Aims and Objectives

aims and objectives

The research project's aim and objectives have benefitted from early engagement with BEIS.

Project Aim

Project objectives

The aim of the project was to understand the demand for low cost, low carbon housing in England and Wales and the capacity and motivation within the housing sector to meet this demand. The research and analysis concluded by identifying key learning points to increase demand, improve supply, and deliver improved energy and carbon performance.

The project aims to find ways to overcome barriers. This may be through technical innovation such as modular housing; changes in construction practices and instilling a greater sense of pride in contractors; upskilling of trades; and/or improving education and understanding of energy efficiency amongst the general public.

Marmalade Lane, Cambridge, a custom-built cohousing community

Seven specific project objectives were distilled from the project brief and these are set out in the table below.

Objective	Description
Understand the policy context and current market	To understand the effect of current policies on low cost, low carbon housing. What is the current market for low cost, low carbon housing?
Understand the drivers, barriers, attitudes and challenges	To understand the drivers, barriers, attitudes and challenges to the uptake of low cost, low carbon housing.
Understand the residents’ expectation and experience	To identify residents’ desires and expectations of low cost, low carbon homes, and what has been delivered in practice.
Understand the role of materials and technology	To understand how easily the performance can be maintained to be fit for 2050. To identify the potential for technology to drive efficiency improvements across the housing sector and to impact on the energy supply sector. To investigate how people interact with the technology – investors, designers, installers and residents.
Identify how to improve build quality	To identify those factors that have the greatest impact on both the build quality and the installation and operation of novel energy systems.
Identify how to address the performance gap	To identify how significant the performance gap is between the predicted energy performance and measured performance at the selected low cost, low carbon schemes and what could be done to address it.
Determine how to accelerate change	To determine how to accelerate large-scale construction and uptake of low cost, low carbon housing.