The Good Homes Alliance is delighted to welcome Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council and Poole Housing Partnership (PHP) to its local authority Vanguard Network.
BCP Council is the UK’s newest city region and the tenth-largest urban local authority in England.
PHP is an Arms-Length Management Organisation (ALMO), which was set up in 2004 to improve the quality of homes across the Poole housing stock, as part of the Government’s commitment to bring all council housing up to the ‘Decent Homes’ Standard. They have and will continue to invest in other areas to improve energy efficiency in the homes to help reduce fuel poverty, and meet their net zero carbon target.
The organisations join 20 progressive local authorities in the fast-growing, collaborative Vanguard Network, which aims to facilitate LAs in adopting enhanced sustainability, quality, health and performance standards for new housing developments. This is achieved via the sharing of learning and best practice; the creation of new resources and guidance; and by conducting original research and demonstration projects.
Recent and future outputs for the networks include guidance comparing low energy building standards, and thanks to funding from the MCS Charitable Foundation, the creation of 10-15 best practice net zero/low energy housing case studies, and model clauses for Employer’s Requirements, that can be used by clients such as local authorities and housing associations to set progressive targets for net zero, building performance and health & wellbeing outcomes.
The GHA has recently launched a sister ‘Pathfinder Network’ for progressive housing associations, with 6 founder members. Combined, the members of both networks are set to build 120,000 new homes over the next 10 years.
In addition to this, members are able to benefit from a dual membership offer and sustainable development expertise for both new-build and existing housing stock, by joining the National Energy Foundation’s revamped SuperHomes retrofit network.
For more information about the GHA Vanguard Network and to get involved, please contact Julian Brooks, Programmes Director – julian@goodhomes.org.uk, 0330 355 6274.
For more information about the NEF SuperHomes Network, please contact Sandra Hayes, Director of Development – sandra.hayes@nef.org.uk, 07778205007
Quotes
Julian Brooks, Programmes Director, Good Homes Alliance
“We are delighted to welcome Poole Housing Partnership and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council to our Vanguard Network. Working alongside our progressive members, our aim is to continue to grow the network throughout 2021, and we believe this collaborative approach will help to accelerate the delivery of net zero, high-performance, healthy homes. Plus, with the dual membership offer with NEF’s SuperHomes Network, the pressing issue of sustainable retrofit will be addressed in tandem.”
Keith Meredith, Interim Director of Technical Services, Poole Housing Partnership
“We are delighted to join the Vanguard and SuperHomes Network to work with them and other members to learn and develop our knowledge and working practices to address the climate change emergency and work towards a Net Zero Carbon environment.
The sharing of knowledge and experiences is key to meeting this agenda and at PHP, it is important to us to provide sustainable homes and reduce our carbon footprint by improving the energy efficiency across the housing stock”.
Councillor Robert Lawton, Portfolio Holder for Homes, BCP Council
“We are excited to become members of the Vanguard Network with other leading local authorities.
BCP Council has a pipeline of new homes to deliver across the area and we look forward to working with our partners to share best practise to provide sustainable and high-quality homes.”