Technical Corner: M-Four's Housing Energy Modelling Services

MEMBER’S CORNER

www.elmhurstenergy.co.uk

M-Four's Housing Energy Modelling Services

David Falla, Head of Commercial, Technology and Innovation for M-Four

Who is M-Four?

M-Four is a forwardthinking consultancy business, focused on driving change and bringing excellence to the socialhousing sector. Over the past five years, their consultants have been working closely with housing providers, local authorities, and other public sector organisations, providing a range of consultancy services that have helped improve over 15,000 properties across Scotland.

They implement practical, progressive solutions with expertise and enthusiasm, whilst remaining truly devoted to their overarching goal: to look after our planet and the people living on it.

M-Four’s Energy Modelling Services

The team at M-Four strongly believe that utilising energy consultancy services can contribute to the overall goal of eradicating fuel poverty in Scotland, through providing information which drives change forwards.

One of the primary services offered by M-four is their Energy Efficiency Consultancy Service, which they are delivering in collaboration with Elmhurst Energy using their Streamline software, and Housing Associations. This service places energy data into the hands of Associations, enabling better investment planning, reducing carbon emissions and reducing fuel bills, whilst also helping the association achieve EESSH2 compliance by Elmhurst Energy. This partnership allows us to ensure they have the skills and knowledge to deliver professional energy assessments, modelling and lodge Energy Performance Certificates (EPC).

How it Works

Existing data, in the form of EPCs already carried out by the Association, is curated and analysed by M-Four, with a view to applying the recommendations and producing an Energy Performance Report (EPR) which will demonstrate the potential SAP rating for every property. In addition to this, M-Four can also demonstrate the level of carbon reduction on applying these measures, and apply costs to these element improvements, to provide accurate costs for the level of investment required over a 12-year period for approval by their Board of Management.

Once all the EPCs have been analysed, the data is loaded into a bespoke EESSH2 dashboard with full operational and analytical capability for their stock portfolio, allowing for interactive engagement with the collated data and simplifying the ability to view changes that are required. This allows the Association to view the overall level of investment on their stock, the effect this investment will have on the average rating of their properties and the total amount of carbon emission reduction which could potentially be achieved.

The data can be filtered and drilled into to allow individual property, street, postcode and town assessment, which would be suitable for any option appraisals or exemptions which may apply.

The final report includes a summary, including the potential cost per property, and an overall investment plan for the stock portfolio, to enable recommendations to be implemented and compliance reached. Overall, this service utilises and analyses existing information to provide a projected view of how clients can better address underperforming properties, the costs associated with this work and the net carbon reduction effect. This inevitably leads to understanding how best to eradicate the effects of fuel poverty for their customers.

This thorough service enables clients to better understand the impact of EESSH2 on their forthcoming investment plans and take practical steps towards future sustainability.

Looking to the Future

The M-Four team pride themselves on being at the cutting edge of innovation, as they endeavour to keep their clients abreast of sector developments in pursuit of EESSH2 compliance post-2032 and the Journey to Net Zero. In 2021, they are looking forward to investing in and expanding their services to include retrofit assessments for domestic properties and a retrofit coordination service to enable project compliance with PAS 2035.

M-Four will continue to work in close partnership with Elmhurst Energy, to ensure that clients receive the best quality of service, and that future-proof housing stock strategies are created.

Get In Touch

If you would like to know more about M-Four’s services, please get in touch at endfuelpoverty@m-four.org

Follow M-Four:

@momentumfour

@momentumfour