SHRA Podcast

In this podcast episode, host Sarah Daly is joined by Selvin Brown, Director of Net Zero Domestic for the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero and Sarah McClelland from Turner and Townsend.

This episode discusses the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) Wave 2.2 and explores eligibility, bid criteria and how the Social Housing Retrofit Accelerator can support potential applicants.

Eligible social housing landlords now have until 31 January 2024 to submit applications via the dedicated application portal – providing additional time to prepare and finalise bids after the holiday period.

Choosing the right heating technology for homes can drastically reduce carbon emissions and decrease energy bills for tenants.  

In this episode of the podcast, host Sarah Daly discusses some of the different heating technologies available on the market with Jan Rosenow, director of European programmes at The Regulatory Assistance Project, and Claire Brown, senior consultant at Tuner & Townsend and PhD researcher at the University of Manchester.

Mandatory for all government grant-funded programmes, TrustMark is the only government-endorsed quality scheme in the UK for retrofit. 

In this episode of the podcast, host Sarah Daly is joined by Phil Mason, head of regulatory engagement at TrustMark.  Find out about what the organisation does, why they’re there, and how the Data Warehouse can support good quality retrofit delivery. 

PAS 2035 is the quality standard for the energy efficiency sector, and a requirement for all government-funded retrofit work. And although it can be a lengthy and complicated process, it can also help to manage the significant technical risks associated with retrofit, ensuring housing providers implement a compliant and well-scoped project.

In this episode of the podcast, host Sarah Daly is joined by Russell Smith from Parity Projects and Fallon Warren from Orbit Group.  Listen as the three outline the basics of PAS 2035, how to embrace the key principles of the standard, and why compliance shouldn’t hold you back from applying for future funding.

With inflation continuing to put pressure on the delivery of retrofit projects, how can social housing providers balance rapidly fluctuating costs to remain within budget while maintaining supplier relationships?

In this episode of the podcast, host Sarah Daly is joined once more by David Kemp, associate director at Turner & Townsend, to discuss how housing providers are managing procurement in a hyperinflationary environment.

With many social housing providers awarded funding in Wave 2 of the SHDF, and some now starting new working relationships with contractors to deliver retrofit programmes, what considerations should providers be having for contractor partners?

In this episode of the podcast, host Sarah Daly is joined by three contractors working on a wide range of social housing retrofit projects - Claire Bailey-Jones from Novus Solutions, Carl Yale from Lovell, and Tom Sowerby from Wates.

In this episode of the podcast, host Sarah Daly is joined by Turner & Townsend's Alison Skillen to discuss low carbon heating.

Listen as the two unpack the wide variety of solutions available and the differing benefits, as well as drawbacks that providers should be aware of before deciding which technology to adopt.

In today's episode, Paul Quinn from Clarion Housing and Natalie Gardner from Turner & Townsend join host Sarah Daly to discuss the relationship between retrofit and regeneration.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has announced significant investment in energy efficiency measures, but housing providers need to go beyond retrofitting a home to create happy, healthy communities. Listen as the three discuss the elements of a regeneration approach that can be applied to retrofit projects, as well as the need to work retrofit thinking into regeneration schemes.

In this episode of the podcast, host Sarah Daly from Turner & Townsend is joined by two guests – Richard Lupo, managing director of SHIFT Environment, and Emma Woods, senior consultant at Turner & Townsend – to discuss how to get the most out of your social housing data.

The three discuss what kind of data social landlords need; the ways it can be utilised or modelled, including to evidence governance and wider ESG reporting; and the challenges for social landlords in ensuring integrity and security.

In this joint SHRA and HUG episode of the podcast, host Sarah Daly from Turner & Townsend speaks to Katie Livesey, partner at ERM, about sustainable and responsible procurement.

The two unpack concepts like LCA, EPD and sustainable procurement; consider how providers can implement their economic power to promote sustainability; and discuss why providers and suppliers should avoid following the ‘path of least resistance’ when it comes to product arrangements for funding delivery.

In this episode of the podcast, host Sarah Daly from Turner & Townsend's SHRA team is joined by not one, but two special guests to discuss tenant motivation around retrofit - Ed Houghton, head of research and service design at DG Cities, and Tony Price, head of programme, innovation, commercial management and sales at Trent & Dove Housing. 

Those involved in resident engagement know how complicated it can be to get tenants to agree to energy efficiency improvements, even for tenants in fuel poverty.  Refusals can reach up to 50 per cent, wasting huge amount of time and resources, with serious implications on the sector's ability to scale up this community-based approach.  

In the podcast, Sarah, Ed and Tony explore what motivates people to accept the inevitable disruption and upheaval of retrofit, and what we can do to help resident liaison teams understand the customer perspective and adapt their approach.

For more formal guidance, please visit the recorded masterclasses in the 'Resources' tab at www.socialhousingretrofit.org.uk.

On the day SHDF Wave 2.1 officially launched, Richard McWilliams of Turner & Townsend's SHRA team sits down with Caroline Withey, SHDF programme director at BEIS, to talk about ambitious bids, the reaction from the sector and her aspirations for the future. A must listen for prospective SHDF bidders! 

For more formal guidance, please visit the recorded masterclasses in the 'Resources' tab at www.socialhousingretrofit.org.uk.

In this episode Sarah Daly of Turner & Townsend's SHRA team, and Sam Stacey, challenge director - transforming construction at UKRI, discuss the importance of innovation in addressing the challenges and opportunities for social housing retrofit, including supply chains, technology and solutions, and the digitalisation of large scale retrofit. 

For more formal guidance, please visit the recorded masterclasses in the 'Resources' tab at www.socialhousingretrofit.org.uk.

In this special edition of the podcast, Sarah Daly of Turner & Townsend's SHRA team, welcomes Selvin Brown MBE, director of Net Zero Buildings – Domestic at BEIS, to discuss the government’s scaled up ambitions for Wave 2.1 of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF), and why social housing providers should be bold and ambitious with their bids.

In this episode, Sarah Daly from the Turner & Townsend Social Housing Retrofit Accelerator (SHRA) team is joined by BEIS's Alison Skillen, technical support manager for the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF), as the two review the key successes and lessons learnt from Wave 1 of the SHDF, and what can be expected for Wave 2.

In this episode, Sarah Daly is joined by Stewart Little, CEO and founder of IRT Surveys, to discuss the role of data analysis in large scale retrofit.

We know that data is often misunderstood, misinterpreted, and poorly managed, and yet it’s also a vital part of successful programmes.  In this podcast, we’ll explore what data is required, where and how to get it, and how to manage it for the duration of your retrofit programmes.

In this episode Sarah Daly of Turner & Townsend's SHRA team, and Lydia Parnell, associate director and corporate responsibility lead at Turner & Townsend, discuss the topics and opportunities around embedding social value and equality, diversity and inclusion in retrofit programmes.

For more formal guidance on social value and equality, diversity and inclusion, please check out the recorded masterclasses in the 'Resources' tab at www.socialhousingretrofit.org.uk.

In this episode Sarah Daly of Turner & Townsend's SHRA team, Emily Braham from Energiesprong UK, and Jon Bootland from Passivhaus Trust discuss the topics around retrofit standards and approaches for retrofit strategy.

For more formal guidance for supply chains or those procuring, please check out these recorded masterclasses on the 'Resources' tab on www.socialhousingretrofit.org.uk: 'Creating successful supply chains for SHDF' and 'SHDF ensuring compliance for installers, contractors and suppliers'.

In this episode Sarah Daly and Ben Bright from Turner & Townsend's SHRA team discuss the mobilisation window for delivering housing retrofit programmes, including ensuring budget readiness, procurement and supply chain programming, and resident engagement.  

For more formal guidance for supply chains or those procuring, please check out these recorded masterclasses on the 'Resources' tab on www.socialhousingretrofit.org.uk: 'Creating successful supply chains for SHDF' and 'SHDF ensuring compliance for installers, contractors and suppliers'.

In this episode Sarah Daly of Turner & Townsend's SHRA team and Russell Smith, managing director of RetrofitWorks, discuss the challenges of social housing retrofit, focusing on applying best practice in supply chains to SHDF. 

For more formal guidance for supply chains or those procuring, please check out these recorded masterclasses on the 'Resources' tab on www.socialhousingretrofit.org.uk: 'Creating successful supply chains for SHDF' and 'SHDF ensuring compliance for installers, contractors and suppliers'. 

In this episode, Sarah Daly and Bevan Jones of the Social Housing Retrofit Accelerator team at Turner & Townsend, informally discuss the benefits of consortia and a partnership approach to social housing retrofits. 

For more detailed advice please check out the recorded masterclass 'Forming a Consortium' which can be found in the 'Resources' tab at www.socialhousingretrofit.org.uk 

In this session Sarah Daly of Turner & Townsend and Russell Smith, managing director of RetrofitWorks, focus on the alignment of SHDF with long-term retrofit objectives, as part of their discussion around the challenges of social housing retrofit. 

In this session, Sarah Daly of Turner & Townsend and David Pierpoint, CEO of The Retrofit Academy, discuss how to approach social housing retrofit programmes. 

For more formal masterclass content on a range of topics related to retrofit and bidding, please visit the 'Resources' tab on www.socialhousingretrofit.org.uk.