Apr 10 2008
The launch of SHIFT, the Sustainable Housing Index For Tomorrow is to take place 7 May 3pm at the THINK exhibition at the Excel centre, London.
SHIFT is a membership scheme providing a comprehensive assessment of an organisation’s sustainability and an overall rating similar to the schools and hospitals performance rating. Membership will be renewed annually and the results of the index ranking will be given high media profile.
The scheme has already raised a lot of interest and support within the housing sector. Our sponsors are WWF, UK Green Building Council, Housing Corporation and Bank of Scotland Corporate in addition to a high level endorsement by GLA. Peabody Trust, Hastoe Housing Association, Gentoo Green and Wakefield and District Housing have already joined the index. The CEO of National Housing Federation will be speaking at the launch of SHIFT and the Minister of Housing is invited.
Prospective members will be invited to join up until the end of May 2008. After joining members will be asked to provide information to answer a survey covering topic areas such as governance, existing and new builds. The information will be collected and analysed with the aim of producing an individual feedback report for each participant and an executive summary highlighting the major trends emerging as a result of the overall information analysis. Participants’ overall performance will be reported in bands; from bronze indicating a minimum level of achievement in implementing the sustainability agenda to platinum grouping the highest performers.
SHIFT represents an independent and comprehensive method of assessing progress on how housing associations and housing providers are embedding sustainability in the way they operate and provide their services. They will be able to assess their progress against peers and over time, gaining a good understanding of their weakest areas or building on their competitive advantage in a highly demanding housing market.
“The key advantages of SHIFT are that it is a move away from greenwash towards independent accreditation. It is also a move towards also focusing more on existing homes” says Andrew Eagles – Managing Director of Sustainable Homes Ltd.
Sustainable Homes provides training and consultancy services on how to build and refurbish homes sustainably. This includes Code for Sustainable Homes assessor training and training on eco refurbishment.