Dumfries & Galloway Housing Partnership (DGHP)

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PROJECT NAME: Municipal Terrace & Millburn Avenue, Dumfries (Block 1 flats 1-7)
PROJECT START DATE: 8 February 2010
PROJECT COMPLETION DATE: expected completion Block 1 May 2010

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

Background:
Dumfries and Galloway forms the South West corner of Scotland. Population is currently almost 148,000. The region is highly rural, one of the most sparsely populated areas in Europe; agriculture and forestry are the dominant land uses.

DGHP is a registered social landlord, registered Scottish Charity, and is a not-for-profit company run by a 15 strong board of management. Following the successful ballot of Council tenants in July 2002, DGHP purchased Dumfries & Galloway Council’s housing stock on the 10th April 2003. DGHP are the largest social landlord in Dumfries & Galloway with some 10,200 homes approx 20% of the total housing stock in the region.

Block One - Flats 1-7 Municipal Terrace, Dumfries:
The three blocks at Municipal Terrace at the end of Brooms Road in Dumfries were built in 1913 to house the “working classes”. In the introductory chapter of William McDowall’s History of Dumfries, esteemed local historian Alfie Truckell mentioned that these houses were “reputedly” Scotland’s very first social housing. Three more blocks were built in Millburn Avenue, Dumfries in 1919 (6 blocks in total)

Each block consists of eight one bedroom workman dwellings, are of cavity construction, which is unusual for the built age with 9” outer leaf, 2”cavity and a 4½” inner leaf. The bricks were made at the Buccleuch Terracotta brick works at Sanquhar 26 miles from Dumfries. The property had two large rooms and a rear scullery which was built in solid 9” brickwork (area converted into kitchen/bathroom 1962-3).

Our blocks at Municipal Terrace are approx 97 years young and are showing signs of wear and tear. The main areas of concern are structural; corroded wall ties, Ineffective and poor mortar, inadequate lateral restraints, Deformation of Gable walls. Internally the age of plasterwork, layout and size of the rear extension comprising the kitchen and bathroom, poor energy ratings and condensation are also serious problem.

Works started on site on the 8th February 2010 and completion of the six blocks is planned for May-June 2011. Block one is due for completion May 2010. The project is registered under the considerate constructor’s scheme.

As part of the tender we developed and incorporated ways of improving FOUR of our eight homes in Block 1 at Municipal Terrace (Flats 1, 2, 6 and 7) above existing Building Regulations levels and along the ideas, principals and standards of Ecological building design and refurbishment without compromising on looks and usable space.  Our measures would be kept as simple and focused as possible.

The key aims for us are:

• Provide our tenants with modern, warm, dry, affordable homes and future proof the homes to reduce the chance of tenants falling into fuel poverty.
• To enhance the life of these homes and special character by using innovative low carbon ecological solutions, technologies and to pass the knowledge gained both during the refurbishment and post occupancy to the wider community of Dumfries & Galloway and Scottish Construction Industry

Our “eco” works cover the following areas:

• Significantly higher levels of insulation including use of sheep’s wool loft insulation, passive standard doors, windows and living Sedum first floor flat roofs.
• Solar Photovoltaic (electric production) and Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) lighting & Cat 5 wiring.
• Underfloor gas heating & “A” rated gas boilers or air source heat pump and Mechanical Heat Recovery Ventilation (MHRV).
• Smart Metering and monitoring Equipment.

Part of the measured success of the project will be down to both the quality of our internal Architectural team, and the workmanship of our contractor Border Construction Ltd.  Attention to detail to achieve the airtight barriers, acoustic performance and continuous insulation to avoid thermal bridging are key elements in us achieving the desired end results.

Of course, providing highly energy efficient building envelope is one thing, occupancy and use will play a major role to see actual energy consumption and so two eco flats and two non eco flats will be monitor and tested by (independent organisation) to see whether the measures taken really did so as to provide empirical and accurate data to allow the individual technologies to be taken forward to future projects.

We will keep two of the four flats (Flats 1 & 2) as “Open homes” for a minimum period of one year post handover. The aim is clear; to educate, empower and inspire others to make environmental changes.

COST EFFICIENCY:

We examined and costed eight refurbishment options and an option for new build. The refurbishment options range from simply leaving the problematic bathroom and kitchen as is, changing the internal layouts, reducing the number of flats or the conversion of flats into larger three-four bedroom houses.

The tender cover all 6 blocks (3 blocks @ both Municipal Terrace & Millburn Avenue) in total covering 48 flats (33 DGHP flats full refurbishment works and the external cost share works to 15 owners). The tender procured in accordance with EU procurement rules was awarded to local contractor Border Construction Ltd at just under £1.8Million.

Instead of incorporating a small number of measures over many homes we have adopted installing a large number in just four homes as outlined above under project description. The added cost at tender stage has been calculated at around £25,000 per eco flat. True costs are not yet known and will be dependent on specialist quotes, grant awards from UK, Scottish Government and other agencies.

HOW DOES THIS PROJECT DEMONSTRATE CO2 REDUCTION?

The main aim of the ecological design required for these four flats is to provide low carbon technologies to maximise sustainable energy, assist in achieving carbon reduction targets, provide affordable and understandable carbon saving heating solutions for tenants.

We have estimate that we should achieve CO2 reduction in excess of 80% . Using the RdSAP 2005 9.82 methodology. Homes with Electric storage heating have an overall energy rating of F with individual SAP ratings between SAP 21 to 30 with approx  energy use  877kWh/m2 per year, CO2 emissions  6.7 to 6.9 tonnes per year and Lighting, Heating & hot water costs  of between £930 to £1,124.

Homes with gas heating have an overall energy rating of E with individual SAP ratings of around SAP 52 with approx energy use of  478kWh/m2 per year,  CO2 emissions  4 tonnes per year and  Lighting, Heating & hot water costs around £703.

Based on the same RdSAP methodology we estimated that our ecological building design and refurbishment principals and standards should achieve an approximate energy rating of A with the possibility of individual SAP ratings in excess of SAP100.

HOW COULD THIS PROJECT BE REPLICATED BY OTHER LANDLORDS?

We are constantly told that is in an incontrovertible fact that refurbishment (retrofit) is the key to achieving a low carbon built environment as two thirds of today’s homes will be in existence in 2050. Better building will only emerge by learning about new techniques, materials and from the actual performance in practice.

We will be able to tangibly show completed refurbished homes and demonstrate the related costs for our four eco flats at Municipal Terrace. We will be able to show to “reputedly” Scotland’s very first social housing that low carbon refurbishment is possible. The ecological building refurbishment approach at our four flats at Municipal Terrace, Dumfries can be split into a number of key areas that all have the potential to be replicated by Registered Social Landlords across Scotland and the UK as part of either elemental or whole house refurbishment solutions.

We are mirroring many of the discussion that must have taken place back in 1912 by the leading “Councilors” and town folk of Dumfries whose aim then was to end the poverty and misery of the “working classes” (the slums, over-crowded and insanitary conditions of general housing) by providing decent size and affordable accommodation, now it is our turn to add twenty-first century low carbon affordable solutions to ensure they retain their place in Scottish history.

HOW HAVE RESIDENTS BEEN INVOLVED?

Information sessions were held where our Tenants could drop in at any time during the afternoon to see our plans and discuss with the project team. We arranged home visits to tenants who could not make the information sessions. No tenant wanted the layout to remain the same. In general more tenants liked the idea of moving the bathroom and bedroom to the front of the property with the old bedroom becoming the sitting room and a new kitchen taking up the existing space of the scullery. We have issued letters keeping our tenants informed on the progress of our procurement and both our local Neighbourhood Manager and area Clerk of Work have been chatting to tenants as part of normal duties.

We are decanting our tenants from each block and tenants have been given the choice of a permanent transfer to a new home or returning after completion of the works to their home. This we understand and accept is a very difficult time for our tenants and our Housing Management and Neighbourhood Management teams work very closely with each tenant to ensure a smooth transfer. We are keeping those tenants returning informed on progress and they will be able to select from a range of options to personalize their homes.

Separate block and individual meetings were held with 15 private owners to explain the planned works, disruption and identify cost share works. We have gone back to visit all owners advising them of the procurement and tender award and we are acting for all owners with the local Council to ensure that owners can get the maximum grant award.

We are in conjunction with our contractor organisation an open event for tenants and owners to see ongoing construction works and on completion of Block 1 local tenants, owners and residents will see the finished homes.

Our Partners:
David Major of White Hill Design Studio, Consultant, Breeam assessor,
Energy Action Scotland - Independent Fuel poverty advisory
Post occupancy monitoring on actual performance and running costs, we are currently in discussion with Dr.Tim Sharpe of the McIntosh School of Architecture.
British Gas our heating partner,
Asher Associate’s Structural Engineers,
McGowan Miller Partnership Quantity Surveyor,
Border Construction Ltd - Appointed Contractor
Dumfries & Galloway Council – Housing Department strategic role,
Dumfries & Galloway College – Wider Role and training provider

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