Blake Lapthorn were delighted to host the Construction Green Breakfast with John Martin of Sovereign Vale Housing Association on 31 May 2012 in Oxford.

1. “Where’s the switch?”
Life with renewables and Code for Sustainable Homes
Sovereign Vales experiences
John Martin MCIOB
Development Liaison Manager
31st May

2. Sovereign Housing Association
• 33,000 homes - £194m turnover
• Covering 40,000 sq.km – All counties South and South
West
• £250m bond issue just agreed - for new homes
• 20,000 boilers
• Vehicles cover 5,000,000 miles a year
• 12 largest Housing Association in England
• Sovereign Development Consortium - £31.5m HCA
grant for 1856 homes over the 4 year contract, 1100 will
be provided by Sovereign Housing Association
• 218 homes completed in Oxon and Bucks in 2011/12
BL Green Breakfast

3. Reminder -Why code for sustainable homes?
• Climate change - UK Commitment to reduce CO2
emissions by 80% by 2050 – Kyoto protocol
• Make the built environment more sustainable
• Introduced in 2006 operational in 2007 and revised in
2010.
• A national environmental standard for new homes
encouraging continuous improvement in sustainable
home building.
• Social housing grants tied to meeting CSH level 3
• Housing associations (and their residents) at the
forefront of renewable products.
• Idealistic?
BL Green Breakfast

4. Perceptions & concerns
• New heating products would be expensive to install
• Design targets too prescriptive – skills shortage?
• CO2 reduction aspirations were linked to energy
efficiency statements which in turn means lower energy
bills.
• Visually unacceptable
• Water supply and low water use w.c. performance?
• Condensation worries
• Is it affordable?
BL Green Breakfast

5. Realisation - story so far
• Completed - 326 Solar Thermal systems (3 versions), 35 MVHR (3
types), 16 house p.v., 6 communal p.v., 22 ASHP., 11 AESHP
(NIBE) over 50% via section 106 sites
• Co2 reduction is nothing to do with affordable warmth
• Some systems threw them into fuel poverty – definition greater than
10% of income – Benefit is £65.50 p.w. average gas and electric is
£24 p.w. (ordinary gas wet)
• A “renewable” 3 bed home had annual Electric bill of £2000! -
extreme case but not unusual.
• Housing association residents are in an agenda which they didn’t
write - little awareness and a lot of concern - can they afford it – do
they understand it – can they control it?
• 40% of SV residents are on Housing Benefit (HB)
BL Green Breakfast

6. Realisation – story so far pt 2
DON’T SWITCH IT OFF – Educate, Support , Train everybody
• A lot of management time and abortive visits educating residents on
how to use and live with the technologies
• Locks being placed on airing cupboard doors
• Systems being designed by sub contractors – rushed? Skills
shortage
• Little design awareness/integration by developers – left as a bolt on
• SHA Bristol office removed 11 AESHP units within months, – extra
£4500 per unit – understand your customer.
• Solar panels do fail -
• Faults post occupation due to poor or incorrect commissioning
• Self commissioning and design accreditation faults
• NHBC struggling to understand the installed technology
BL Green Breakfast

7. Beckett Close
Aylesbury Bucks
7 Homes mixture of 4 bed, 3 bed
and 2bed
Brown field site developed by
Sovereign by ROK the partner
contractor
Second NIBE (and last) site.
We rewrote the instruction manual
Constantly dealing with heating
comfort and electric bill complaints
ROK went into liquidation
Sovereign undertook and
independent assessment of the
design – wasn’t approved by
NIBE(?) – design found to be
flawed – radiators changed.
Sovereign Surveyor spent a lot of
time with residents – result costs
are significantly reduced to normal
Additional cost - £20,000 plus staff
time
BL Green Breakfast - NIBE experience

8. Airing cupboard challenges – top left to right Kingspan Solar thermal, Grant
solar thermal + ASHP + underfloor , composite thermal with Valiant, ASHP ,
Solar thermal with Valliant boiler

9. Mechanical Ventilation and Heat
Recovery (MVHR)
BL Green Breakfast - MVHR Eynsham

10. Aesthetics
Solar thermal Long
PV and ASHP Combe Hanborough
BL Green Breakfast – PV panels + ASHP (off gas) & Solar thermal (with
gas)

11. Aesthetics pt 2
Solar thermal - evacuated PV tiles – communal
tubes - Wendover Solar century - Wendover
BL green breakfast – Evacuated tubes solar thermal and PV tiles

12. Going Forward
• Education, Education, Education. – Signs are that we are
getting there!........example low energy light bulbs!
• Learn from past – NHBC Foundation Research in use reports
• Architects/designers need more ownership - orientation solar heat
gain, systems management – M and E integrated into design –
Airing Cupboards too small
• 2016 Zero Carbon? Fabric first best – Zero Carbon Hub reports –
UK “Passive” House version? reduce interaction – keep it simple
• Revised Building Regulations due 2013
• More training for installers better support from Manufacturers
• More in use management systems & costs- air filters, solar pumps,
solar panel replacements - are costs really factored in?
• Controls need specifying – simplicity is the key
• Ongoing resident support – getting better
BL Green Breakfast

13. Johns tongue in cheek option
• √ Meets MMI
• √ Prefabricated
• √ Speedy erection
• √ Available now
• √ Recyclable
• √ Sustainable
• √ Low environmental impact
• √ Flood plain suitable
• √ Encourages social mobility
BL Green Breakfast

14. BL Green Breakfast

15. Wind Turbine (WT)
PV & Solar Thermal
ASHP
BL Green Breakfast

16. (WT) Converts to
Thrust Propeller
PV & Solar Thermal
ASHP
Inflatable buoyancy
aid
BL Green Breakfast

17. Thanks, questions &
debate…
BL Green Breakfast