Sustainability and investment appraisal for housing regeneration projects

Purpose – This paper assesses the selection and use, in practice, of appraisal frameworks regarding sustainability evaluation in UK social housing sector projects, which have been advocated by academics as a means of ensuring that business decisions related to potential built environment projects are driven by best value rather than lowest cost. It also seeks to identity the key features of sustainability as assessed at the project feasibility stage. The research context is housing regeneration projects undertaken by UK social housing providers. Design/methodology/approach – Using a quantitative approach, a survey was conducted of 481 built environment professionals working within the UK social housing sector, which generated an overall response rate of 24%. Research Limitations/implications – The methodological approach adopted failed to uncover fully the reasons why practitioners selected particular types of sustainability appraisal toolkits. Findings - The survey results revealed that few toolkits and models developed by academe to facilitate the development and evaluation of sustainability-led building projects have so far been adopted. The impact of organisational factors such as size, denomination, and maturity on the frameworks was analysed and, in general, no statistically significant relationship was found between organisational features and the models in use. The principal features of sustainability were found to be related to energy efficiency and asset life expectancy. These findings have implications for the UK construction industry’s commitment to enhancing the built environment’s sustainability and thereby stakeholder prosperity. Implications – This paper focuses on the current use of sustainability-led project appraisal models and the key features of sustainability whilst also providing directions for further research. It explores the adoption of sustainability-focused project evaluation practices in the UK social housing sector and outlines potential areas for further research, focused on developing a usable, holistic framework for evaluating sustainability during the early stages of project development to help to create a more sustainable built environment. Keywords - Social Housing, UK, Sustainability Paper type – Research pape

Valuing sustainable change in the built environment : using SuROI to appraise built environment projects

Purpose – The paper aims to assess the strengths and weaknesses SuROI to determine it suitability as a means through which social value can be predicted in line with public procurement directives and the Social Value Act, whilst at the same time as fitting the developer’s business model and CSR commitments. Design/methodology/approach – Using a multi case design, findings from a comprehensive evaluation of three major housing-led mixed use regeneration developments are presented. The tree case study locations were selected on the basis of the developer’s strong commitment to place-making and social sustainability. Together with a strong strategic desire to reposition their organisation away from the traditional business as usual profit led model. Findings - Whilst the Social Return on Investment methodology is applicable to the charity sector, its use in the built environment is highly questionable. When applying the model to the mixed use housing projects the authors identified a number of technical limitations to the model, inter alia a lack of suitable proxies and especially proxies relating to the built environment for the valuation of identified outcomes, the use of monetisation as a evaluating measure which did not support some of the more abstract or softer benefits identified, problems collecting, identifying and evaluating data to inform the model given the complexity and scale of the project, the significant time and expense associated with the valuation and finally the inability to benchmark the report on completion. These findings have implications for the social housing providers and local authorities looking to use SuROI to evaluate potential built environment projects. Originality/value – The paper offers unique insights into the viability of using existing social value measurement methodologies. The paper identifies the significant limitations associated with the SuROI methodology

An evaluation of construction professionals sustainability literacy in North West England

Sustainability represents the UK construction industry’s most important and indeed challenging issue, placing it at the forefront of both current debate and government policy. As pressure increases on the industry to embrace its principles, a radical shift is required in the awareness, understanding and cultural acceptance of its potential benefits. Whilst a shift is slowly being realised at a strategic level, delivering sustainable construction in practice remains a challenge. Not least due to a lack of sustainability awareness and engagement amongst construction professionals revealed by successive quantitative surveys, and a need to raise sustainability literacy levels. In an attempt to understand why construction professionals give so little credence and genuinely struggle to attain sustainable construction in practice, eight in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted in North West England. The research explored their awareness, understanding and literacy levels of sustainability and how this impacts their ability to deliver the concept at both theoretical and applied levels. Findings suggest that whilst practitioners exhibit a strong awareness at a theoretical level, this often is highly individual in interpretation promoting inconsistency within and across projects. At an applied level, construction professionals observed a gap in the application of the sustainable construction in practice due to 1) a tick box mentality enshrined in sustainability appraisal tools such as BREEAM; 2) an isolation from key decisions related to sustainability, and 3) a lack of awareness amongst client organisations. The research concludes by proposing further data collection to both expand the sample and contrast these preliminary findings with professionals who desire a more sustainable model of delivery

UK COVID-19 lockdown: 100 days of air pollution reduction?

On the 23 March 2020, a country-wide COVID-19 lockdown was imposed on the UK. The following 100 days saw anthropogenic movements quickly halt, before slowly easing back to a “new” normality. In this short communication, we use data from official UK air-quality sensors (DEFRA AURN) and the UK Met Office stations to show how lockdown measures affected air quality in the UK. We compare the 100 days post-lockdown (23 March to 30 June 2020) with the same period from the previous 7 years. We find, as shown in numerous studies of other countries, the nitrogen oxides levels across the country dropped substantially (∼ 50%). However, we also find the ozone levels increased (∼ 10%), and the levels of sulphur dioxide more than doubled across the country. These changes, driven by a complex balance in the air chemistry near the surface, may reflect the influence of low humidity as suggested by Met Office data, and potentially, the reduction of nitrogen oxides and their interactions with multiple pollutants