Search

The provision of sustainable housing should factor energy efficiency, the use of sustainable building methods and materials and address the current associated barriers. This consideration triggered an ongoing study in UK which has so far conducted a bibliometric analysis of 275 papers using the VOSviewer software. More papers have been published in the last 5 years compared to the previous 15, and the UK is less engaged in successful collaborations in comparison to other economically developed nations. The lesser use of innovation in the UK has been identified. Also, the uses of sustainable methods and materials in residential housing are not fully exploited for achieving energy efficiency. A future research direction emerging is the potential to study the combined impact of using innovative materials and methods to achieve greater energy efficiency in UK housing provision. Through technological innovations and the need to move from fossil fuels (for example, through the use of heat pumps) a new approach can move the UK closer to achieving net-zero in housing provision and operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since at least 2012, UK housing providers (and policy makers) have introduced policies aimed at developing autonomy and independence among service users, through an agenda sometimes referred to as 'responsibilisation'. This paper considers the role that technologies play in this agenda, through an analysis of how wellbeing and independence are facilitated amongst older social housing tenants. Based on case studies of four supported housing schemes in England, the research considers the capacity to exercise agency amongst older persons, through their willingness and ability to accept technological interventions, and the role of support networks to facilitate independent living. Using the concept of modalities of agency, the research examines the impact of implementing 'low-level' assistive technologies in the home, based on the perspectives of residents and staff. The interventions studied were designed to improve social relationships, promote self-sufficiency and support self-managed care (based on the principle that the most effective projects facilitate individual agency). The research findings identified that residents responded differentially to technology, based on their levels of capability, motivation, reluctance and resistance. Whilst the study demonstrated that small technological innovations could have disproportionately positive impacts in improving wellbeing, the research demonstrates the complex nature of agency and limits of responsibility. The paper argues that responsibilisation is part of a wider neoliberal project, where choice and agency are manufactured to create an idealised notion of the autonomous actor (in this case through technology-enabled care). The article argues that a collaborative approach to service provision in which responsibility is shared, via co-managed care, is a more effective means of enhancing agency, than one which advocates a withdrawal of support (in the guise of autonomy). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of low or zero carbon technologies has been encouraged in the UK, one of which is air source heat pump (ASHP). However, the current ASHP uptake in UK housing is low, far behind that in Europe and America. This paper aims to contribute to knowledge of utilising ASHP by examining the decision criteria for selecting ASHP and exploring underlying considerations of UK housebuilders. The research was carried out through a case study with a housebuilder and seven nation-wide suppliers, engaging four new-build projects. A wide range of decision criteria were identified. Despite the dominance of cost considerations, non-cost factors also imposed significant commercial implications on the housebuilder's technology selection. For achieving more effective ASHP selection, a structured approach is suggested to manage the decision criteria and appreciate the stakeholders' roles and relationships regarding technology uptake. Improved practice should enable a more informed technology decision culture in UK housing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the role of discourse in innovation journeys using the example of low energy housing in the UK. Discourse is shown to be influential within innovation journeys in two main ways: first, discourse unites the often disparate organisations involved in innovation, and thereby gives structure and direction to the innovation journey; second, discourse has the power to retrospectively 'reframe' the course of an innovation journey, leaving out inconsistent parts and ignoring twists and turns, so past innovation journeys are in effect reconstructed in the present. This discursive remapping of innovation journeys has implications for current and future pathways of innovation. Further, there is a two-way relationship between discourse and technology development. It is discussed how pioneering low energy housing developments have themselves become a significant part of low carbon housing discourse, acting as powerful 'storylines'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the efficiency of housebuilding is essential if the challenge of meeting future UK housing needs is to be met. The degree to which speculative housebuilders are prepared to adopt construction product and process innovations is central to this task. Historically, housebuilders have been notoriously slow to innovate. However, current housing market and regulatory trends suggest firms will have to reassess their strategies to ensure future success. The paper explores the extent to which new methods for improving the housing 'product' and reducing construction costs may be taken up by housebuilders. We then consider what can be done to overcome the barriers which have so far inhibited a more innovative housebuilding industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Code for Sustainable Homes will require new homes in the UK to be ‘zero carbon’ from 2016. Drawing upon an evolutionary innovation perspective, a gap in the literature is addressed by investigating which low and zero-carbon technologies are actually being used by house builders, rather than the prevailing emphasis on the potentiality of these technologies. Using the results from a questionnaire, three empirical contributions are made. First, house builders are selecting a narrow range of technologies. Second, these choices are made to minimize the disruption to their standard design and production templates (SDPTs). Finally, the coalescence around a small group of technologies is expected to intensify with solar-based technologies predicted to become more important. A challenge is presented to the dominant technical rationality that assumes technical efficiency and cost benefits are the primary drivers for technology selection. These drivers play an important role, but one which is mediated by the logic of maintaining the SDPTs of the house builders. This emphasizes the need for construction diffusion of innovation theory to be problematized and developed within the context of business and market regimes constrained and reproduced by resilient technological trajectories. Le Code pour des logements durables exigera que les nouveaux logements construits au Royaume-Uni soient « sans carbone » à partir de 2016. En s'inscrivant dans une perspective d'innovation évolutive, une lacune est comblée dans la littérature par l'étude des technologies bas carbone et sans carbone qui sont réellement utilisées par les constructeurs de logements, plutôt que d'opter pour l'approche dominante qui met l'accent sur le potentiel de ces technologies. En utilisant les résultats d'un questionnaire, il est apporté trois contributions empiriques. Premièrement, les constructeurs de logements sélectionnent un champ restreint de technologies. Deuxièmement, ces choix sont faits de façon à réduire au minimum les perturbations pouvant être apportées à leurs modèles standards de conception et de production (« SDPT »). Enfin, il est attendu de cette convergence autour d'un petit groupe de technologies qu'elle s'intensifie avec les technologies basées sur le solaire qui, selon les prévisions, vont gagner en importance. Ceci pose une sérieuse difficulté à la rationalité technique dominante qui présume que l'efficacité technique et les avantages en terme de coût sont les principaux facteurs du choix d'une technologie. Ces éléments moteurs jouent un rôle important, mais qui demeure soumis à la logique de conservation des modèles SDPT des constructeurs de logements. Ceci met en évidence la nécessité de problématiser et de développer la diffusion dans le secteur du bâtiment de la théorie de l'innovation dans le contexte de régimes d'entreprise et de marché contraints et reproduits par des trajectoires technologiques résilientes. Mots clés: Code pour des logements durables, diffusion de l'innovation, innovation évolutive, constructeurs de logements, technologies bas carbone et sans carbone, choix technologiques [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

British housebuilding has an exceptionally poor record at introducing innovations in design and production methods. Recent government concern about the poor innovation and productivity performance of the construction industry has focused almost entirely on changing the strategies of firms. In the context of housebuilding, this focus seems insufficient. Instead, it is argued here that housebuilders face particular market constraints on innovation in both their output and input markets. These constraints are investigated and proposals to limit them are suggested, which, if introduced, should make new firm strategies toward innovation more likely to be successful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]