Projects

"You understood the ISHA brief and were able to add value, then went above and beyond it. Communication was excellent and delivered with a great attention to detail with little additional guidance needed."

Kasang Kajang, Founding Director (Ksquared) and Client Lead

Situation

McBains and AES were appointed for the Islington and Shoreditch Housing Association (ISHA) led consortium project of 8 social housing providers, who combined to use WH:SHF (previously SHDF) to advance their housing retrofit journey.

The stock portfolios had a wide mix of detached, semi-detached, end of terrace, mid-terrace, medium rise flats (3-5 story blocks), and whole house conversions into flats (i.e. HMOs). The construction ages also widely varied from as early as the 1820s to as recent as the 1990s with a mix of cavity wall and solid wall properties, pitched and flat roofs, and gas and direct electric heated properties.

Notably, a proportion of the homes also carry a protected status either as a listed building or within a conservation area. This diverse mix meant a comprehensive approach to assessing the properties and flexibility in design and then managing the installation was required.

Result

We firstly conducted a rapid assessment of 300 social housing units to enable the client to understand their portfolio performance, type and age of construction, and performance based on EPC ratings. We then followed PAS 2035 to undertake detailed reviews, energy assessments, and deliver condition surveys.

Our coordination of the project included the facilitation of site surveys through building surveyors, cost appraisals through quantity surveyors, energy assessments through energy assessors, resident liaison duties and analysis and recommendations in terms of the applicable improvement measures through our experienced PAS 2035 sustainability and retrofit professionals.

Key Facts

• Completed initial surveys and led the successful bid for £2.6m of SHDF Wave 2.1 funding.

• The project involved assessments, coordination, design and client and customer liaison.

• Involved a diverse mix of property ages, archetypes, and construction types.

• The project is at an advanced stage of delivery and the clients are extremely happy.

Impact

Following on from the surveys, we then led a successful application under SHDF Wave 2.1, of £2.6m in funding, following which we acted as Retrofit Assessors, Designers, and Coordinators for the delivery of the identified decarbonisation measures. The key objectives of the programme were to improve all homes to a minimum of EPC C, to satisfy the requirements of the SHDF funding by delivering a compliant and timely programme and managing and mitigating risk for the client consortium.