A local authority viewpoint: With ever-increasing tenant waiting lists, monetary pressures from all angles, aged and inconsistent assets and ever-increasing construction costs; achieving consistency across our entire residential property portfolio is almost impossible. Whilst all financial sense frequently points to demolishing and re-building homes, it comes with huge pressures, not least capital cost, damaging established communities and temporary accommodation requirements to name a few.
A tenant viewpoint: I have a home which is so tired that it is having a negative impact upon my health and wellbeing, also forcing me into fuel poverty due to its obscene running costs. This home is negatively impacting my life and increasing my dependence on society as a whole. How is this so, when other local authority tenants are living in brand new homes? That said, this has been my home for 30 plus years, my children grew up here, my friends are here. Who knows where I’ll end up when they eventually flatten these homes to make way for new ones.
Another way? Whilst multiple sustainable home improvement technologies are available they don’t provide a holistic solution. Yes, you can add new boilers to reduce fuel costs, but the heat will still race out of the poorly insulated roofs, windows, doors and walls. Yet, as soon as you chase the problem downstream, adding more sustainability improvements, the costs and disruption continue to grow and before long, ‘plan A’ returns, it’s time to demolish and rebuild. Or is it?
