David Edwards English Partnerships’ Southern Regional Director leans back in his chair and says, “Yes, there’s a possibility we will run a new zero-carbon challenge in the agency’s southern region. We are pleased with the way the first challenge is progressing at Hanham Hall, near Bristol. The challenge has been a leap of faith for English Partnerships and the successful bidder, Barratt.
“The site is not the easiest one and the challenge to create a zero-carbon community of 200 homes is not an easy one. But we are confident the combined heat and power (CHP) system will provide the required energy from renewables for the site to be self-sufficient onsite.”
The issue of renewable energy provision is at the forefront of English Partnerships’ Carbon Challenge, which has been launched by the government to accelerate the housebuilding industry’s response to climate change and the creation of zero-carbon communities – Level 6 of The Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH).
Hanham Hall is the first zero-carbon development, but all English Partnerships co-operation developments have to achieve a minimum of Level 3 of the Code (4 by end 2010 and 6 by end of 2013, which is three years head of the deadlines private housebuilders must meet).
Developments in Chichester, Dover and the Isle of White, which are masterplanned and where a preferred housebuilder is likely to be selected soon, will each be specified at Level 4 of the Code. A 700-house site at Leybourne Grange, near Maidstone, on the site of a former NHS hospital will also be specified to level 4 of the Code. Currently in planning, groundbreaking is expected within the year.
“We are aiming to take over two sites on former hospitals in the Thames Gateway region,” says Edwards. “In total English Partnerships has bought 97 former hospital sites from the NHS. Over the last four years English Partnerships has master-planned and sold 30-40 developments to housebuilders. Half the profits go back to the NHS, an the other 50 per cent is reinvested to enable English Partnerships to buy new sites.”
A non-departmental public body (its sponsor government department is Communities and Local Government [CLG]), English Partnerships has a duty to obtain best value and be commercial in its business dealings. In 2007 it delivered 4,800 homes in England, and started the same number again. In 2008 it expects to deliver around the same number to the market, working with housebuilders such as Crest Nicholson and Barratt.
English Partnerships works with a wide range of partners including local authorities, the Housing Corporation, regional development agencies and the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE). English Partnerships and the Housing Corporation are working with CLG to establish the proposed Homes and Communities Agency, which comes into being officially in April 2009.
Currently it is involved with more than 85 developments at different stages of construction, spread across the length and breadth of England. Its role as development partner to developers is one part of its remit to assist the housebuilding industry with training and standards.
“For example,” says Edwards, “it is an obligation of the winner of the first Carbon Challenge, Barratt, to share their findings and learnings with other housebuilders. The Challenge has to and will deliver a zero-carbon community, but it is important that there is a learning too or the competition is diminished.”
Somewhat surprisingly, given its level of experience, English Partnerships is not directly involved with the government’s eco towns initiative, which it is expected will deliver 10 eco-communities of between 10,000 and 20,000 homes each. The initiative falls under the DLG’s remit.
Edwards expects that English Partnerships’ experience will be called upon at some point but in the meantime he sees the agency’s greatest challenge is to get housebuilders to work to higher standards of design and quality whilst also providing more and better mixed tenure and sustainable communities.
“I see it is our role to raise standard and expectations within the industry,” says Edwards. “English Partnerships has to add long-term growth and stewardship of the communities we are involved with. Not that it’s a one-way street. We work with housebuilders to deliver communities that people want to live in.”
Nicholas Doyle, Places for People project director for environmental sustainability, said: “English Partnerships has significantly helped to drive forward moves to mainstream sustainability across the housing industry. Yet the challenge for all of us must be to focus on a single streamlined approach to raising energy efficiently and reducing carbon emissions.”
As a custodian English Partnerships is playing a vital role in overseeing the highest standards of private developments and social housing. In addition to ensuring all new homes on its partnership developments that commenced construction after April 2007 are built to Level 3 of the Code for Sustainable Homes, all homes must be built to Lifetime Homes Standards, which exceed Building Regulations Part M (2006).
Developments that English Partnerships is linked with can be viewed on its website.
