Baker Homes Articles

The UK’s first Community Energy Strategy has been officially launched by Department of Energy and Climate Change! It gives a ray of light to radically impact the way we generate and use energy.

Half of fuel poor households, live in properties with solid walls. These leak twice as much heat as cavity wall properties; so it is important that we focus on them. I thought it might be useful to recount a tale of how the battle was lost to improve these homes. It is a useful lesson in political strategy.

Leaders from the housing associations and local authorities of the Liverpool City Region today pledged closer working to raise the priority of addressing global climate change and fuel poverty for the benefit of the people and economy of Liverpool City Region.

Baker Homes has been made aware of a new, British invented, energy saving device that is now for sale. It is a new offer so we thought that readers would be interested to know more.

There is a timeline for making our homes environmentally sustainable. The Climate Change Act 2008 calls for a 34% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2025.Housing and buildings account for over 44 percent of all our carbon emissions. As developers and managers of property housing associations and arms length management organisations have a key role in progressing toward this goal.  They manage around 4 million homes.

Housing Standards Review announced

The Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) announced last week its response to the Housing Standards Review (HSR). The response continues the previously outlined objective to wind down the Code for Baker Homes (code) and consider a framework for space standards.

The CSH produced a step change in sustainable construction.  DCLG have decided that they will incorporate two elements of the code, energy and water, into building regulations. It will be up to building control officers and approved bodies to ensure that the regulations are being adhered to.

A study by the University of North Carolina and Institute for Market Transformation finds that people in energy efficient homes are 32% less likely to default on their mortgages. Can this open up a new financing mechanism for future retrofit projects?

A carbon and fuel poverty tool has gained funding to integrate real time monitoring.  The funding, announced last week, will significantly help landlords understand the homes they manage and resident energy bills.

Blog written by Richard Griffiths, Development Manager, Parity Project.

Before any landlord embarks on a retrofit programme, the very first step should always be for them to make sure that they fully understand the current state of their stock, and how installing energy saving and generating measures can improve it. Without doing so, they risk delivering over-expensive and under-performing programmes, and can be left at the mercy of better-informed energy companies and contractors.

As we all know, effective retrofit can have wide-ranging benefits for registered providers and their tenants. Energy efficient homes are warmer and healthier, saving households money and improving their quality of life. For providers these homes are likely to better maintain their long-term value, and should reduce the risk of rent arrears as energy prices rise. But retrofit can be complex and it is easy to spend considerable time and money on programmes which fail to deliver against their potential.

Energy Secretary Edward Davey announced the long-awaited consultation on changes to the Energy Company Obligation.

More LED lamps are being sold and hence more carbon is being saved (up to 0.5 tonnes per home per year), which has led to our SHIFT corporate partner, LED Hut, to increase its warehouse space.

As floods have increased in the last few months in UK and recent reports mentioning that this will continue as the river and groundwater levels continue to rise, we should all be able to recognise the possible damages that floods may cause to our properties.