low-carbon economy

The majority of Britain’s tower blocks have originally been designed to provide affordable and safe housing to a large number of residents. With great views and surrounding public open spaces, many of them were created to replace damaged or unsanitary pre-war dwellings, with the aim of modernising our cities and improving the living conditions of many.

However, despite the designers original intentions, tower blocks are now notorious for high energy bills. This is due to the fact that most of these high-rise, multi-occupancy buildings use electric storage heaters that are expensive to run and don’t provide adequate temperature control. This challenge is especially serious in the case of social housing blocks, where residents are particularly vulnerable to fuel poverty.

Amidst growing debate around how we tackle the climate challenge, a unique partnership between Vaillant and Gasway has demonstrated the importance of innovation and collaboration in helping the industry achieve its carbon neutral future.

Founded in 1982, Gasway is the largest heating company in East Anglia with a proven track record, delivering excellence in heating systems including domestic gas, renewables and commercial heating.

In 2016 the business was acquired by Flagship Group, a housing association with over 32,000 homes in the region, supporting its vision of solving the housing crisis in the East of England.

With this number of homes, it is vital to have a leading heating manufacturer on board to meet the full heating specification requirements of the homes, while also enabling Gasway to continue to serve the private market.

TV presenter and architect, George Clarke looks at the lessons we can all learn from the UK’s intrepid self-builders

I love self-build housing. I love self-build housing for a number of very important, but simple reasons.

If someone has the opportunity to self-build their own home, a place they want to live for many years rather than build-to-sell to make a quick profit, then they put their hearts and souls into it.

They care about it so much that they are willing to build something very, very good.

It may even be of a design that is unique and a welcome reaction to the sterile, repetitive blandness often associated with some of the big house builders.

A partnership between housing association Cottsway and Cotswold District Council will bring 15 new low-carbon homes to Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire.
Following an exchange of contracts, the new development located at Davies Road, will be built by Helix Partnership Homes and will provide 15 homes for social rent, including a mix of one, two and three-bed properties.

The impact of increasing global gas and electricity prices has already plunged hundreds of thousands more UK families into fuel poverty.

Estimates suggest the current average fuel poverty gap of £233 per home* could more than double in the coming year.  As a result, fuel poverty has arguably never been higher on the agenda for registered providers.  

Unfortunately residents connected to communal heat networks will not be immune, as their monthly (and pre-payment) heat bills are typically tied directly to gas prices.

So, faced with an almost perfect storm; and against a backdrop of traditionally poorly performing communal heat networks – how can the performance of existing installations be improved to both urgently reduce tenant energy costs and prepare them for the transition to low carbon heat?

Nick Gander and Rod Davies of Energy Carbon tackle some common concerns when preparing low-income housing ready for the future.

We live in a rapidly changing world with exciting changes in the UK impacting what we are able to supply for low-income families for their new homes.

The home needs to be ‘green’ and have low embodied carbon. It needs to have zero energy bills and should have little to no ongoing maintenance costs. It must also meet all the government’s targets for 2050, and beyond. But what does this all actually mean?

Over the next few years, the prevalence of low-carbon heating technologies will rise significantly, bringing big changes in how the UK’s buildings are heated. Hydrogen is one of the key energy sources forming part of this conversation.
The UK Hydrogen Strategy gives clear direction on the Government’s commitment to the role this low carbon fuel source can play in meeting its target of becoming net zero by 2050 and builds on ambitions previously outlined in the Government’s 10-Point Plan and Energy White Paper. However, it highlights the uncertainty remaining on the scale and demand we can expect to see in the future, with hydrogen expected to form between 20-35% of the UK's energy consumption by 2050 and no final decision on the role of hydrogen in buildings until 2026 after the hydrogen village trial in 2025.