scholarly journals Towards Circular Social Housing: An Exploration of Practices, Barriers, and Enablers

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 2100
Author(s):  
Sultan Çetin ◽  
Vincent Gruis ◽  
Ad Straub
Keyword(s):  
Asset Management ◽  
Social Housing ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Housing Stock ◽  
Business Case ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Financial Barriers ◽  
The Social ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Circular Flows

The concept of Circular Economy (CE) and its application in the built environment is an emerging research field. Scholars approach CE from various perspectives covering a wide range of topics from material innovation to city-scale application. However, there is little research on CE implementation in housing stock, particularly that which is managed or owned by the social housing organisations (SHOs) and which offers opportunities to generate circular flows of materials at the portfolio level. This research focuses on Dutch SHOs and uses the Delphi method to examine CE practices in their asset management, as well as the main barriers to and potential enablers of its uptake. The analysis of two iterative rounds of expert questioning indicates that Dutch SHOs are in the early experimental phase in CE implementation. From the results, it is evident that organisational, cultural, and financial barriers are the most pressing ones that hinder the wider adoption of CE in their asset management. Building on the panel input, this study suggests potential enablers to overcome these barriers, such as CE legislation, best practice case studies, commitment and support from the top management, and the creation of a clear business case.

Asset Management of low-zero carbon technology in social housing

2014 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jim Kempton
Keyword(s):  
Asset Management ◽  
Social Housing ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Housing Stock ◽  
Housing Sector ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Building Process ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Zero Carbon

Purpose – Households account for 27 per cent of the UK's total CO2 emissions therefore addressing housing energy efficiency has become a priority. Low-zero carbon technologies (LZCTs) for both new-build and the existing housing stock are one mechanism to reduce CO2. A gap in previous research into the subject was identified – the ongoing maintenance or “Asset Management” of LZCTs. This is important, inefficient or ineffective Asset Management may have a negative impact on the sustainability of energy efficient housing stock from a number of perspectives, including physical, social and economic. This paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – The research presents a sector based study of the English social housing sector with seven individual organisations (known as “Registered Social Landlords”) represented by senior Asset Management practitioners, providing the units of analysis. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to evaluate the past, current and future ability of the sector to successfully maintain LZCTs. The interviews were coded and a theme/sub-theme building process undertaken. Findings – The interview analysis yielded three main themes (Asset Management Planning, Maintenance Skills and Occupier Impacts) and 12 sub-themes. Some of these confirmed findings from the literature review but others had not been previously located including inter-departmental conflicts and occupiers taking responsibility for maintenance. Originality/value – A paucity of previous work specifically relating to Asset Management and LZCTs in the social housing sector was found. The findings should therefore be of interest to a wide range of stakeholders including registered providers, asset managers, surveyors, developers and policy makers.

scholarly journals Towards an Australian social housing best practice asset management framework

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Sharam ◽  
Sean McNelis ◽  
Hyunbum Cho ◽  
Callum Logan ◽  
Terry Burke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Asset Management ◽  
Social Housing ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Management Framework ◽  
Practice Framework ◽  
Am Processes

This research examines social housing asset management (AM) in Australia and develops a best practice framework that outlines AM processes and criteria for making decisions.

scholarly journals Sustainable built asset management performance indicators and attributes

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 508-522
Author(s):  
Justine Cooper ◽  
Angela Lee ◽  
Keith Jones
Keyword(s):  
Asset Management ◽  
Performance Indicators ◽  
Social Housing ◽  
Housing Stock ◽  
Housing Association ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Maintenance Work ◽  
Social Environmental ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Uk

PurposeThis paper aims to identify key performance indicators (KPIs), and their corresponding attributes, required to successfully manage asset management sustainably in a built environment context. Improving the sustainability of existing housing stock is a major challenge facing the UK social housing sector. There is a lack of support to navigate the growing and often incongruent information relating to sustainable development and how to operationalise it. The problem is twofold; first, the current (single criterion) condition-based approach to maintenance planning constrains asset managers and does not fully address the social, environmental and economic aspects of sustainability. Second, the toolkits available for assessing the sustainability of housing are often generic and are time consuming and expensive to implement.Design/methodology/approachThis paper reports the findings of a participatory research project with a leading London-based housing association, using a series of landlord and tenant workshops to derive a set of attributes associated with KPIs to fully reflect the local requirements of the landlord and their interpretation of the sustainability agenda. Five KPIs are considered to be measurable, directly affected by maintenance work and independent of each other were identified by this landlord (comfort, running costs, adaptability, maintenance costs and community).FindingsThe resulting outputs, in a policy context, will provide a clear route map to social housing landlords of how to improve the sustainability of their housing stock with the additional benefits of addressing fuel poverty and carbon emission targets, whilst at the same time, help create and maintain housing in which people want to live.Originality/valueThe proposed approach is flexible enough to incorporate the individual requirements of landlords and be able to adapt to changes in government policy (local and central) in a timely, robust, transparent and inclusive format.

scholarly journals Social technologies as research field and instrument of social transformations

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 77-94
Author(s):  
O. Vl. Gavrilenko
Keyword(s):  
Research Area ◽  
Research Field ◽  
State University ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
Social Transformations ◽  
Blockchain Technology ◽  
The Social ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Social Technologies ◽  
Virtual And Augmented Reality

This article attempts to represent social technologies as a research area of sociology and a practical field. Social technologies (as technology of government of social processes, agents, organizations, communities) are the complex social phenomenon. Nowadays — the days of radical technological changes (Internet of things, Big Data, virtual and augmented reality, blockchain technology, artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotization, transition to a shared economy), redefining a wide range of social fields and generating principally new social regimes ad configurations — the social technologies acquire almost universal character. The exploration and practices (design, implementation, modification) of social technologies mean the work with the widest possible range of social phenomena, deploying on very different spatial and time scales and in various social spheres. At the same time, there remains a need for conceptual and theoretical clarification of “social technologies” on the other hand, and for their institualization as research and practical fields (with its own standards, human and organizational resources and so on). The department of social technologies was opened in Moscow State University establishment on Faculty of Sociology in 2013 to address that need. The article outlines the whole number of research directions of this department since its establishment, through to the present day.

scholarly journals The Spatial Diversity of the Social Housing Stock in the Voivodship Capital Cities of Poland

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (340) ◽  
pp. 163-179
Author(s):  
Magdalena Załęczna ◽  
Konrad Żelazowski
Keyword(s):  
Social Housing ◽  
Housing Stock ◽  
Spatial Diversity ◽  
Capital Cities ◽  
Low Level ◽  
The Social ◽  
Panel Data Econometrics ◽  
Municipal Housing ◽  
Socio Economic Factors

The Polish municipalities are obliged to act directly in the housing market by satisfying the housing needs of people who cannot do it themselves due to their financial or personal situation. Social flats are used for this purpose. In 2009, cities such as Wroclaw, Lodz and Cracow had the share of social housing in the municipal stock at a very low level (Lodz and Wroclaw below 3%, Cracow approx. 4%). In 2016, the situation changed – some cities significantly increased their share of the social housing stock, while in others the share remained at a low level. Cracow currently has approx. 20% of the social housing stock in its municipal housing stock, but Wroclaw and Lodz have the share of social housing stock at the level of 4%. The authors have decided to examine whether the observed trends have led to the convergence of social housing stock among voivodship capital cities and what was the role of socio‑economic factors in the investigated process. Research methods in the form of critical analysis of literature, review of documents and panel data econometrics were used.

The housing shortage

2020 ◽  
pp. 13-26
Author(s):  
Bob Colenutt
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Social Housing ◽  
Housing Stock ◽  
Housing Crisis ◽  
Housing Shortage ◽  
The Social ◽  
Private Housing ◽  
House Building ◽  
Right To Buy ◽  
The Way

This chapter explains how the housing shortage has become a numbers game played by Government. Rather than focusing on the fundamental housing crisis issues of affordability, quality and good planning, it has made the supply of private housing numbers the key objective, even though in this objective it has failed. Supported by data on declining affordability, and spiraling rents and prices, the chapter argues that the diversity and affordability of supply is nowhere near matching the diversity of need. The social housing stock has fallen sharply because of Right to Buy and Buy to Let and lack of new social house building. The concept of affordable housing has become meaningless because of the way Government has defined it.

Achieving and Demonstrating Pipeline Engineering Capability: The Role of Competency Standards, and Their Use for Qualifications and Registration

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Harvey
Keyword(s):  
Asset Management ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Job Level ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Petroleum Pipelines ◽  
Development Plans

There is increasing pressure on the pipeline industry to be able to demonstrate that its asset management and engineering capability management are at a satisfactory level. This is needed to give policymakers, regulators and industry stakeholders confidence in the safety and environmental sustainability of petroleum pipelines. Regulators, in particular, are seeking assurance from pipeline owner/operators that they have capable pipeline engineers designing, constructing, operating and maintaining petroleum pipelines. At present, there are no generally accepted approaches to recognising and developing pipeline engineering capability. The paper will discuss three levels of capability recognition as: (1) registration – as pipeline engineers (not just in mechanical, civil or chemical engineers (overall standing level)) – (2) qualification (sub-discipline/job level) and (3) competency (task level). The most granular and useful of these is competency. This is because it is at the level that is most immediate: the task at hand. Competency, the combination of knowledge and experience that leads to expertise, is increasingly seen as the best practice basis for learning, particularly for professionals. Significantly, once competencies have been defined in competency standards, they can become the building blocks used to define the requirements for both registration and qualification. The Australian Pipelines and Gas Association (APGA) has developed a comprehensive competency system for both onshore and offshore sectors. There are 226 onshore competency standards and 57 offshore competency standards describing, in a succinct format, what is required to be competent. The succinct format of the competency standards avoids the pitfalls of many other systems of competency description, providing enough information to be clear about what is required without unnecessary complexity. In addition to the detailed competency standards, the competency system has tools, resources and a progressive rating scale that make competency standards accessible and easily used. The competency system is characterised by such flexibility that, to date, APGA has identified 15 applications, all of which will add value to engineers and the companies that employ them. The paper will explain, in detail, APGA’s Pipeline Engineer Competency System, how it works and how it can provide the building blocks for a wide range of tasks that support the training, development and recognition of pipeline engineers’ capabilities, including defining the requirements for registration and qualification. The paper will provide case studies, based on the APGA Competency System, showing how it can be used to create requirements for qualifications and registration and to design in-house training and development plans.

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