Vivre la différence: Lessons to be learned from the French social housing market

Published by Jon Land for 24dash.com in Housing and also in Featured

The issue of sustainability has once again reared its head in the political sphere in the form of a recent Audit Commission report condemning the Government’s social housing record.
 
The report suggests that the current administration is pursuing a doomed course of action with regards to social housing by placing too much emphasis on new builds and disregarding the benefits that could be gained, financially, environmentally and socially, by focusing on the renovation of disused properties.
 
But if we are, as a nation, going down the wrong path with social housing, what would be a more successful model?
 
A different culture

In France, by contrast, it is an established practice to retrofit insulation and external cladding to improve energy efficiency, aesthetics and, most importantly, to make poor-quality existing stock fit for use.
 
Thomas Atkinson – export manager of leading French cladding manufacturer, Carea, the leading provider of cladding products and services to the French social housing sector – argues that although the housing stock ‘culture’ is very different in the UK, Carea products could be used in the UK in the same way that they are in France.
 
“It is true that there are differences between housing stock in France and Britain - 85 per cent of social housing in France comes in the form of apartments, while British stock historically favours traditional two-storey housing,” explained Atkinson.
 
“But there are still lessons that could be learnt in encouraging retrofitting of the higher density stock in Britain, which still makes up a significant proportion,” said Atkinson. “In France it is commonplace to retrofit cladding solutions to this type of housing unit, but not so in the UK.
 
“That we have set up shop in Birmingham and voiced our interest in the social housing market, in addition to commercial sectors, is testament to our convictions that cladding is potentially a key solution to problems of sustainability here in the UK,” said Atkinson.
 
Tackling the challenge

According to Paul Kellaway, commercial manager of social housing repairs and maintenance specialist Mears Group, the option of retrofitting is the only way by which Britain can tackle the sizeable challenge of bringing up to code Britain’s social housing, which represents the oldest stock of housing in the developed world.
 
“The Committee on Climate Change suggests that emissions from housing stock need to be virtually eliminated by 2050,” said Kellaway, “but at our current rate of demolition and building of new properties, it would take 1000 years to replace existing stock with zero carbon new homes.
 
“Where our situation differs from the French is that our stock is often terraced and semi-detached housing, generally constructed in brick or stone and will be considered to have architectural character or heritage values within the streetscape or neighbourhood,” explained Kellaway.
 
“Yet for medium- and high-rise flats, the sort of rainscreen or insulated cladding solutions offered by companies like Carea may provide solutions for both improving insulation values and enhancing appearances.
 
He continued: “We need to embrace the culture of retrofitting wherever viable, as the French have, if we are going to successfully tackle the challenge of improving existing stock.”
 
New builds: the French connection

With regards to new builds, the local authorities and RSLs have, at least on one occasion, looked to the French for inspiration – and on that occasion, it paid considerable dividends.
 
Bourbon Lane, a development in West London that was designed and built for an international competition by a collaboration of two architects – one from London, one from Paris – picked up a series of prestigious accolades as an innovative, contemporary solution to modern housing issues.
 
Dino Coursaris, director of the French firm in the partnership, B+C Architects, said: “In France I believe we have a more contemporary approach to urban construction – authorities are more open-minded in accepting radical architectural styles and use of external cladding is a natural choice.
 
“With Bourbon Lane, we took the client over to see examples of social housing in Paris, which is very compact, very dense, with a creative approach to cladding,” continued Coursaris. “After seeing how successful this was, the client wanted us to do the same for this development and, if authorities in the UK are to address problems of social housing, they should also be keen to embrace this innovation by considering thermal envelope and airtight construction.”
 
A light touch

With new builds, therefore, there are means by which we can ensure high standards of sustainability, as demonstrated by the Bourbon Lane project, which in turn affect the need for retrofitting in the future.
 
Paul Kellaway of Mears explained: “Considering in the initial design how a building might be upgraded in the future to achieve higher levels of the code through renewables might help design out future redundancy in housing stock.  Whilst it might increase initial build costs, it will reduce retrofit and maintenance costs in the future.”
 
But for the terraced and semi-detached housing that comprises the majority of the UK housing stock, what is the answer?
 
Carea’s Atkinson concluded: “Because the culture is different here than in France, I believe many are too quick to assume that cladding is impractical with a lot of housing stock. It would be beneficial for the UK market to welcome the option of cladding more readily.”
 
“With existing ‘hard to treat’ properties where retrofitting is truly impossible , a lighter touch is required” said Paul Kellaway of Mears, “Tenants can make a huge difference by actively pursuing eco-friendly practices, hence why Mears work very closely with tenant groups to make small changes add up. The effect of this involvement leads to improved outcomes for the individual, their homes and the community as a whole.”