially, we have taken the first steps towards finding money to make this plan a reality, with a large initial tranche of funding recently secured.
We have found that there are some basic principles that all social landlords should consider when building their carbon zero agenda:
Creating a shared vision based on the facts: A successful net zero strategy must have a shared vision across all parts of the organisation, and, crucially, this must include tenants. Achieving net zero will mean substantial work to existing buildings to improve, for example, their insulation and heating systems, and a culture change in how tenants approach their energy usage. This is, to put it bluntly, big stuff with a lot of disruption, especially to people’s homes and organisational mindsets.
At JHG, we approached this exercise from a variety of angles: we hosted workshops and information sessions for residents and staff that helped everyone understand what the priorities and opportunities were. These conversations were built on clear facts: for example using a heat map based analysis of the stock to allow the most energy inefficient homes to be identified by location. This along with the detailed analysis of each landlords core archetypes gave the consortiums leadership the data to shape a clear idea of what needed to be done, when and where - hand in hand with their tenants.
A handle on the practicalities: A theme in all JHG’s work is that we must never lose sight of the practicalities. An ambition is no good without a clear idea of how it will be achieved. In this case, JHG worked with the consortium partners to identify how much a net carbon zero approach would cost based on a detailed financial analysis of the stock. We also conducted a careful research exercise that identified what funding sources were realistically available that could complement existing budgets, and produced a detailed roadmap, fully costed, of what were the most efficient, high quality methods of decarbonising the existing housing stock.
Communicating at every step: A terrible mistake made by many landlords is to carry out this work shrouded in darkness: in our case we advised an open communications strategy that took tenants on the journey. Our consultants helped establish a distinctive brand for the project, including a web hub, oversaw the issuing of paper communications to tenants and represented the consortium at important stakeholder events. This helped us explain why the net carbon zero agenda is making an important contribution to tackling the climate change emergency.
Implementing the plan: Having a clear project management plan was essential to make sure that funding application deadlines were neither missed nor ignored, and that this aligned with the important vision building exercises described above. Our team also identified a number of potential pilot projects some of which have now been actioned. Building a robust governance framework to ensure best practice and effective checks and balances on these projects, as well as the whole scope of the required major works , was another aspect, as was ensuring the partners’ in-house teams had the right skill mix to manage and implement the stratgey.
Running through each one of these key principles is one word: collaboration. This was an obvious necessity in a project that saw four landlords joining forces. However, even if the project involves only one landlord a carbon zero agenda can only flourish with a healthy, cross working culture across all interested partners.
This particular project has just won £14 million in funding for its programme, which is an excellent start but still leaves much to do to reach net zero carbon. Watch out for our soon to be published case study that will outline the next steps in this journey …
John Swinney