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Case Study: BCHG Norwood Road - SHELTER Project

Name of organisation: BCHG - Black Country Housing Group

Stage of development: completed

Year of finalization: 2002

Type of project: refurbishment

Area: suburban

Scale: group of buildings

Type of building: single or two storey house

Number of units/dwellings: 22

Tenure: social rental

Street: Norwood Road

Postcode: DY5 3XF

City: Brierley Hill

Region/ County: West Midlands

Country: United Kingdom

Last Update: 11.03.2014

Funding Project Management Certification Partnership Working Work with Residents Thermal Insulation Air Tightness Heating and Hot Water Ventilation Electricity Saving Products Water Saving Solar Thermal

Short Description

22 individual homes owned by Dudley Council were in sound structural condition but only provided living accommodation that was very cold, damp and expensive to live in.

It was decided to increase the budget for modernisation works, already planned for the local authority’s housing stock, and to investigate what could be learned from Black Country Housing Group’s recently completed Green Futures project (experimental low energy, new-build housing).

Residents were complaining of high cost and unhealthy living conditions. Super-insulation and a range of alternative technologies featured along with before and after monitoring and energy performance predictions.

Key Elements

Certification

No Energy Performance Certificates were issued. Before and after Standard Assessment Procedure energy ratings (SAP-ratings) were undertaken to predict pre- and post-renovation fuel use.

The properties were occupied before the project and the residents remained in their properties during and after works, consequently pre-renovation fuel bills were available so that a full comparison between before and after fuel use could be made.

Gas and electricity supply meters were read for 15 months after occupation and residents were interviewed before and after the works to fully evaluate the conditions and running costs before and after and the perceptions of the residents.

Project Management

The landlord and property owner, a local authority, had retained its in-house building agency (Direct Works department) [this was and is unusual, in England, where most local authorities disbanded their direct works departments, in the mid 1970’s, as part of cost cutting and efficiency measures].

This department acted as project managers and main contractor. Only specialist installations were undertaken by specialist subcontractors. All consultants were in-house, except Black Country Housing Group, which provided specialist energy saving measures advice, resident consultation support and monitoring services.

This project benefitted from very short communication routes because there was a single entity acting as both client and contractor. Only one consultant and three specialist sub-contractors were employed. The specialist contractors were only responsible for very small elements of the work.

Work with Residents

These properties were occupied by social tenants. All but two households remained in occupation during the works and the project was all about helping them to afford to stay in their homes and to improve their living conditions.

The consultation with these residents was therefore particularly extensive and the eventual measures employed were distilled from a technical requirements list, a list of energy saving desirables and a list of what tenants wanted.

The nature of the work was extremely disruptive to the occupants. This was the most extreme renovation work that could be undertaken with residents remaining in occupation. Caravans were provided (on front gardens) for residents to use during the working day.

The houses were made safe, but certainly not clean, for the residents to return to at 5.00 p.m. each day. (See D.4.4. Lessons Learned below for a further discussion of this issue).

Funding

A special allowance was made by a local authority to up-lift the budget from a standard “modernisation” to a low energy renovation.

Partnership Working

The single-entity (client/contractor) approach meant that energy consultant briefings were received by all parties. Although specialist sub-contractors were not appointed until specifications had been agreed they were briefed individually as they came into contract.

Thermal Insulation

All dwellings had an improved thermal envelope at the end of the project. Some properties had already been upgraded with insulated dry-lining (25mm polystyrene-backed plasterboard, internally, on solid external walls and small areas where there were sloping ceilings at the eaves/external wall junction).

Roof insulation was increased to 300mm of mineral fibre quilt, giving a Thermal Transmittance (U-value) of 0.16W/m2K. Walls had 90mm of Phenolic foam applied externally and were rendered, giving a U-value of 0.17W/m2K. Where already improved before the project took place the U-value was 0.15W/m2K.

Where floors had to be replaced 100mm of expanded polystyrene was installed and where they were suspended timber floors, 100mm of mineral fibre quilt was installed. Replacement windows and doors had U-values of 1.5W/m2K.

Air Tightness

Insulating the solid walls improved air-tightness. Before the work the dwellings typically achieved an air tightness of 5.5m3/m2.h @ 50Pa. After improvement this was between 3 and 3.5m3/m2.h at 50 PA.

Ventilation

A passive stack ventilation system was installed.

Heating and Hot Water

Other than the two dwellings that declined all internal works (see D.4.5. Lessons Learned below for further discussion of this issue), efficient gas-fired water heaters with sufficient capacity to run a small number of radiators were installed together with time and temperature control.

These water heaters supplemented gas fires that were already installed in the living rooms and that were retained or replaced if unsafe. Where solar water heating was installed a twin-coil heat store was included.

Solar Thermal

All but one of the properties with south-facing roof slopes received solar water heating. The remaining property with a south facing roof declined to have solar water heating, preferring instead to have a street light installed at the rear of their property to provide artificial lighting of a piece of common ground where older children congregated and caused the resident to feel unsafe. The street light provided was powered by a wind turbine, continuing the low energy theme of the project.

Electricity Saving Products

Compact florescent bulbs were installed in living rooms and the hall and landing. The kitchens already had florescent strip lights that were retained. Information about low-energy and water consuming domestic appliances was provided in to all residents.

Water Saving

Grey water recycling was installed in dwellings that did not have a south-facing roof slope, except two dwellings where rainwater harvesting was installed.

Main Results

Generally, fuel bills did not reduce significantly, however this was because the very poor thermal performance and lack of adequate heating systems meant that occupants were not heating their homes and were living in great discomfort and ill health. The predicted fuel bill savings were very substantial. Fuel use for space and water heating and artificial lighting was predicted to fall by 80% along with CO2 emissions. This represented cost savings of £400 per year and CO2 savings of 4 tonnes per year.

After the improvements some money was spent on heating fuel, where it had not been spent previously. The notional savings predicted were going towards providing comfortable and healthy living conditions. In two cases fuel bills did fall by 60% and £300 per year.
Residents were generally very complimentary about the process and especially about the dramatic improvement in comfort and health.

In those dwellings with gas fired water heaters and radiators there was some evidence of overheating and or lack of control of the heating system.  In the two dwellings that declined all internal works, there was no comment about overheating or lack of control. Even when prompted these were not issues.

Lessons learned

The extreme disruption to living conditions would not have been acceptable had it not been for the programming of works which started with replacing glazing and doors and adding thermal insulation to the external walls and roof. The effect of this thermal insulation could be felt by the residents on the first day, when they returned to the dwelling for the evening and discovered that it was very much warmer than before and dry, even without central heating. This substantial and noticeable change was so welcome that the subsequent disruption, dirt and inconvenience experienced in most homes did not give rise to complaint. Even after six months of disruption and dirt, only the smallest comments were overheard about the desire to see an end to the works.

The enormous benefits of the thermal insulation were more pronounced because the work started at the beginning of the winter. Had the work started in the summer, when it would have been more convenient, it is thought unlikely that the perception of benefit would have been so great or great enough to overcome objections to the sever disruption to daily life.

At the outset, the energy consultant had recommended that central heating would not be required and therefore a saving could be made. The energy consultant provided evidence from super-insulated developments, e.g. Riverside in Liverpool, where complaints about overheating and uncontrollability were documented. The “modernisation” programme employed by the local authority, at that time, included a full central heating system and it was perceived by both the local authority (client) and the majority of the residents, that a renovation that did not include radiators and some central heat source would not be acceptable.

The overheating and lack of control was a problem at Norwood Road. It was not a huge problem, but it was acknowledged by those residents with the central heating system that they were wasting some money and fuel. By comparison; the two dwellings without central heating were comfortable and economical.

The two dwellings that had declined internal works were occupied by older people who had kept the internal condition at a very high standard of good repair and did not want the disruption, especially to the decoration. One of these residents was suffering from chronic respiratory and associated heart failure and was particularly prone to dust, cold and damp. Both of these residents reported significant falls in their actual heating bills and substantial improvements in comfort and their health. Particular care was taken to confirm that living conditions were improved; because of concern over the resident that was unwell. 

The comparatively lower cost (see additional information D.4.6 for the comparison) resulted from a single entity, in this case a direct works department, undertaking all of the work. Acting as both client and contractor, control and knowledge remained in one place.

Initial assessments of the increase in cost precluded wholesale adoption of the measures. The national Decent Homes standard (in England) subsequently required an element of energy renovation, in order to deliver affordable warmth. This standard was more easily adopted by Dudley Council as a result of this project. Dudley Council is in the top 5 English councils for energy efficiency (in all tenures including the private sector); as measured by the annual energy efficiency reports submitted to central Government under the Home Energy Conservation Act 1995 (HECA). This position has been informed by the Norwood Road project and its findings.

Additional Information

Contact:

Kim Cherry
BCHG - Black Country Housing Group
E-mail: cherryk@bcha.co.uk
Phone: +44 (0)121 561 1969