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Introduction

The UK social housing sector adopts different criteria for decisions on the procurement of dwellings compared to the private sector. Social housing providers fund the cost of construction and the long-term maintenance of the dwellings. The latter responsibility enables them to take a long-term view of the performance of dwellings at the procurement stage, rather than considering initial build costs alone. However there is currently little information on the long-term performance of innovative approaches to house construction that would allow sensible whole life cost analyses to be done.

The need of social housing providers to minimise initial build and life cycle costs has made them receptive to new ideas on forms of construction and procurement. Many innovative ideas already tried have been in the form of demonstration or trial projects. Much effort was put in at the design and procurement stages and many were well publicised when built. However, very few of these projects have been re-visited after a period of occupation to determine to what extent they fulfilled the expectations of the various parties involved.

The current climate in social housing provision emphasises the importance of "innovation", "Egan compliance", "k.p.i.'s" etc. However the picture varies slightly across different parts of the UK. In England the Housing Corporation are very proactive in promoting innovation, and are ring-fencing part of their Assisted Development Programme funds for innovative schemes. The Northern Ireland Housing Executive, Tai Cymru and Communities Scotland are supportive of innovation but have no active schemes to directly influence the market.

In October 2001 BRE finished a project on behalf of Scottish Homes (now Communities Scotland) which reviewed innovations in design and procurement in projects funded by Scottish Homes. The work was published two reports.¹ This project has re-visited some older projects in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to see what lessons have been learnt that might inform future practice.

¹ Evans, Paul ‘Lessons from innovation in design in projects funded by Scottish Homes';

Scottish Homes report number 97 2001

Garrand, Christopher ‘Lessons from innovation in procurement in projects funded by Scottish Homes'; Scottish Homes report number 98; 2001