Services to Social Landlords
EAC can assist Housing Associations to develop policy and meet the obligations of their annual reports by providing assessments of the energy efficiency and the condition of their housing stock.
"Policy and strategies - helping RSLs develop an organisational response to issues like climate change, sustainable energy and affordable warmth.
Energy Audits - Assessing the stock to establish the average energy ratings and other indicators of the stock. -more
Affordable Warmth – A check for the potential for fuel poverty within the stock and measures that could be implemented to bring tenants out of fuel poverty. - more
Surveys and Energy Performance Certificates – Assistance to RSLs in the production of an EPC on re-let stock. Either through survey, or through databases. - more
Stock Condition - A two level process of providing a stock condition report either from a desk top basis, or from survey. - more
Research – Downloadable documents available.- more
Energy Audits. policy and strategies
An essential part of developing an energy policy is assessing information on the energy efficiency of the stock as it is now, and where it might be after carrying out improvements.
Much of the information is required is available within the office from existing records. This can be supplemented with additional surveys to produce a relevant data level.
This is sufficient to allow a full stock profile analysis, which can be produced on EAC’s specially designed software database, UNO.
The effect of carrying out insulation and heating improvements can be assessed using the database.
Performance indicators for Best Value can easily be worked out at the end of the year, and planned improvements monitored.
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‘Affordable Warmth’
This is the standard under which, currently, householders are said to be in ‘fuel poverty’ if they spend more than 10 per cent of their income on fuel. The assessment takes into account the estimated running costs of the homes as they would be under different tenant groups, and the different incomes each tenant group could experience.
As many as 4 million households in the UK now experience fuel poverty. At least a third of these live in social housing. These numbers will continue to rise as energy prices increase, often in spite of the efforts of RSLs to improve their housing stocks.
EAC can analyse the available data on the housing stock and identify where there is greatest risk of fuel poverty, its extent and causes, and suggest cost effective solutions for dealing with it.
Look in ‘Research’ for downloadable documents.
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Surveys and Energy Performance Certificates
Registered Social Landlords must issue an EPC whenever a home is re-let. The EPC has to be issued using RDSAP (Reduced Data SAP). The calculation behind the EPC can be carried out from information collected by on site survey, or from information on an existing database.
EAC can provide expert consultancy and project management on issuing EPCs on a large scale, for example as in the case of a stock transfer. We have issued over 15,000 EPCs in this way.
We can also set up systems to collate the energy data from EPCs to update Asset Management or Energy Databases.
EAC also produce EPCs for new build properties.
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Stock Condition
EAC has developed an approach to the delivery of reliable, cost effective Stock Condition Analysis, which embodies the guidance and recommendations of the DETR (spell out), and the stipulations of the ‘Decent Homes’ minimum standards.
We have created a two level approach: An initial level where the information required to provide budgets and maintenance programmes has been refined to a usable minimum.
A more detailed level for more accurate analysis. This detailed level requires on site condition surveys, while the first level can be completed substantially from office records and some back up site surveys, which means that we can establish a reliable 100% database for less than the cost of a traditional 10% survey.
Both levels of operation will:
• Produce reports sufficient to meet the requirements of planned maintenance budgeting, life cycle analysis, Decent Homes, HHSRA, HIP, MRA and Asset Plan requirements.
• Provide a full address list for all budgeted work in each year.
• Provide maintenance programs taking account of budgetary constraints over a 30+ year period.
• Provide data that can be updated and expanded, and so does not go out of date, and reduces the need for future surveys.
• To achieve this, we use or train clients to use our StockEVAL stock condition software package.
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Research
EAC carry out research and data analysis for a range of clients, and participate as partners in others' research projects.
In 2009 EAC carried out an investigation into reportedly high fuel bills in a rural social housing scheme.
In 2008 EAC produced a series of reports on fuel poverty for Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council.
For a number of years EAC have analysed the Warmfront data, on behalf of Eaga Plc, to report on the scheme's results.
In 2008 EAC were involved, with ESD and Places for People, in the Certs for Success research and dissemination project funded by EST and the Housing Corporation.
Our work for the Eaga Charitable Trust on Energy Ratings and Affordable Warmth in Social Housing is available by following the links below.
Available to download:
• Energy Ratings and Affordability in Social Housing in Scotland and N Ireland April 2007
• Setting SAP Targets for Affordability in Social Housing September 2007
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