It’s good to see that the consultation on Green Deal and ECO is finally out and having sat in a few forums it’s easy to seem negative about it. But the focus and energy of government has been on new build for too long and, however we feel about the Green Deal, it’s positive that Government’s focus has shifted to the existing stock.
From a social housing perspective, I think it is wise to take a step back and look at the average SAP scores of the stock compared to private sector stock. We know from our experience on FutureFit and our other projects that almost every SAP point progressively added to a home’s SAP rating costs more than the last (see latest FutureFit follow-up report for more details). Coupled with the Golden Rule, this means that the Green Deal is primarily a private sector driven initiative. Add to this that it is not a top down driven stock approach but one that is consumer and individual focused, it is not surprising that the consultation is largely silent about social housing homes.
There are a few questions in the consultation that allow consideration of how Registered Providers may add value. For example, Question 10 taking account of trigger points in existing stock programmes and Question 52 regarding channelling the money through most cost effective delivery options.
FutureFit and the results from current monitoring provide a goldmine of information to feed into the consultation and will continue to contribute to shaping the Green Deal. I feel it is important that Registered Providers do become lead partners in a Green Deal provider consortium to test and shape the changes that will undoubtedly occur.
