THE first results from a Fife housing association's green housing scheme have been published following a Scottish Energy Centre research project.
The team evaluated the energy efficiency of sustainably built, affordable housing introduced by the Kingdom Housing Association (KHA).
Called the Housing Innovation Showcase (HIS), it presented an opportunity to undertake a building performance evaluation -including looking at the effectiveness of modern construction methods and technologies.
The first part of the report was informed by resident satisfaction levels. Some of key findings included:
• 90% of occupants were very satisfied with the comfort of their home
• 83% of occupants reported a strong positive influence on their health and wellbeing
• 95% of occupants reported an overall rating of being very satisfied with their home
• 70% of occupants spent long periods within their home
Supported by Scottish Government, Fife Council, KHA and multiple house building product manufacturers, HIS has provided an insight into Scotland’s future new homes.
Julio Bros-Williamson, part of the Scottish Energy Centre research team led by Professor John Currie, said :“The important factors in the monitoring of the homes are the impact which users can have upon their energy demand and the need for greater attention to detail in homes in areas such as insulation.
"If we are going to ensure higher build compliance in future low energy homes it is important for the government to deliver building standards driven by consumer demand and based on real data such as HIS can provide”.
The report is available here and a second part revealing the more detailed results of the energy consumption, actual yearly as-built running costs and carbon emissions will be published later this year.