Environmental assessment of low-energy social housing, Boatemah Walk building, Brixton

Energy use from buildings represents a considerable share from the UK energy consumption as a whole and the resulting C02 emissions are considered the main driver for climate change. There is a global urge for new and existing buildings to be truly effective in reducing their energy consumption. This study evaluates the performance in use of low energy design in social housing: Boatemah Walk is a newly built residential block of 18 flats located in Angell Town, Brixton, which benefits from various low energy enhancing features such as: a low embodied energy building fabric, super insulation, photovoltaic panels integrated in the roof, rainwater recycling system and non-toxic building materials and finishes. The new building layout and surrounding landscape influences positively the community integration and safety. The evaluation has been done through observation, monitoring, interviews with tenants and the use of TAS software, throughout the year after occupation. Boatemah Walk building has proved successful in some aspects and less successful in others. It is crucial that a demonstration project like Boatemah Walk building considers all mechanisms necessary to monitor its efficiency, as this would provide feedback to prove the efficiency and encourage similar investments. However, during the course of the study it was found that a meter for the recycled water and export meters for the photovoltaic production were missing. This proved to be an obstacle for the accurate monitoring of the building performance. The annual heating in Boatemah Walk is below the national averages, which confirms the good performance of its building fabric. In hot summer days the lightweight building is expectedly vulnerable to the outside. This is not a frequent occurrence however the effects of climate change are very likely to increase the length and temperatures in the future. The tenants' energy consuming behavior has a definitive impact, as revealed through monitoring and direct interviews. There is a wide difference between tenants in terms of their environmental concern and attitudes, which is reflected in the overall performance of the building. One of the most successful aspects of this development is probably the effect it is having in the community. The tenants are highly satisfied with the building in various aspects, and the ones who used to live in Angell Town before the regeneration have experienced a very positive change in their quality of life and a sense of pride about their community