Baker Homes Blog

• Potential for £2.4 million savings per year for social landlords identified
• Costs from rent arrears and voids saved by efficient stock highlighted by new study involving 25 social landlords managing 500,000 homes

The Scottish Government should maintain its high ambition pathway towards greenhouse gas emissions reductions of at least 80% by 2050 compared to 1990 levels, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) says today.

• Project by Baker Homes and Hastoe Housing gets go ahead from government innovation agency
• Tool could help those building new homes and maintaining existing ones to make better business decisions

The government’s innovation agency, Innovate UK has awarded a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) funding to help develop an analytical tool that will help social landlords harness ‘big data’ for decision making.   The tool will use data from multiple sources, such as build and land costs, housing need and market rates to enable decisions on where and what type of homes to build.  

The Welsh Wellbeing for Future Generation Act received royal assent in April 2015. The Act is an innovative piece of legislation that has the potential to lead the country, and the world, towards a sustainable future. The Act responds to issues of climate change, poverty, health, inequality and jobs and growth. It legislates on working differently and working together.

Baker Homes carries out research into the areas that are of most value to the housing sector. Over the last few years, we have looked into the impact of feedback on residents’ energy use, the performance gap in existing homes and new builds, and the link between rent arrears and improved energy efficiency. We received great feedback and gained involvement from government, landlords and the supply chain.  Now is your chance to provide input on our next research proposals and submit your own idea for Baker Homes to take forward.

When any organisation, including a landlord, is able to use its assets more efficiently this can make their business plans stronger and more resilient. Baker Homes wanted to explore the impacts that, unbeknownst to landlords, higher quality, and energy efficient properties might have on bottom lines. Anecdotal evidence suggested there may be a link. Analysis by Hastoe Group, for example, revealed that properties retrofitted to a high energy efficiency standard had, on average, half the rent arrears of others.

Baker Homes is delighted to announce the appointment of Bevan Jones as new Managing Director.

We’re told that when a bricklayer first walks onto a building site, the first thing he or she does is not lay any bricks.  They spend quite a bit of time working out exactly where the windows should be.  This is because they want to position them exactly such that there is a neat half brick / whole brick pattern around the window frame.  A very neat aim, but surely this is all on the architect’s drawing.  Well, apparently not.  Not, that is, unless the drawing is created under a Building Information Modelling (BIM) regime.  A BIM drawing would show bricklayers exactly where the windows should be to create the desired, neat effect.  This can save nearly a day of bricklayers’ time on site and serves as just one example of how BIM can cut costs on site.

The weather is getting warmer, but that doesn’t mean we’re all switching our heating off just yet. The inevitable heating debates continue. Nearly half of couples argue over whether or not to touch the thermostat, according to a survey commissioned by heating and air conditioning specialist Andrews Sykes.

A new fund launches today, open to applications from not-for-profit organisations who can help engage people and communities across Britain with information about how to get and use smart meters.

A recent report commissioned by the housing charity Shelter encourages the release of green belt land to respond to the housing crisis in London, concluding that redundant brownfield sites cannot possibly deliver the expansion targets that the mayoral candidates have promised to deliver. The population in the capital is expected to grow by nearly half a million in the next decade and the mayor’s own assessment suggests that 50,000 homes per year will have to be built to meet the need, more than double the recent build rates. We support steps to up the build rate to this level as Sadiq Khan promised.

SunConcept, the leading installer and maintainer of solar PV, has joined the SHIFT, the national benchmarking group.  Recent changes to the Feed in Tariff have presented a challenge to the industry as well as social landlords, SunConcept use the latest CAD and solar modelling software to ensure energy generation and income are maximised and the numbers stack up – as well as providing free electricity for residents and cutting emissions.

Social landlords, developers and the supply chain are being encouraged to celebrate sustainability achievements by submitting to national awards which are open for entries this week. The SHIFT Awards are the sustainability awards for the housing sector, with half of the categories open to all.

Encouraging people to lead a noble life was one of the driving forces behind the work of social housing pioneer Octavia Hill. Reflections on her ambition and the extent to which we have achieved it (or not!) are relayed in a recent book by Octavia Housing Association. I would urge everyone to get it.