Joining The Dots: Taking Transformation from Plans To Action
The seminar day organised by Dr.Lucy Bullivant at the Museum of the home managed to pull in some exceptional speakers, to discuss some unexceptional situations with unexpected results.
A hit list of the common grievances of architects and planners, examples of failures and projects that performed well, the whole day could have been terribly depressing.
In fact, it was one of the most inspiring retrofit learning experiences I have ever had. The team of speakers Lucy and her co-curator Arthur Kay had pulled together were not theoretical thinkers and policy authors, every single speaker related real world, factual evidence of retrofit transformation in action.
Much of what was discussed was accessible and applicable to sites across the UK, however the incremental improvements in process, delivery and outcomes showed one thing was more important than ever. Community.
Speakers included the inspiring couple Daniel Edelstyn and Hilary Powell - who took art and community and mashed it into a powerful story.
The Art of Failure
Much of what was discussed was happening 'in the moment'. Tania Jennings from Lewisham council detailed the incredible challenges she was living with, at that moment, as multiple lodgements were being processed by her team in order to achieve completion on their SHF programmes. Describing the pain of housing blocks sized for heating by a contractor, retrofitted with expensive glazing then witnessing the boiling residents opening windows in mid winter from over heating.
Critically, Tania didn't blame anyone for this inherited problem, she highlighted the learning. Rather than mouth blithe 'we mustn't make mistakes again' promises she outlined how this sort of error could be prevented, she told us how and where things could be improved in processes.
I side note for event organisers - Tania is like the A-Team of retrofit, you know she's out there, and if you can can, you should call her.
Multiple contractors presented stories of how they had witnessed, experienced and resolved points of failure in the process of achieving large scale retrofits, in boroughs across London and countrywide.
The common themes for the day where ones that will ring true to anyone who works at the nexus of planning, policy and practice. Inspiration came from some of the unique ways the mercurial speakers were demonstrating remedies.
Unifying the stories was one principal. Community led retrofit was cheaper, more successful, better understood and more popular than any other approach.
What was significant in much of what people demonstrated was the concept of what 'value' meant. Budgets and pricing weren't the benchmarks for success. Engagement, take up and outcomes were.
So the perception of failure shifted during the day - from missing deadlines in funding, to accepting what mistakes in microcosm on small projects allowed everyone to learn, to avoid and to improve on the macro.
Back to Tania Jennings for a great line on this.
"I can make mistakes on my house, being an early adopter - but I won't allow mistakes on your home".
Myths and Truth - Facts and Action
The audience and speakers at this event were made up of people who were not theorists, total project values across just some of the attendees included £1.2 Million in solar and heat pump installs, a multi million euro, 15 year neighbourhood upgrade scheme and an ambitious central London project in the heart of Westminster to upgrade thousands of homes of mixed tenure, varying degrees of protection orders and a tableaux of quite unique residents.
This allowed an honest, at times heated set of Q+A's where more detailed questions flowed from the audience and tumbled into deep, meaningful discussions in the corridors and garden space of the lovely venue.
The optimism was punctured at one key moment when the reality of the challenge of retrofit was laid bare. About how the story of retrofit, has become shrouded in myth and here say and truth telling is as important as budget analysis.
The keynote speaker had a tough draw, his first day on the job, a charged political climate outside on the streets of London and scrutiny of his background, competence and credibility.
As he spoke about one contentious project, Woodberry Down, just in passing - a ripple of murmurs occurred in the crowd. The incumbent councillor he had replaced was sat in the audience and some mis-telling of that story made her very, upset.
What did this signify? In microcosm. Details are important.
Mistakes in the way projects are run, poor sequencing, financing hold ups, poor procurement procedures - to the never ending search for competent, trained personnel often had their roots in a core issue. Failure to start with communities voices first. Policy runs projects but people live in homes.
Anna Moore from Domna Housing hit the nail on the head, when she lifted the bonnet on the vital shortfall in a process she is witnessing, which is critically failing individuals, in communities now.
Community led, retrofit works, with local labour, local suppliers and local administration is not impossible, but it is in a mortal danger of costing the taxpayer more, reducing the number of improvements than can be made and emptying the public purse for one critical reason.
Central control, tier one domination of the pipeline, and a lack of clarity regarding what a good retrofit process is - is stifling the ability of LA's contractors and SME's to win the battle to retrofit our nations homes. And that is down to the way the small decisions are being made. Details matter, and so do people.
Here's what she said to us:
We listened to examples of dynamic, success stories of where devolved decision making, using local materials providers, re-use and retrofit specialists from hubs - create a more engaged pathway to circular retrofit strategies - that cost less, get done quicker and work.
Leading this change is community led retrofit. We just need some signatures, and some money and you lot on the Thames could sit back and let the nations, regions and boroughs get on with it. Community led. Community first. For communities forever.
Marrying Technology To A Vision Of The Future
One significant and noteworthy absence from the day, was government representatives. This was not an oversight from the organisers, but a reality of the misdirection and focus being pulled away from the order of the day - climate change - and towards the local elections, party infighting and global wars.
The other missing link in this wonderful day of learning was the role of technology - which is so quickly advancing - in the planning and development of projects in the public and domestic space.
Multiple architects and planners expressed there bewilderment at the dizzying change in new products that offered faster more efficient cooling, data capture and heating solutions, accelerated install times and demands on the design of the built environment. One of the award winning architects voiced this observation,
"There isn't enough being done to help architects and planners understand the role that technology has in retrofit - I have candidates presenting CV's telling me they want to get into my practice and work on retrofit - but they have no training, well not enough, and they could benefit from learning what products are out there."
I hope this event expands and repeats the stories it revealed. It was clear that we just need to keep showing, demonstrating and amplifying the great work, and lessons learned from modern retrofit projects. We know it is happening. We have the receipts. Let's build a bigger audience.
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