Welcome to Green Street

There are four million homes maintained and managed by housing associations and local authorities. If these valuable assets are to meet the changing needs of residents and local communities now and in the future,  their environmental performance needs to be carefully considered and improved. 

The Government-appointed Sustainable Task Group in their latest report recommend action be taken to reduce the impact of exisiting buildings, and point to Green Street as one of the ways to do this. 

 A wealth of information is available on this issue from many sources.   For the first time Green Street has begun to bring this information together in one place to make it easier for you to make the improvements.

Green Street will help you improve the environmental performance of your homes.

Green Street contains detailed information and advice on why and how  to take action to improve your homes in the following areas:

• energy efficiency
• water efficiency
• material use
• waste reduction
• health and wellbeing
• residents? lifestyle, and
• the overall environmental improvement of your stock.

When you visit Green Street you will find a range of homes to reflect the general stock.  There are eight different house and flat types on show.  You can find information by housetype, or more generally on any of the above issues.  

Green Street also collates information on:

• standards
• costs
• funding, and
• procurement

It also highlights real action through case studies.

You can search by house type, environmental issues, specific features and many others. 

Why bother with environmental refurbishment?

Housing associations and local authorities are responsible for improving their existing stock, and are increasingly encouraged to work sustainably.  This means ensuring that they carefully consider their social, economic and environmental impacts.  Decisions affecting these impacts need to be balanced.  In the past, the environmental performance of new homes has been emphasised when, in fact, the existing stock offers the greatest opportunity for environmental improvement. 

The Government and Housing Corporation are both committed to improving environmental performance in housing.  ?Sustainable Communities; building for the future? sets out the government?s stance.  The Housing Corporation?s Sustainable Development Strategy sets out its approach on sustainability and, in particular, environmental improvement.  It considers that the existing stock will play a vital role in the long-term viability of housing associations.

The easiest way to improve environmental performance is through energy and water efficiency and the careful use of materials, which can also help to provide healthier homes for residents.  Moreover, by acting on Green Street?s guidance, and by working alongside wider social and neighbourhood improvements, you can help build a more sustainable future.

How does this fit in with other policies?

Government and Housing Corporation policies that guide the work of associations already support refurbishment.  These policies also provide opportunities to incorporate cost-effective environmental improvements.

Green Street encourages you to go beyond minimum standards.  At the least, housing associations need to ensure that all homes are decent.  Simply this means having a modern kitchen, modern bathroom and some insulation to help keeps residents warm.  The need to meet Decent Homes provides an excellent opportunity to make sure you carry out improvements to reduce harmful environmental effects, in particular in the use of energy, water and materials.  Such an approach can also help meet Affordable Warmth targets by reducing running costs for residents ? or increasing comfort levels, or both. It can also help cut long-term maintenance and management costs if tenants are getting a warmer, damp-free home.

In fact almost 50 policy areas from Government and the Housing Corporation link to refurbishment.   Routes to Sustainability includes a comprehensive list of these, along with the tools available to implement them ? http://www.routestosustainability.org.uk/.  These include:

Decent Homes
Fuel poverty
Reducing CO₂ emissions
Prudent use of natural resources
Sustainable Communities; building for a better future
Key Housing Corporation policies
Regulatory Code
Asset management/reinvestment strategies
Stock condition surveys
Anti-poverty strategies
Affordable Warmth strategies
Affordable Water strategies
Responsive, planned and routine maintenance strategies.