Engaging residents in decarbonisation

The event, run in association with compliance and energy services specialist Sureserve, has a specific focus: how to best engage residents in efforts to reduce carbon emissions.

Better communication required

As those round the table well know, such engagement is not always straightforward. The mantra of ‘no pain, no gain’ often applies to making homes more energy efficient. Retrofitting is disruptive for residents, and often residents must use sustainable heating systems differently to ‘traditional’ ones if the benefits are to be realised.

According to Ms Watson, landlords too often fail to design decarbonisation schemes that keep residents in mind.

“We don’t consult them. We don’t give them enough notification of when works are going to happen. We don’t sell the benefits, and the handovers are often atrocious. As a result, you get resistance and poor uptake, and therefore benefits realisation doesn’t necessarily happen.”

Could successfully engaging on decarbonisation require new skills for social landlords? Lucja Paulinska, head of environmental sustainability at The Guinness Partnership housing association, thinks so.

“For many years, housing providers’ communication was just one way: we have to maintain your home; we’re going to come to you when we have to replace or fix something,” she says.

“But with retrofit, it’s a whole different spectrum of communication. You have to educate customers, engage with them, walk them through the pathway, explain the benefits. You have to touch on climate change and on government targets.

“All that is new to the sector, and it’s a learning curve,” she adds.

The fact that different residents will have different needs, preferences and priorities adds complexity. It is a point emphasised by Ingrid Smith, a member of the resident-led panel at Peabody and chair of the housing association’s communications sub-group.

“I think there has to be a multimedia communications strategy,” says Ms Smith, who has a background in journalism. She suggests any strategy needs to address that what might suit an older resident is not going to work for a young adult.

“Peabody got some [feedback] recently that we’re not engaging with young people, and especially with young men. You can’t expect to put the same event on for a 21-year-old man that you’re putting on for a 79-year-old. You’ve got to think outside the box,” she says.

The full range of potential decarbonisation benefits should be explained, since their persuasiveness will vary by resident.

“[It’s important] to show tangible benefits and get the story out there,” suggests Antoine Pellet, head of retrofit credits at charity HACT.

“Let’s not keep information in. Let’s put it out there, and really share what the benefits of decarbonisation are, whether it’s to health, bills, or just feeling good about doing something for the environment; that alone may be a positive for somebody.”

Justine Williams echoes the need for a tailored engagement approach. She is the decarbonisation engagement officer at Hafod, which offers housing, support and care services to around 16,000 people in South Wales.

“People have different needs. I try to speak to as many people as I can to build up a little profile of their personal circumstances. You’ve got people with caring needs and lots of illness out there, including mental health issues. Everyone needs be treated a little bit differently, just to help them deal with [the potential impact of decarbonisation work],” she says.

Hafod’s approach to the topic centres on “recognising everyone likes to get information in different ways. Some people like to have printed literature; some like digital channels; some like in-person, and so we’ve adopted a multichannel strategy. It’s a mix of in-person, printed and online resources,” Ms Williams adds.

Community engagement days have felt particularly valuable, she says. “We’ve gone into the heart of communities. I think the sites where we’ve done those days are the ones where we’ve been most successful
in regard to how our tenants have felt about the whole decarbonisation process.”

The experience is similar in the London Borough of Havering. Maria Hill, the council’s senior resident liaison officer, tells her fellow panellists about its community bus.

“We take out engagement to the resident. We get out with materials and boards and brick slips and render colours and what windows will look like, and information packets and a process guide, and we basically drive it to the residents,” she explains.

“This is pre any works, at the point they’re highlighted from our stock data [as an area that might benefit from decarbonisation]. It gives the resident early information, and we can [answer any questions].”

Robert Ditsell, her colleague who is a project manager in the housing services planned works team, says the council’s target is for all its homes to have an Energy Performance Certificate rating of Band C by 2030 and
be net zero by 2040.

Given that it owns and manages over 11,000 properties, it is a pretty big job. It is one he says the organisation is intentionally tackling in a gradual fashion, in part to support appropriate engagement.

“There is the question of scale. We’ve been fairly consistent in trying to keep it to a manageable number [of homes being worked on at any one time].”

Realistic and honest approach

It allows for “a personal touch”, he says, with residents getting to know those working on the project before it starts. By the time works begin, there is already a strong relationship, with tenants typically feeling comfortable to raise questions or share any concerns.