Practical Evaluation Tools for Urban Sustainablility

Opinion of tools

Name der Fallstudie
Angelina Street- ein Modell zur Wohnbausanierung

Name of tool
Cardiff County Council (CCC) Sustainability Appraisal Matrix

Most of the tools mentioned above are all known to the Housing Development team, social house builders and house builders in general. It is a requirement that some of these tools are met, for example secured by design and meeting the basic SAP ratings set out by Building Regulations. Most of the officers time was spent developing the Cardiff Partnering Scheme tool as the vehicle to develop various sites throughout Cardiff, and provide the Council with an opportunity to develop new Council Housing.

Cardiff County Council Sustainability Appraisal Matrix developed by the Sustainable Development Unit, Strategic Planning and Neighbourhood Renewal at CC, is a necessity to accompany all funding bids submitted to the Council. The tool was completed at the very initial stages of the project to indicate positive and negative sustainability implications of the project that could be modified if necessary and possible. It was therefore necessary for this tool to be completed under CCC policy.

Opinion of tool - barriers for the tool implementation
The initial barrier for tool implementation in this project was Council support of the high sustainability objectives that the tool would achieve.

The main barrier for tool implementation was only cost with regards to including innovations in the scheme (to meet the sustainability tools). However, this can be overcome with value engineering exercises and securing Government funding where possible.

Name of tool
Cardiff Partnering Scheme-Cardiff Partnermodell

Opinion of tool - argumentation for choosing the tool
The project manager has been the main driver in implementing and elaborating many of the tools in this project. A ´Cardiff Standard´ for housing over and above current UK Building Regulations is required. The tools have been selected in order to set a higher standard of development relating to sustainability and develop housing that is of good quality and sustainable.

The benefits bought about by partnering are that there is a sharing of information and more open form of working practice, closer links between partners, a stable design and consultant team with economies of scale being realised.

It is based on the principles of ?Rethinking Construction? (two reports written by Sir John Egan and Richard Latham), which intended to reduce the levels of conflict and arbitration in the construction industry.

After a study undertaken by the officers involved in setting up the Cardiff Partnering Scheme, proposals were presented to the Council Cabinet and the option of setting up a Partnership to develop redundant housing owned sites throughout Cardiff for mixed tenure housing (including 100 new council houses), was given cabinet approval.

Opinion of tool - barriers for the tool implementation
Problems encountered in tool implementation were: Targets included within tools available were not setting high enough standards.

The initial barrier for tool implementation in this project was Council support of the high sustainability objectives that the tool would achieve.

Name of tool
Contract evaluation

Opinion of tool - argumentation for choosing the tool
The project manager has been the main driver in implementing and elaborating many of the tools in this project. A ?Cardiff Standard? for housing over and above current UK Building Regulations is required. The tools have been selected in order to set a higher standard of development relating to sustainability and develop housing that is of good quality and sustainable. Most of the tools mentioned above are all known to the Housing Development team, social house builders and house builders in general. It is a requirement that some of these tools are met, for example secured by design and meeting the basic SAP ratings set out by Building Regulations. Most of the officers time was spent developing the Cardiff Partnering Scheme tool as the vehicle to develop various sites throughout Cardiff, and provide the Council with an opportunity to develop new Council Housing. The use of this tool was to enable those selected to work on the scheme at the tendering stage to be assessed in relation to the commitment to sustainability rather than the more typical method of cost only. The matrix is used quite often to allow a fair and auditable method of scoring various tenders for schemes. It allows officers/managers who have not necessarily been involved in the tendering process, up to that point, to be able to consistently mark tenders. One of the remits of the Cardiff partnering Scheme is that developments undertaken within the scheme should be more focused on sustainability and that the chosen contractor should show a real commitment to these issues. Therefore the Council had already agreed to this method when agreeing to used the scheme.

Opinion of tool - barriers for the tool implementation
Problems encountered in tool implementation were: Targets included within tools available were not setting high enough standards. The initial barrier for tool implementation in this project was Council support of the high sustainability objectives that the tool would achieve. The main barrier for tool implementation was only cost with regards to including innovations in the scheme (to meet the sustainability tools). However, this can be overcome with value engineering exercises and securing Government funding where possible.

Name of tool
Housing sight checklist

Name of tool
Joseph Rowntree Lifetime Homes

Opinion of tool - argumentation for choosing the tool
These tools were selected in order to improve safety, security and accessibility for a wider group of potential future residents. Housing sight was not used as at the time of designing the scheme as it was not known about. Compliance to Lifetime homes will most probably be a requirement of building social housing shortly so the decision was made to comply where possible to these standards - good practice. Welsh Assembly SHG funded social housing must comply with Secure by Design, although Angelina Street is not SHG funded we made a decision to comply with this standard. Therefore, it can be said that the Council made this decision as good practice. The use of the tools in this case study was to incorporate sustainable design wherever possible even if there was a slight cost increase. Eco-Homes, a UK government tool that balances environmental performance with the need for a high quality of life and a safe and healthy internal environment was considered when investigating possible tools. The project manager felt that the standards included in this tool were not high enough for the levels required for the Â´Cardiff StandardÂ´.

Opinion of tool - barriers for the tool implementation
Problems encountered in tool implementation were: Targets included within tools available were not setting high enough standards. The initial barrier for tool implementation in this project was Council support of the high sustainability objectives that the tool would achieve. main barrier for tool implementation was only cost with regards to including innovations in the scheme (to meet the sustainability tools). However, this can be overcome with value engineering exercises and securing Government funding where possible.

Name of tool
Secured by design

Name of tool
Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP)

Opinion of tool - argumentation for choosing the tool
The project manager has been the main driver in implementing and elaborating many of the tools in this project. A Â´Cardiff StandardÂ´ for housing over and above current UK Building Regulations is required. The tools have been selected in order to set a higher standard of development relating to sustainability and develop housing that is of good quality and sustainable. Most of the tools mentioned above are all known to the Housing Development team, social house builders and house builders in general. It is a requirement that some of these tools are met, for example secured by design and meeting the basic SAP ratings set out by Building Regulations. Most of the officers time was spent developing the Cardiff Partnering Scheme tool as the vehicle to develop various sites throughout Cardiff, and provide the Council with an opportunity to develop new Council Housing. Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) was used to fulfil requirements to provide an energy rating in new dwellings. It is recommended by UK Building Regulations that a Carbon Index is calculated for all new build properties and that this should be at least 8 out of 10. SAP ratings are commonly used in the UK as a measure of energy rating, are well understood as a method of comparison and are likely to be included in Building Regulations in the future. As part of the ?Cardiff Standard? it was hoped that a SAP rating of over 100 would be achieved. SAP ratings of between 108 and 118 are being achieved.

Opinion of tool - barriers for the tool implementation
Problems encountered in tool implementation were: Targets included within tools available were not setting high enough standards. The initial barrier for tool implementation in this project was Council support of the high sustainability objectives that the tool would achieve. The main barrier for tool implementation was only cost with regards to including innovations in the scheme (to meet the sustainability tools). However, this can be overcome with value engineering exercises and securing Government funding where possible.

Opinion of tool - assessment by tool users
As part of the Cardiff Partnering Scheme and the employment of the contractors Leadbitters through the Contract Evaluation Scheme, employment of local employees was encouraged. Reporting that takes place as part of the Partnering Scheme is required to include information regarding the number of staff who live within 10 miles of the site. 5 trainees are employed on site under the ?Young Builders Trust?, this provides structured training where people of all backgrounds can learn construction industry skills and gain nationally recognised qualifications.

The Cardiff County Council Sustainability Appraisal Matrix was believed to be successful in encouraging all involved in the project to consider sustainability.

The final calculations for SAP range from 108 to 118 which is very good. It is intended that this will become the standard for future council schemes. The incorporation of geothermal and zero carbon heating that is planned may improve these scores further.

Using the tools has encouraged the decision makers to identify alternatives to be used in construction and the use of new technologies in a bid to continually improve future developments.

Lessons learnt included
? the importance of consulting with residents.
? trying to ensure that when designing schemes the needs of all people were taking into consideration to ensure inclusion.
The project manager feels that the main way to improve sustainability of a project is through a robust sustainability matrix. The one used in this scheme is in its infancy but could be used as a base document. It was felt that additional work on economic factors should be carried out if time allows.

The project manager is supportive of all the tools used in the project and would recommend their use for other projects. CCC Housing Strategy and Development Division have considered the incorporation of public art into the scheme a success and intend to use it in future schemes.

Opinion of tool - reviewer\'s assessment
The partnership approach, in this case the Cardiff Partnering Scheme, has been used successfully in three UK PETUS case studies and is strongly supported by Constructing Excellence as an example of good practice. When first used, it does require all partners to be flexible which could prove a challenge, however the results have been shown to make this worthwhile.

The Contract Evaluation Scheme has a number of positive and negative characteristics. The positive include:
? it is a straightforward and simple tool,
? it covers a wide number of issues,
? this tool provides an assessment for a stage not usually considered.
Negative characteristics:
? no guidance is given for scoring i.e. a total score that can be allocated is given, but no guidance on what is required for a min. or max. score is given,
? scores are allocated for the expectations of Cardiff and would therefore have to be rethought for any other project,
? cost is substantially lower in weighting than social and environmental issues. CCC had the opportunity to spend more on being sustainable than other projects where cost has to be minimised.

With regard to Cardiff County Council Sustainability Appraisal Matrix, positive features are:
? accompanying guidance notes are helpful for completing the tool;
? authors intend the matrix to add value by raising awareness; stimulation dialogue and debate; generating new ideas; and encouraging ?joined-up? thinking;
? it is quick and easy to use and it?s format encourages working together as it is recommended to be completed in a group,
? use of matrix allows comparisons between projects to be made.
Some negative features include:
? the matrix is open to interpretation by every user, with previous experience influencing scoring,
? the tool could be considered ?too simple?, although it creates discussion, it does not provide solutions if problems are identified.

Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP)
Positive features include:
? Clear worksheets for the calculations.
? Due to the fact that BRE is a nationally/internationally recognised organisation their results will be treated with respect.
? The scheme is a national and so allows national comparisons.
Negative features include:
? calculation is concerned with the assessment of the dwelling itself, as used by standard or typical occupants, and is not affected by the way current occupants might use it, for example the living room fraction is based not on which rooms the current occupants heat the most, but on the original design concept.

Joseph Rowntree Lifetime Homes, Secured by design and Housing sight checklist
These tools provide straightforward guidance for the external and internal layout of a home, safety and security measures and sight modifications.

Home zones
There are many examples of successful Home Zones in Europe, and if introduced correctly with the support of the local community, they can produce areas that are attractive, welcoming and safe for local residents. However the success of a scheme can depend on the involvement of the local community. Conflicts need to be considered for example if road humps are introduced how will this influence emergency service access.

Homes built using these standards can help to reduce further costs either for adaptions or for residential care.

Welche Tools wurden verwendet, um Nachhaltigkeit zu beurteilen?

Cardiff County Council (CCC) Sustainability Appraisal Matrix

Cardiff Partnering Scheme-Cardiff Partnermodell

Contract evaluation

Housing sight checklist

Joseph Rowntree Lifetime Homes

Secured by design

Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP)

Weiterführende Informationen (nur auf Englisch):

Für den vollständigen Bericht hier klicken (pdf)