ADP funds at risk as majority of associations fail to reach required environmental standard

A "pass" rating under the EcoHomes standard will be compulsory for schemes applying for Housing Corporation ADP grant from April – but industry insiders estimate that as few as 10-15% of housing associations currently meet that standard.

Sustainable Homes, an advice service that helps associations improve energy efficiency and environmental awareness, believes that most of the 450 developing associations will have to improve the design, planning and energy efficiency of schemes to achieve a pass.

Manager Jenny Wain said: "I think most housing associations are aware of it; but there are the leaders, and the others that are not so much at the cutting edge."

However, she said the fact that around 100 housing associations have signed up for Housing Corporation-subsidised training on EcoHomes was "positive".

It was announced in the Communities Plan last month that the EcoHomes standard was being incorporated into the Housing Corporation's Scheme Development Standards for applicants in the 2003/04 funding round.

Phil Thompson, area development manager for Ealing Family Housing Association, said external validation for the standard could cost up to £1500 a scheme. He said: "We've been pushing for EcoHomes for a while, but others are just beginning to see it coming."

Only 10-15% of housing associations currently meet the EcoHomes sustainability standard

The standard covers seven key areas: energy use, transport, pollution, materials, water, land use and ecology, and health and wellbeing. Projects can be rated as pass, good, very good or excellent. Schemes that achieve a "good" rating benefit from a "sustainability multiplier" which increases the level of grant funding by 1%.

According to Housing Corporation innovation and good practice projects manager Chris Watts, schemes will have to achieve a mandatory "good" rating from 2005/06 to get ADP funding.

National Housing Federation policy leader Liz Willis welcomed the drive to improve environmental standards, saying: "The changes that will need to be made are often quite simple. It's really just another component in improving the quality of our product."

But she warned that section 106 schemes could find the "pass" standard harder to achieve than others. "It depends on attitude of the partner developer," she said. "Housing associations might find themselves constrained by commercial objectives."

Sustainable Homes, a best practice network of 1000 housing associations and consultants funded by the Housing Corporation, is currently working on its Guide to EcoHomes to help associations design and plan sustainable projects.