Project Scotland previously reported that timber doors and windows manufacturer NorDan UK recently invited a selection of construction sector stakeholders to its Livingston Training and Innovation centre to debate Scotland’s net zero housing ambitions. Here, we take a more in-depth look at what issues were explored and some of the challenges and potential solutions raised.
The need for clarity around both funding and policy, and the expanded role that modern methods of construction (MMC) will play in helping Scotland meet its environmental commitments featured prominently in the NorDan roundtable event. A sharper focus on embodied carbon, training (including up-skilling the existing workforce), and the need for increased collaboration and willingness to share best practice were also highlighted as crucial factors.
The debate kicked off with a discussion around Scottish Government policies to reduce carbon emissions, including plans to introduce a Scottish equivalent to the Passivhaus standard, changes to building regulations, and the target of delivering 110,000 new affordable homes by 2032.
David Milton, head of development at affordable housing landlord Hillcrest, spoke first to highlight land availability and rising construction costs as being among the barriers to meeting the affordable homes target, before Nicola Jackson, net zero projects lead at Robertson Group, emphasised the need for greater uptake of MMC.
“Building more offsite in a factory is a more efficient way to build, but we need support and funding to do that because it is a big capital cost,” Nicola explained. “There’s a whole range of different targets that we’re having to meet in relation to the transition to net zero, and I think the industry is moving in the right direction, but needs to up-skill to meet the targets and build homes that are fit for the future.”
David Russell, director at energy and sustainability consultancy Carbon Futures, suggested politicians can be guilty of aspirational policy but not the infrastructure to support it. He wondered if there needs to be some sort of incentive or subsidy programme to encourage ‘actual performance rather than minimum performance’, highlighting the tendency for the sector to work towards what it needs to do rather than what it can do, due to cost constraints.
The need for certainty and the Scottish Government sticking to clear policy was raised as an important factor in giving companies the confidence to invest in solutions required to address some of the key challenges, before attention switched to how realistic the 110,000 affordable homes target really is.
James York, architect and Passivhaus designer at Collective Architecture, outlined the need for a strong funding and skills landscape, adding that the challenge is ‘not insurmountable’, citing periods from history where the country successfully delivered substantial housebuilding programmes.
David Milton explored the importance of balancing new-build with managing existing housing stock and retrofitting properties to bring them up to standard. “There’s something like 500,000 affordable properties out there still using gas boilers,” he said. “It’s great to keep delivering new builds… but there’s also work to keep your eye on your existing stock, so that you’re not leaving that behind. The 110,000 (figure) I agree is a real mountain to climb, but in the last 3/4 months, the multiple opportunities that we’ve been offered has increased substantially. There are opportunities out there. It’s now trying to find the best mechanism to deliver it and within the costs.”
Whether for new build or refurbishing existing housing stock, Mike Stevenson, technical specification advisor at NorDan UK, said the manufacturer had the scale to be able to supply the volume of windows and doors required. However, he queried if there are enough contractors and supply chain partners to achieve ambitions.
The Scottish Government’s decision to ditch its target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 75% by 2030 was raised, with attendees asked to consider how viable the net zero goal of 2045 is as things currently stand.
James York warned that by not sticking to the 2030 target, there is a risk of it starting to build ‘a bit of a crisis in the making’ and advocated for moving away from a ‘short-termism approach’ to policy writing. Nicola Jackson stated that Robertson is making good headway and moving forward with its own targets to reach net zero by 2030, while Graham Acheson, certified Passivhaus designer and director at architect Smith Scott Mullan Associates, said there’s no doubt the industry is on a trajectory towards low energy, but said the frustration is that ‘everybody’s moving at slightly different paces and has slightly different agendas’.
“I feel some people are saying too fast, some people are saying too slow, and some people are relatively happy,” Graham said. “So if we can pull all that together essentially and say, well, what is a realistic time scale to get to this, put everybody on that time scale and then set it in stone, I think that’s going to provide a lot of clarity and a lot of ability for everybody to say, right, we’re now on the same page, working in the same direction, and it’s going to get an awful lot easier.”
The focus then turned to whether the Scottish Government’s policies were hampering volume supply of affordable homes.
David Russell pointed out that we still don’t have a Scottish definition of net zero carbon, and he reckons that for all the talk of net zero projects, probably nobody in the UK has delivered a true net zero project yet as it relies on factors such as grid decarbonisation. “Why do we obsess about this (phrase) net zero carbon, when we should be obsessing about real metrics that we can measure instead of a woolly term that it is open to manipulation?”
James York agreed it has become a ‘badge to put on projects’, and agreed a clear definition is required. However, rather than policy creating a ‘blocker’, he said that in Scotland he sees opportunity as without a policy in place, it’s ‘business as usual’. “What is missing is the support for the people who are having to deliver on that policy,” James added.
Mike Stevenson described embodied carbon as the ‘elephant in the room’ when it comes to sustainability. “99% the conversation has been around operational carbon,” he said. “I don’t think we can hit the net zero targets in the UK or in Scotland without looking at embodied carbon. Yet, it’s already been said the Scottish Passivhaus equivalent will be silent on that, with no other requirement to measure it or reduce it.”
Nicola Jackson spoke of the need to set embodied carbon targets for housing, adding that it will send the industry in the right direction in terms of materials and construction approaches.
Graham Acheson added that his organisation is constantly asking questions around how much training, resource planning, and design work should be focused on embodied carbon, stating there’s a ‘bit of a policy vacuum’ on that now.
Scotland’s commitment to Passivhaus principles is something everyone seemed broadly supportive of, but challenges around timescales and training were highlighted. David Russell commented that even when you complete a Passivhaus course, it doesn’t make you an expert overnight, drawing an analogy with drivers who have recently passed their driving test but haven’t yet got the experience required to be a great driver. “You learn the theory… it doesn’t train you in the implementation of that theory,” he explained. “It doesn’t teach you how to be brilliant at filling out PHPP (Passive House Planning Package).”
A recurring theme throughout the session was education. Mike Stevenson and Graham Meldrum, sales director at NorDan UK, revealed the business has really ramped up proactive toolbox talks and site audits.
“It’s putting processes in place that we had thought about historically and maybe not executed and delivered,” Graham said. “The big part now is getting out to site front end. What we’re doing is a toolbox talk for the contractor. They understand what’s expected of them. As we touched on earlier, a window is only a good window if it’s fitted correctly.
“The toolbox talk is a key thing, educating them to fit it properly, and getting away from the mindset of ‘we’ve always fitted windows this way’. That doesn’t mean to say it’s right. What we’re now doing is we’re saying to contractors and end user clients, housing associations, councils, etc, we can monitor how that’s being done on site by doing site audits, and we’ll present that to you.”
The final part of the roundtable debate focused on what more the industry can do to work together to begin to achieve targets and what levels of collaboration need to take place.
Graham Acheson touched on the need for collaboration within design teams, but also with contractors, suppliers, and clients to bring more efficiency and simplicity to the process. Mike Stevenson highlighted team involvement, the importance of early engagement, and sharing knowledge as early as possible to achieve better outcomes. And James York stressed one of the things he likes about the Passivhaus community is that despite being competitors as designers, there is an ‘amazing willingness’ to share learnings. That spirit of co-operation is probably something the wider construction industry could benefit from.
The passionate and lively discussion concluded with an opportunity for those involved to tour NorDan UK’s New Training and Innovation centre, which showcases the firm’s latest innovations and features a purpose-build amphitheatre where training is delivered, and seminars regularly take place on issues impacting the sector.
