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CO-OPERATIVE HOUSING
IRELAND IMPROVING
WARMTH & WELLBEING
Name: Cooperative Housing Ireland
Company Type: Approved Housing Body
Charity Registration Number: 20012182
CHY (Revenue) number: CHY6522
Registered Office: Co-operative 11/12 Warrington Pl,
Dublin 2, D02 E221
Co-operative Housing Ireland (CHI) is a non-profit, Approved Housing Body (AHB), and registered Charity. CHI works closely with various stakeholders in the housing sector, including Local Authorities, semi-state bodies, and developers, to provide high quality social homes across the country through the co-operative housing model. Since its foundation in 1973, the organisation has provided over 6,000 homes through homeownership, shared ownership and social housing rented co-operatives. Co-operative Housing Ireland currently manages almost 3,500 social housing units, as well as a network of childcare services in their communities.
CHI’s housing portfolio encompasses a significant number of ageing properties which require ongoing maintenance and upgrade works. Many of these aging properties perform poorly in terms of energy conservation, carbon footprint and the comfort & wellbeing of our members. Since 2011, CHI has utilised various programmes managed by the Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland (SEAI) to successfully execute and deliver deep retrofit programmes on our oldest properties to enhance their performance in terms of energy sustainability and the comfort for our members.
SEAI’s National Home Retrofit (NHR) Scheme offers up to 50% funding to Approved Housing Bodies who wish to participate in delivering energy efficiency upgrades, specifically in domestic dwellings. CHI have identified a portfolio of 216 properties that qualify for the NHR Scheme.
The goal of this project is to match the funding from the NHR Scheme with endowments obtained through the Immigrant Investment Scheme (IIP) to facilitate the fast-track delivery of high-quality energy upgrades and essential maintenance works on these 216 properties, which would otherwise have to be delivered on a phased basis over a long number of years.
Summary of Project Costs and Funding Streams
Funding for the project
IIP Endowment total application : €4,734,000.00
Grant funding from SEAI and SSE Airtricity: €4,104,000.00
Total: €8,838,000.00
This project can therefore provide 12 donors with the right to long-term residency in Ireland through the IIP Endowment.
Fig 1: CHI Location of homes delivered in 2020.
General Organisation Details
CHI’s mission is to lead the development of social, economic, and environmental sustainability in Ireland through co-operative effort and the provision of social affordable housing. We accomplish this by being actively involved in the planning and financing of new co-operative housing developments, the promotion of good governance in the management of co-operative housing societies and the delivery of quality housing and associated services for members and their communities.
Operating within the context of the current housing crisis in Ireland, CHI is in a period of rapid growth, delivering 1,266 new units in the last 4 years, with a target of an additional 1,250 units over the next 3 years. In 2020 alone, CHI delivered just under 460 homes across Ireland bringing the total number of CHI homes to 3,277 at the end of 2020 and approaching 3,500 units at the time of this application in August 2021.
2020
2017
190
2018
245
2019
371
454
Fig 2: CHI growth since 2017
Sustaining and improving our established stock to ensure the continued provision of high-quality affordable housing, requires a dedicated and steady contribution from the organisation. CHI continually strives to respond to this requirement by investigating new and innovative approaches to facilitate greater capacity in the maintenance and improvement of our housing stock, such as utilising SEAI schemes, to ensure that our aging stock continue to offer affordable, comfortable and energy efficient homes to our members.
Project Overview
The project will greatly support CHI’s long-term objectives of improving the energy efficiency of the older social housing developments it owns and manages. Most importantly it will improve the warmth and wellbeing of the 216 households, offering the additional benefit of energy efficient technologies which will ultimately reduce carbon footprint and reduce heating and utility bills for our members.
Assuming the Endowment application is approved, the project will begin immediately. There are no planning restrictions and we do not foresee any delays.
A significant portion of of CHI’s social housing portfolio comprises of ageing properties built using traditional construction methods and employing less than optimised fossil fuel heating systems with limited controls. Despite a continued programme of planned preventative maintenance and phased capital component investment, these older properties continue to lag and fall behind CHI’s newer acquisitions in terms of energy efficiency and comfort. To address this issue CHI has identified that a deep retrofit programme is required on a critical mass of these properties to substantially address the issue of energy inefficiency and meet our energy conservation responsibilities as a social housing provider.
CHI delivers social housing in partnership with local government and this project takes a partnership approach. The designated project team will include involvement from industry leading specialist project managers, contractors, participating energy suppliers (PES) and the support of a large semi-state body. The proposed scale of the project also maximises supply chain efficiencies and builds on existing expertise gained by CHI and its partners on previous similar projects.
With the support of the Immigrant Investor Programme (IIP), an Endowment has been proposed to part fund an extensive two hundred and sixteen (216) unit upgrade project called ‘Improving Warmth and Wellbeing’. Over the course of the project, it is projected that 53.5% of the funding for the project will be covered by the endowments. The remaining 46.5% will be received from the SEAI’s National Home Retrofit Scheme and the associated Energy Efficiency Obligation Scheme.
Kilcronan Court 在 2019-20 年期间由 CHI 改造的 40 套房屋。 平均而言，改造使BER等级从E1提高到A3。
It will improve the overall comfort, standard of living, health and wellbeing of our members - something which is vitally important to CHI.
It will deliver financial savings, as a result of reduced energy usage, for our members, many of whom are low-income households and are thus at potential risk of fuel poverty.
It will improve the energy efficiency of our homes, reducing our use of fossil fuels, and thereby contributing to the overall reduction of emissions in Ireland in line with targets set out in the Paris Agreement. Currently, Ireland is considered to be the ‘second-worst’ in the EU with respect to climate change action – CHI want to help change that.
It will make a considerable contribution towards our aim of upgrading all our older housing stock to be ‘best in class’. We also have obligations to Local Authorities to appropriately maintain our housing stock, which this will exceed.
SEAI National Home Retrofit Scheme & Energy Efficiency Obligation Scheme.
The strength of our proposal is in the partnership with the SEAI and Kingdom Installations; a SEAI approved project management consultant (One Stop Shop).
SEAI is a semi-state public body which has a leading role in transforming Ireland into a society based on sustainable energy structures, technologies, and practices. To fulfil its mission SEAI delivers a range of programmes, engages a wide range of stakeholders, and adopts a flexible and innovation approach to all activities.
The government’s Climate Action Plan set ambitious goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from dwellings, with targets to retrofit 500,000 homes to achieve a Building Energy Rating (BER) of B2 and to install 400,000 heat pumps in existing buildings over the next 10 years. To achieve these targets, the government is scaling up existing approaches and developing new, innovative solutions. SEAI’a approved Project Management Consultants i.e. ‘One Stop Shops’ are envisaged as being a critical enabler in achieving these targets.
SEAI’s National Home Retrofitting (NHR) Scheme is designed to engage groups of private households, registered Housing Associations and Local Authorities in delivering energy efficiency upgrades, specifically in domestic dwellings, utilising the ‘One Stop Shop’ model for project management and delivery. Under the auspices of this scheme SEAI can grant up to 50% of the eligible costs of a project to a Housing Association.
he associated Energy Efficiency Obligation Scheme obligates participating energy suppliers (PES) to support SEAI projects. Under the scheme energy credit savings from the project can be traded with the PES in exchange for financial support of the project. CHI’s proposed ‘Improved Warmth and Wellbeing’ Project qualifies for support under this scheme. CHI and Kingdom Installations have successfully partnered with SSE Airtricity on previous similar upgrade project to further enhance the level of financial support available.
Each development covered by this project has unique properties and characteristics. Dependant on these characteristics not every upgrade will be alike. The suitability of the of some technologies coupled with Kingdom Installations’ experience and advice will inform the decision on the exact scope of each development upgrade. The scope will draw from a palette of upgrades and enhancements to ensure that the maximum energy efficiency and heat decarbonisation is achieved. However, as a minimum each unit will achieve a BER rating of B2 or better, at the end of the project. The palette of potential upgrades is outlined below:
As heat rises, up to 30% of a home’s heat can be lost through the roof. As part of this project all units will have additional or new insulating material installed in the attic space. The water tank and pipework will also be insulated, and a walkway and ventilation provided.
Attic insulation
Up to 35% of a home’s heat can be lost through external walls. This heat loss can be reduced by insulating the walls so that more heat is kept in. There are three different ways to insulate walls depending on the individual conditions and construction of each building: cavity, external and internal wall insulation.
Walls
About 10% of a home’s heat is lost through windows and doors. If the walls and attic are well insulated, then the heat lost through poorly performing windows and doors will be even greater. As part of this project each unit will have existing windows and doors replaced with high performing units with a low U value.
Windows / Doors
Older gas and oil-fired boilers are wasteful of energy and costly to run because of the amount of fuel needed to maintain adequate comfort levels and hot water in the home. Decarbonising the generation of heat by replacing conventional heating systems with a heat pump will transform the comfort levels in a home while reducing running costs, energy usage and harmful greenhouse gas emissions. As part of the scope of this project all units will have a high efficiency heat pump and controls installed
Heat Pump &
Heating Controls
Proper ventilation improves the air quality in the home. It is very important for both the building’s performance and the occupant’s health. The overall airtightness of a home will be dramatically improved as part of a deep retrofit.Ensuring that there is good ventilation is even more important to improve the indoor air quality and reduce the possibility of any condensation or mould.Some green heating systems can also recover heat from extracted air to help reduce the energy expended heating domestic water and central heating circuits.
Ventilation
Even in Ireland’s climate, solar energy can contribute to a home’s energy requirements. Solar energy can be used to generate electricity or for water heating. Solar photovoltaic (PV) generates renewable electricity from the sun, which can be used to power all electrical devices. Solar thermal collectors will also reduce the amount of energy needed to heat water, by supplying hot water to the hot water cylinder.
Solar
Where roofs are approaching end of life, the replacement of the existing roof covering (usually slate, tile or sheet metal) while the scaffolding is in place to facilitate the energy upgrades is a sensible and cost-efficient approach.This is particularly true on two sites where the erection of scaffolding requires road closure permits from Dublin City Council.Upgrading the roof coverings also improves building airtightness and energy performance.
Replacement of
roof coverings
Where lifts are approaching end of life, their replacement concurrent with the energy upgrades offers significant efficiencies for works planning, site layout and works supervision.Their replacement will also add to member satisfaction and wellbeing.
Replacement of
Passenger Lifts
In addition to the energy upgrades outlined above, the project also includes provision for a number of essential building fabric upgrades that do not qualify for funding from SEAI. It is proposed that these works will be funded exclusively using IIP Endowments. The execution of these works at the same time as the energy upgrades offers efficiencies in terms of planning & organisation, labour, supply chain and project supervision. Specifically, the works are described in sub-paragraphs a. & b. below and itemised in table 4 later in this document.
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