Appraisal of energy efficiency retrofit: government incentives and social housing organizations' perspective.
From the Scottish Social Housing Organizations' (SHO) perspective there is a major challenge to be addressed - retrofitting their dwelling stock to meet the energy efficiency objectives of the UK and Scottish governments. This is particularly challenging when simultaneously retaining focus on their own priorities such as tenant health and wellbeing, and moreover doing so when there are limited resources and a lack of tailored funding mechanisms to help SHO accomplish all of this. The scope of this thesis is to determine problems and benefit criteria of social housing retrofit, and then identify and assess potential solutions. This research looked at the range of social housing retrofit incentives, the different levels of related policies, and archival data regarding the nature of social housing retrofit activity. The research considered the extent and nature of the problems from the SHO perspective, using interviews and questionnaires with a sample comprising academics, policymakers, directors, and professionals directly involved in social housing retrofit issues. Inductive thematic analysis (ITA) was used to analyze the data from the semi-structured interviews, while the questionnaire was designed and analyzed using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) method. The study determined three major problems of the social housing retrofit. Firstly, there is contrast between the government's policy focus and SHO priority for housing retrofit. Secondly, the ownership and control of energy efficiency retrofit is located in different places. Thirdly, there is insufficient participation in the design and delivery of the retrofit measures from the tenants, communities and private construction companies. The research suggested that the way forward would be to address these problems through three approaches. Firstly, by focusing on SHO priorities through localized retrofit incentives, giving the SHO or the local (rather than national) government full control and ownership of the social housing retrofit. Secondly, by exploring areas of collaboration with innovative private sector construction companies. Thirdly, by assuring the participation of tenants and communities at the design, delivery and post-retrofit project stages.
Energy efficiency, Retrofit projects, Social housing organisations
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