Social housing group Together Housing is to work closely with the University on a project that will oversee a graduate, recruited as 'Social Research and Engagement Lead', tasked with developing innovative ways to engage tenants during what is to be a major process of change if Together Housing is to successfully decarbonise its current housing stock and achieve its retrofit agenda
THE decarbonisation of UK housing stock through retrofit - the fitting of new systems designed for high energy efficiency and low energy consumption to buildings previously built without them - has been described as one of the major engineering challenges of the twenty-first century and key to tackling the ongoing climate change crisis. It also poses a significant challenge to social science as researchers try and find ways to increase the acceptability of decarbonising measures.
Now, the social housing association Together Housing is to work closely with the University of Huddersfield on a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP), that will oversee a graduate recruited as 'Social Research and Engagement Lead'. As the KTP Associate, they will be tasked with developing innovative ways to engage tenants during what is to be a major process of change if Together Housing is to successfully decarbonise its current housing stock and achieve its retrofit agenda.
The role will take place over an initial two-year period and will be interdisciplinary with academic support being provided by the School of Human and Health Sciences as well as Huddersfield Business School.
A Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) is a three-way project between a graduate, a commercial organisation and a university. Graduates are recruited to deliver strategic projects within the organisation, whilst being supported by academic experts from the partner university.
Participating in a KTP can enhance a graduate's career prospects as it provides an opportunity to showcase the knowledge and experience acquired during their degree while they deliver and manage a challenging project which then quite often becomes central to an organisation's strategic development and long-term growth.
Supervising the project from the University of Huddersfield will be Professor of Housing and Communities Philip Brown (pictured above) with additional support from Professor Shona Bettany and Dr Claire McCamley from Huddersfield Business School.
"Whilst the sector is well-versed in undertaking standard property renovations, for example, installing new kitchens and bathrooms," said Professor Brown, "complying with the carbon reduction agenda is more complex and can require significant changes to both the lifestyle and behaviour of tenants, as well as changes in the understanding and approaches of social housing staff," he added.
He explained that on the whole the UK has old, cold damp properties across various tenures and because of the nature of social housing, Together Housing accommodates a wide range of diverse populations, across different age groups, with some being described as quite vulnerable.
"The challenge is finding a way to install measures and equipment which will lead to warmer and more efficient homes as quickly as possible, with as large a buy-in as possible, whilst reducing the disruption and impact on people living in their homes," he said.
Patrick Berry, Director of Together Housing's Net Zero strategy concluded: "To decarbonise our housing stock and improve its energy efficiency is an enormous challenge. We will not succeed unless we have the support and cooperation of our residents and this KTP project is key to how we achieve that."
Together Housing hopes to share the methodology produced by the KTP Associate with other organisations to provide advice and demonstrate to the sector how to efficiently decarbonise housing stock so that they too can be proactive in reducing their carbon footprint.
