Decarbonisation Measure Assessment Tool (DeMAT)

This is a collaborative project undertaken by ICAX Limited and Welsh social housing provider (SHP), Valleys to Coast (V2C). We have identified through collaborative real-world work that there is a need for fast, efficient, reliable, and low-cost assessment of V2C's existing building stock as part of meeting their decarbonisation targets; to decarbonise 6,000 homes by 2033 and to switch all gas heated properties to electric heating where possible.

Similar needs apply to other UK social housing organisations - in our investigation of the historically used assessment processes among SHPs, we have found that decision-making around decarbonisation spend has frequently been driven by episodic/one-off consultancy inputs, which are not necessarily replicable or affordable across large property portfolios.

To date we have developed and deployed a prototype rapid assessment tool in spreadsheet form for V2C. This utilises data from their property management system to quantify existing building performance, based on fabric definition, to demonstrate how additional fabric measures/changes will affect overall building performance. The tool is used to iterate combinations of decarbonisation measures. The development of Lifespan/equivalent portals is an asset nearly all SHPs have already committed to for asset management. Their housing stock also tends to have limited typologies (based on age and size).

V2C has successfully used the prototype tool to rapidly prioritise their selection of measures to apply to individual properties in their portfolio. Since both parties have a good level of confidence in the tool's effectiveness, we will a portable application version with enhanced/expanded features and improved accuracy and flexibility to meet the identified need.

The tool is innovative because it creates a fast, efficient process of analysis by integrating property data management systems and assessment using building physics principles, providing analysis and optimized proposals. This minimises the requirement and costs associated with on-site/intrusive testing. This allows more budget to be allocated to building energy improvement measures.

As part of the project development the data set in V2C's property management portfolio will be assessed, and revised if needed for better tool integration. A sample of properties will be surveyed, and on- site physical (heat loss and air tightness) testing carried out during and post fabric upgrade as a cross-checking exercise to assess the accuracy of the tool against real cases.

After project completion this tool can be licensed out to other SHPs and be expanded/upgraded to work for owner occupiers and new build developers.