Reconstructing low-energy housing using ‘systems of practice’. Rachel Macrorie Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of East Anglia – School of Environmental Sciences March 2016 © This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with the author and that use of any information derived there from must be in accordance with current UK Copyright Law. In addition, any quotation or extract must include full attribution. Abstract The residential sector accounts for a third of energy use in the UK (DECC, 2014b) and generates fifteen percent of greenhouse gas emissions (DECC, 2014c). Low- energy housing is therefore critical to meeting climate change mitigation targets (DECC, 2011). New homes are required to be carbon-neutral by 2016, presenting a considerable challenge to the housing industry (DCLG, 2006). Addressing this ambition remains shaped by the ‘techno-rational paradigm’, where energy savings rely on optimal design, technological diffusion and ‘correct’ use. In contrast, this thesis understands technologies and ‘behaviours’ as connected through social practices, which interrelate in dynamic ‘systems of practice’. Housing policy, newly built homes, and domestic practices are critical to governing low-energy housing transformations, yet initiatives consistently fail to account for inter-connections between these different practices. Whilst interventions are attempted, they frequently go awry, or operate in unexpected ways. Developing a systems of practice analysis, this thesis analyses implementation of the Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH) - a building energy performance standard introduced to drive ‘a step-change in sustainable home building practice’ (DCLG, 2006). A Norfolk- based affordable housing scheme, accredited as carbon-neutral, forms the focus of this mixed-methods case-study. The research identifies that householders incorporate energy-efficient building materials and renewable technologies in ways that frequently fail to mesh with designers’ assumptions. Housing professionals also struggle to modify ingrained ‘ways of doing’. Importantly, these actors and their practices are enabled, or constrained, by connections within and across broader practice systems. This has important governance implications. Research and policy should therefore: (i) conceptually map the housing system delimiting the network of involved actors and agents, and identifying pivotal links for target practices or interventions, (ii) generate multi-actor and multi-pronged interventions and join up distributed sources of evidence, and (iii) attend to how interventions generate reactions, interactions and resistances across the practice system. Reconstructing low-energy housing | Rachel Macrorie (2016) 2 List of Contents Abstract 2 List of Contents 3 List of Figures 8 List of Tables 10 Acknowledgements 11 Chapter 1. Introduction: Laying the foundations for low-energy housing 14 1.1 Existing attempts to deliver a less energy-intensive residential sector 16 1.2 Ensuring firm foundations: Towards a new low-energy housing approach 23 1.3 Thesis outline 27 Chapter 2. Governing low-energy housing: Assumptions, limitations and alternatives 31 2.1 Technological approaches for the governance of low-energy housing 32 2.2 Behavioural approaches for the governance of low-energy housing 38 2.2.1 Individuals’ attitudes and values towards low-energy housing 39 2.2.1.1 The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) 40 2.2.1.2 The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) 42 2.2.1.3 Behavioural economics and the ‘nudge’ approach 45 2.2.1.4 Value-Belief-Norm theory (VBN) 47 2.2.2 Contextual low-energy housing solutions 49 2.2.2.1 The discursive contexts of low-energy housing 50 2.2.2.2 Temporally and spatially situated low-energy lifestyles 51 2.2.2.3 The socio-technical configuration of low-energy households 53 2.3 Socio-technical systems based approaches to the governance of low-energy housing 55 2.3.1 Domesticating low-energy housing technologies 56 2.3.2 Actor Network Theory 58 Reconstructing low-energy housing | Rachel Macrorie (2016) 3 List of Contents 2.3.3 Analysing socio-technical transitions using the Multi-Level Perspective 62 2.4 Practices in the governance of low-energy housing 66 2.4.1 Practice elements and their interconnections 68 2.4.2 The creation, performance and reproduction of practices 73 2.4.3 Transformations and interventions in systems of practice 76 2.4.4 Gaps in practice 82 2.5 Research questions 83 Chapter 3. Researching low-energy housing-related practices 87 3.1 Starting out: Developing ways of knowing and framing research questions 88 3.1.1 Constructing low-energy housing practices 93 3.1.2 Studying low-energy housing practices 96 3.2 Presenting the case study, sample site and target practices 99 3.2.1 Standardising low-energy housing: The case of the Code for Sustainable Homes 102 3.2.2 The Trinity Close low-energy housing site 106 3.2.3 Defining boundaries for the Trinity Close low-energy housing system of practice 111 3.3 Collecting and making sense of empirical data 115 3.3.1 Reflecting on my research position & interpretations in the field 116 3.3.2 Household and professional practitioner interviews 119 3.3.3 Sharing in practice: Participant observation and household audio tours 124 3.3.4 Reflecting on practices: Research diaries, discursive games, and interpreting temperature data logs 127 3.3.5 Documentary review 134 3.3.6 Ethical considerations 136 3.3.7 Data analysis & writing-up findings 138 Reconstructing low-energy housing | Rachel Macrorie (2016) 4 List of Contents Chapter 4. Governing housing practices: Planning the Trinity Close initiative 142 4.1 Minister for Housing and Local Government, Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) 145 4.2 Roger, Planning team - Broadland District Council (BDC) 147 4.3 Dave, Development team - Wherry Housing Association (WHA) 151 4.4 Tom, Senior Management - Dove Jeffery Homes (DJH) 156 4.5 Brian, Programme Manager - Adapt Commercial Limited (Adapt) 161 4.6 Households 1-12 Trinity Close - WHA affordable housing tenants 166 4.7 Summary: Planned (non)-interventions in housing practices at Trinity Close 168 Chapter 5. Appraising low-energy interventions in housing-related practices: Outcomes of the Trinity Close initiative 172 5.1 Trinity Close Phase One building energy performance results 173 5.1.1 Gaps in electricity performance monitoring 174 5.1.2 Energy production and consumption at Trinity Close 177 5.2 Stability and change in the elements of household (heat comfort) practices 185 5.2.1 The ‘stuff ’ of household heat comfort practices 186 5.2.2 The ‘skills’ of household heat comfort practices 190 5.2.3 ‘Images’ of household heat comfort practices 194 5.2.4 The Trinity Close initiative as an intervention in practice 201 5.3 Shifting housing design and construction practices 202 5.3.1 Generating environmentally sustainable housing construction practices 203 5.3.2 Developing low-energy systems of housing construction practice 206 5.3.3 Recruiting and keeping low-energy housing construction practitioners 211 5.4 Developing a relational understanding of housing practices 217 Reconstructing low-energy housing | Rachel Macrorie (2016) 5 List of Contents Chapter 6. A ‘systems of practice’ approach to low-energy housing: Reframing Trinity Close 218 6.1 Extending SPT using relational concepts from arrangement theories 220 6.2 Five problematisations configuring Rackheath housing initiatives 223 6.2.1 The need for an increased (affordable) housing supply 224 6.2.2 Ensuring large-scale green growth within Broadland District 226 6.2.3 Demonstrating codified low-carbon housing construction 230 6.2.4 Appraising the low-carbon housing development 235 6.2.5 Developing a housing strategy for Broadland District 239 6.3 Mapping and characterising the Rackheath system of housing practice 244 6.3.1 Systematising systems of practice 245 6.3.2 Enrolment to/de-enrolment from systems of practice 248 6.3.3 Systems of practice relations and feedback dynamics 252 6.4 Summary 255 Chapter 7: Conclusion: Doing low-energy housing differently 258 7.1 Summary of findings: Answering the research questions 260 7.1.1 How can the Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH) be conceptualised as an intervention in practice? 260 7.1.2 What effects does CSH as an intervention in practice? 264 7.1.3 What is the potential for applying ‘systems of practice’ to the governance of low-energy housing? 272 7.1.4 How can Social Practice Theory inform the governance of low-energy housing? Recommendations for policy and practice 275 7.2 Research contributions: Empirical, theoretical and methodological 281 7.2.1 Empirical contributions 281 7.2.2 Theoretical contributions 282 7.2.3 Methodological contributions 285 7.3 Next steps: A new research agenda 287 Reconstructing low-energy housing | Rachel Macrorie (2016) 6 List of Contents Appendices A BDC report completed after household pilot interviews 291 B Letter from the Rt. Hon. Don Foster MP (DCLG) 316 C Household practitioner - sample interview topic guide 318 D Professional practitioner - sample interview topic guide 324 E Household practitioner - interview information sheet 329 F Professional practitioner - interview information sheet 331 G Interview consent and release form 333 H Household practitioner interview transcript excerpt 335 I Professional practitioner interview transcript excerpt 339 J Heat comfort practice diary excerpt 344 K List of analysed policy documents 347 L Sample household