Eastbourne & Lewes scope housing decarbonisation

Eastbourne and Lewes Councils have engaged a strategic partner, Clear Futures, to look at decarbonisation of its social housing stock. Other local authorities can use the partnership for transformative challenges in the built environment too - particularly those with an environmental and sustainability element.

Clear Futures is a long-term partnering arrangement which was set up by Eastbourne and Lewes Councils in 2017 which is focused on delivering transformative projects at speed. With environmental and sustainability considerations at its core, the 30-year compliant delivery vehicle which has a £50bn threshold brings together expertise from strategic partners AECOM, an infrastructure consulting firm, and Robertson, a construction, infrastructure and support service business, to develop long-term solutions to a range of challenges. Clear Futures can assist in a wide range of projects in the built environment, including energy and decarbonisation, strategic estate management, regeneration, facilities management and retrofit and refurbishment.

When Eastbourne and Lewes established the Clear Futures partnership in 2017, it named all other councils and central and local government departments in its procurement, making the partnership accessible to all UK public sector bodies. Another local authority it has worked widely with is Bolton Council with which Clear Futures has a long- term strategic estate and facilities management role.

"We have done work with Eastbourne and Lewes, but we also have another seven or eight live partnerships where we are doing anything from upfront strategic support through to project development, project delivery and delivery of services focused on key aspects of the built environment. Our work has included levelling up projects, estate decarbonisation projects aligned to the carbon net zero commitments public bodies have made, town centre regeneration projects, some strategic estate and facilities management projects and we are now looking at some specific investment-led opportunities,” explained Richard Airey, Director at Clear Futures and Operations Director at Robertson Capital Projects.

Eastbourne and Lewes have used Clear Futures for various projects, including planning and delivery of a new sustainably built restaurant near Eastbourne Pier to replace a café which had fallen into disrepair. It has now engaged the strategic partner to conduct research, alongside Brighton University, into decarbonising its social housing stock. The research has encompassed an additional six local authorities in the Sussex area to scope out bulk purchasing options.

Helena Rivers, Director at Clear Futures and Director at AECOM, said decarbonisation was a key area Clear Futures could help with at a time when local authorities are stretched in their everyday obligations with now the additional pressure of meeting net-zero commitments.

It is very tempting for people to put this firmly in the too difficult category when there are so many conflicting priorities. This is a vehicle that can support them in the long-term because there are no quick answers to achieving net zero. What Clear Futures will do in a very robust structure is set the strategy and provide the delivery with competition provided to ensure they are getting value for money. We can seek grant funding and private sector funding where there are investable projects, particularly around green energy generation and can manage that whole process with their engagement as much or as little as they would like.

For Eastbourne and Lewes, the decarbonisation research has looked at 40,000 homes and modelled the costs of potential interventions over a ten-year period to optimise programme delivery. For example, it has looked at solar PV installation and ground source heat pumps, taking into consideration the impact on residents who may welcome and need energy cost savings immediately but then may be faced with rising costs in the future. It has also calculated the potential savings if the council purchased materials in bulk and stored them until needed.

We are trying to look at different procurement solutions and realising that continuing to use the same answer isn’t solving this fundamental challenge everyone is facing.

Ian Fitzpatrick, Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Planning and Regeneration at Eastbourne and Lewes Councils, said a major benefit of Clear Futures is that it creates a long-term relationship.

We wanted to change the way we interacted because we know that if everybody is motivated by making it work and happen for the longer term you get better results. It is in the interest of Clear Futures to get it right and not to behave in a short-termist fashion to try to get the maximum value out of the one contract.

Committing to long-term partnerships also gives more certainty to the supply chain, encouraging investment in elements such as training, skills and research and development. “This approach incentivises investment in local skills development and gives certainty to local business to invest in growth. Taking a longer-term view is the most optimal way of delivery, if it is stop-start your local area won’t get the benefit. The seven councils in Sussex are spending £100m a year on our housing stock already and over a ten-year period we are going to spend £1bn by 2030. Clear Futures will make sure we can get the maximum benefits without sleepwalking into it – they will analyse and look at opportunities with us.”

Rivers agrees that having a ten-year horizon makes a “phenomenal difference”. “Clear Futures will be operating well beyond ten-years which is unusual for a procurement vehicle. It gives us the opportunity to build the skills and education locally, create the local opportunity and concurrently achieve these long- term targets,” she explained.

• To find out more about Clear Futures visit: www.clearfutures.co.uk

• Eastbourne and Lewes featured in the Big Picture Sustainability segment at the iESE Conference 2022, watch this segment here: www.iese.org.uk/conference-2022