Almshouses in Wiltshire Life

Wiltshire Life has just published the first of three articles by Gary Lawrence taking a look into the almshouse world, beginning with a visit to one of the oldest.

Lawrence begins his piece in the sitting room of Winifred Alford, an 88-year-old former hospital almoner who has lived at the College of Matrons almshouse for 18 years, having moved there from Donhead St Andrew near Shaftesbury where she felt no longer able to live on her own somewhere so remote.

” I feel very fortunate to live here, it is a beautiful building and it has so much history. I feel secure, I don’t have to worry about the upkeep or maintenance of a home and there are people close by should they be needed”
Winifred, resident

Wiltshire Life has kindly shared a copy of the article with us. Its beautifully and sensitively written and we look forward to their next articles that include Salisbury Almshouses, the Hospital of St John in Heytesbury and Zeal’s Almshouses. Please click here to read in full.

posted 6 October 2022

The New Almshouse Association Awards launched!

The New Almshouse Association Awards are now open for your 2022 submissions!

The awards have been updated to include environmental innovations and to provide clear definitions for each award to ease the award submission path. They will continue to represent recognition for real innovation and achievement within the almshouse movement.

The upgrading and improvement of the environmental impact of buildings is now paramount. Remodelling almshouses or building new almshouses in a way that retains the integrity of their historic buildings is particularly challenging, requires great skill to navigate. Our members are doing an incredible job to ensure their almshouses are well maintained and kept warm and welcoming, whilst also adhering to environmental criteria.

With this in mind, The Almshouse Association Awards recognise and reflect the ever-growing environmental aspects that our members are taking on board when redeveloping or building new. The also encapsulate and honour all the tremendous hard work of our member charities, highlighting the wonderful innovations and life-enhancing projects that are taking place throughout our membership.

The four awards are:

We hope you enjoy being a part of these new awards and you will find, over the coming months, we will be engaging with you to support you with your submissions. We know so many of you have such incredible sites and we will be encouraging you to share these with your peers by partaking in the awards.

Our aim is to build on the quality and high standards of our previous award winners, setting goals and establishing, in many cases, best practices within the almshouse movement.

Please click here to go to our Award pages where you will find criteria, guidelines and submission formats along with tips and design briefs and former award winners.

Today, more than ever, it’s so important to recognise the vital role almshouses and almshouse trustees play in today’s society. We look forward to receiving your submissions!

The deadline for submissions is 31st January 2023.

posted 6 October 2022

Almshouses for young people in Surrey

The Poland Trust

The Almshouse Association was honoured to be invited to the opening ceremony of new almshouses built by The Poland Trust to house younger people in housing need

Celebrating the opening of the new almshouses Sept 22

The Poland Trust is a charity based in Brockham, Surrey originally set up by Sidney Michael Poland who lived in the village and supported many village organisations during his lifetime and arranged for the charity to be established after his death.

In the 1950s the first trustees built six almshouses and a warden’s flat for villagers in hardship, need or distress on land left by Mr Poland. Since then four more units have been built at Poland House but there was no further space at that beautiful site just under Box Hill.

Fifteen years ago the trustees decided that the elderly in Brockham and the three surrounding villages of Betchworth, Buckland and Leigh were well served by available accommodation but that there was a need for affordable housing for a younger generation.

It took twelve years to find a suitable site in an area of outstanding natural beauty in the greenbelt until a local landowner offered the Trust a corner of one of his fields which enabled the real work to start.

Negotiations began with Mole Valley District Council for the site to be designated as a Rural Exception Site for planning purposes and the Council provided a significant grant for the project which will provide homes for applicants from their Housing List with a connection to the the villages. The site is large enough for twelve homes for almshouse residents and five self-build plots which the Trust has sold at 75% of market value to local residents with a covenant that they can only be sold on at 80% of market value and have to be offered to people in the local community.

A local Brockham architect drew plans which would provide four one-bed flats in a single almshouse building; two one-bed houses, five two-bed houses and one three-bed house in a courtyard for the almshouse dwellings; and five detached houses for the self-build plots all of which reflect the rural nature of this very sensitive area.

The trustees selected Scandia-Hus Ltd of East Grinstead as the builder as their timber-frame construction system provides high levels of insulation and should be low maintenance which is important for future generations of trustees. Scandia-Hus understood from the outset what the trustees were trying to achieve and have proved to be extremely good partners. From the architect’s plans which were used to obtain planning permission they agreed a fixed price contract with the trustees which included all the detailed drawings needed together with all the groundworks as well as the building work. This helped with the financial control of the project especially during a period of increasing material costs.

Financing the project is a combination of the grant from Mole Valley District Council, the sale of the self-build plots, the Trust’s own resources and a loan from CAF Bank. A large amount of money was spent before anything appeared out of the ground which was frustrating at the time, not least because a sophisticated flood alleviation scheme had to be incorporated in the design, but overall the project stayed close to the original expectations.

“The Almshouse Association was helpful to the trustees in persuading Mole Valley District Council that the twelve units owned by the charity should be almshouses rather than the rented accommodation with which the Council is more familiar and it helps the charity for all of its housing to be under the almshouse umbrella.”

As the project nears completion, the trustees are both happy and relieved that they have been able to create an asset for the local community in perpetuity and one of which they believe Mr Poland would approve.

Posted 3 October 22

P&G update: 26.09.22

The Almshouse Association regularly posts a news summary of the latest Policy and Governance legislation that could impact / requires action from our member charities, with links to further information where applicable. Please find below our latest summary:

Government

Support for energy bills announced – Prime Minister Liz Truss has outlined the support that the government will provide to help with the spiralling costs of energy.

The Energy Price Guarantee is a package of measures which includes:
- Suspending green levies on energy bills
- Capping household bills to £2500 per year for the next two years
- Providing the £400 energy rebate
- Equivalent support will be offered to those on heat networks
- A fund will be established to support charities with their energy costs this winter, offering an equivalent guarantee for the next 6 months

More information can be found here.

Government announces support for non-domestic energy bills – The Government has now published details on the Energy Bill Relief Scheme which will help those on non-domestic (business) tariffs this winter. This will include charities who provide energy to their residents.
The support will initially be available from 1^st October 2022 until 31^st March 2023, with further support expected after this for the most vulnerable sectors.

The scheme will be available to everyone on a non-domestic contract including:
- businesses
- voluntary sector organisations, such as charities
- public sector organisations such as schools, hospitals and care homes
  who are:
- on existing fixed price contracts that were agreed on or after 1 April 2022
- signing new fixed price contracts
- on deemed / out of contract or variable tariffs
- on flexible purchase or similar contracts

The support will be applied to all bills by suppliers, and you will not need to apply for it to take effect.
– Our full article on the support can be found here.
– A more detailed breakdown of the support can be found on the government announcement here.

Response to Tenant Satisfaction Measures Consultation Published -The Regulator of Social Housing has published its response to its consultation on the introduction of Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs) for Registered Providers of Social Housing.

The TSMs are a set of measures on which are aimed to reflect the performance of housing providers, included registered providers who are almshouses. Following the consultation some of the TSMs have been amended, but there will still be 22 data points covering measures gathered from residents and housing providers based upon levels of satisfaction, complaints, health & safety checks etc.

For most almshouse charities who have less than 1,000 dwellings, there are provisions to collect this data every year or every two years. For those with over 1,000 dwellings, it will be an annual requirement.

The TSMs are due to come into effect on 1^st April 2023. Full details on the response and supplementary information can be found here.

The Charity Commission

Protect your charity from fraud and cybercrime – The Charity Commission has published guidance on protecting charities from fraud and cybercrime ahead of Charity Fraud Awareness Week (17 – 21 October 2022).

Full guidance can be found here.

RECORD OF PREVIOUS 2021/22 Policy and Governance updates:

Posted 26 September 22

Government announces support for non-domestic energy bills

The Government has now published details on the Energy Bill Relief Scheme which will help those on non-domestic (business) tariffs this winter. This will include charities who provide energy to their residents.

The support will initially be available from 1^st October 2022 until 31^st March 2023, with further support expected after this for the most vulnerable sectors.

The scheme will be available to everyone on a non-domestic contract including:
– businesses
– voluntary sector organisations, such as charities
– public sector organisations such as schools, hospitals and care homes

who are:
– on existing fixed price contracts that were agreed on or after 1 April 2022
– signing new fixed price contracts
– on deemed / out of contract or variable tariffs
– on flexible purchase or similar contracts

The support comes from a cap being placed on the unit price on your electricity and gas, this cap has been set at:
– £211 per megawatt hour (MWh) for electricity
– £75 per MWh for gas

For comparison, this compares to £600 for electricity and £180 for gas which had been expected this winter.

The support will be applied to all bills by suppliers and you will not need to apply for it to take effect.

If you agreed your fixed price contract / tariff on or after 1 April 2022 you will get support if the calculated wholesale element of the price you are paying is above the government supported price.
If your fixed tariff is based on wholesale prices below the government supported price, you will not be eligible for support.
For members who use heat networks or provide energy to their residents the Government advises:

“We expect businesses and other organisation to pass on the benefits under this scheme through to the end user in a reasonable and proportionate way. This will ensure support, for instance, to customers of heat networks and park home residents.”

A more detailed breakdown of the support can be found on the Government announcement here.

The Almshouse Association will continue to discuss the needs of the almshouse movement to be included in any future support beyond 31^st March 2023 and would greatly appreciate evidence/case studies from member charities regarding the impact of the high energy costs and how the support provided through this scheme is ensuring services continue.

If you have any further questions, please get in touch with Jack Baldan via jackbaldan@almshouses.org

Posted 22 September 22

Heating advice notes

The challenge of sustainable heating was an important agenda item at a recent Peter Birtwistle Trust Almshouse Networking Event. They asked a local expert for his advice and have kindly made it available to the membership.

Our thanks to John Book of JRB Environmental Design Ltd for putting together the below notes and to Alison Evans, Executive Officer Peter Birtwistle Trust for sharing them with us.

Heating advice notes for almshouses

The initial approach should always be taken as fabric first, i.e., to look at ways of improving the thermal properties of the buildings through the provision of double glazing, roof and wall insulation.
Lighting should be looked at with the provision of LED lamps wherever possible.
Look at the possibilities of introducing Solar PV panels for the generation of electricity, and/or wherever possible for the domestic hot water usage look at the provision of Solar Thermal panels connected into a twin coil cylinder.
The heat source is the big challenge for us at the moment certainly with the drive to move away from fossil fuels, however, the following considerations should be made.
- The initial thoughts are to try and changeover onto electrically based systems, but unless you can introduce the use of heat pumps which have a proven track record of providing 3kW of heat from 1kW of electricity, then as the cost of electricity is still currently approx., 3 times more expensive that gas, then any other electrically based systems may prove to be unaffordable to run.
- Heat pumps take the form of 2 types, i.e., either air source heat pumps (ASHP) or ground source heat pumps (GSHP). Whilst GSHPs operate with a slightly better efficiency they are probably twice the cost to install than ASHPs simply because of the ground works required to either accommodate pipe loops or boreholes.
- Ideally the use of heat pumps would need a 3-phase electrical supply although there are some single phase units available for domestic size ASHPs, but again the existing loading on the incoming electrical supply would have to be checked for capacity availability.
- The only real further consideration for the use of heat pumps would be just what the existing heating system is that the present boiler is serving, as this would have been sized to provide the heat output with water supplied from the boiler at a mean temperature of 70°C, whereas heat pumps only provide a mean temperature of 50°C. This will mean that if you simply put say an ASHP onto an existing radiator system that you would have to run the system longer and lose any carbon benefits, whilst increasing running costs. Hence if heat pumps are to be looked at then the existing heating system may have also to be considered for replacement.
- If the electrical supply is inadequate then the option may have to be to still remain with a boiler system, and where a gas supply existing then the consideration would be to look at the use of a ‘hydrogen ready’ gas boiler. New boilers are probably twice as efficient as old/existing gas boilers and hence there would be an immediate reduction in carbon generation in the order of 50%. We are currently being advised that a 20% hydrogen gas mix may become available in the next 2/3 years, through the national grid network system, and of course when this does so the already reduced carbon generation from any new/replacement gas boiler would be further significantly reduced.
- Where gas is not available then the use of either a bio-fuel oil or a bio-LPG boiler could be considered, which would obviously show good reductions in carbon generation, albeit these costs are more expensive than conventional oil or LPG.
- Considerations will need to be made as whether each almshouse has its own dedicated boiler system, or whether a group of almshouses is served from a common boiler plant.
- If the almshouses are served individually then the foregoing comments would apply, if however, they are served from a common source, or whether this option may be worth looking into as an alternative, then the following other options could be considered.
- Depending upon electrical supply capacity issues, it may be possible to consider ‘hybrid’ systems, having a mix of heat pumps and boilers with the heat pump providing enough heat to maintain a background warmth in the properties at say 15°C, with a hydrogen or biofuel boiler simply being used to raise that temperature to say 21°C when required.
- Rather than considering direct heating from a central heat plant source to the existing heating and hot water services within each almshouse then an option would be to provide Heat Interface Units (HIU) within each almshouse, which are connected by heating flow & return pipework from the central heat source, which could still be a ‘hybrid’ system if supplies allowed.
- Another option would be to provide to internal wall mounted water source heat pumps which would be served by an ambient water pipe loop which could be taken from any ground source available, or indeed a centralised heat pump system. This type of system is supplied from a water loop at say 30°C and then is converted internally up to normal heating boiler temperatures.
- The use of programmable thermostat controls which can be accessed remotely would be essential to consider so that actual space temperatures and operating times may be assessed.

Summary Conclusions

Clearly whilst we all have a duty to try and reduce the carbon being generated from the heating and hot water systems, which will almost certainly require significant capital expenditure, it is also important that we should still consider making whatever heat source options are to be selected, that these are still affordable to run and maintain.

The first stage of any considerations for this would be to initially assess / survey just what the current systems comprise of along with structural assessment for thermal insulation, and of course types of lighting being used.

Note: The products/services and claims made above have not been evaluated by The Almshouse Association. Articles that recommend products/services are for information purposes only and are not endorsed by the Association. Information is provided for the general guidance of trustees and clerks, who should take their own professional advice where necessary.

posted 20 September 22

TV Licensing – Dispensation for the Queen’s Funeral

The Almshouse Association has received the following communication from the BBC representative for TV licensing

Good afternoon,
We offer our deepest condolences to the Royal Family following the death of Her Majesty The Queen. Her Majesty was the embodiment of public service.
We know that many communities may wish to come together and observe the funeral of Her Majesty The Queen and so the BBC is providing local communities a TV Licence dispensation. The dispensation will allow any communal setting where TV is not usually watched, such as town halls, community centres and libraries across the UK, to screen the live programmes without needing to purchase a licence.
We want to reach out to communities and those who are making arrangements to let them know that the dispensation is in place and therefore we welcome your support in making your service users aware.
By law, if live television or BBC iPlayer is viewed on any premises, those premises must be covered by a valid TV Licence. However, in exceptional circumstances, the BBC can grant a dispensation for the temporary viewing of television, so long as the viewing is for the sole purpose of screening an event which is judged by the BBC to be of national importance.
As the BBC Board has said, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was a unifying figure across generations, communities and borders, who represented the very best of our nation. We are grateful at the BBC to have witnessed, recorded and shared so many of the special moments in her long life and reign. She will always be remembered with the greatest affection and admiration.
If you need any further information to help you to support your clients, if you have any queries or if you would like to know more please contact me.
Dan Cooper
Senior Communications Specialist | TV Licensing
daniel.cooper@bbc.co.uk

Posted 12 September 22

HM The Queen Elizabeth II

The Almshouse Association board of trustees, staff and members, are deeply saddened by the death of the Queen.
Our heartfelt sympathy goes to the Royal Family who have been such a consistent inspiration through their uplifting patronage of The Almshouse Association and the wider almshouse movement.
The Queen’s devotion and selfless commitment to public service, will continue to be an example to us all.

On Monday 19th September 2022 The Almshouse Association office will be closed as we pay our respects to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Government outlines support on energy bills

Prime Minister Liz Truss has outlined the support that the government will provide to help with the spiralling costs of energy.

This package includes:

Suspending green levies on energy bills
Capping household bills to £2500 per year for the next two years
Providing the £400 energy rebate
Equivalent support will be offered to those on heat networks
A fund will be established to support charities with their energy costs this winter, offering an equivalent guarantee for the next 6 months

The Almshouse Association will continue to study the details of this package and will look to ensure that all almshouse charities are able to access the support they need this winter.

Further support is likely to be announced later this month when the Chancellor is due to deliver a ‘fiscal statement’.

Posted 8 September 22

Topping Out Ceremony at Girton Town Almshouse Charity

New High For Almshouses At Dovehouse Court

A Cambridge charity celebrated reaching a significant milestone in the building programme for its new almshouse development in Girton, with a Topping Out ceremony held on-site in May 22.

Representatives from Girton Town Charity, Barnes Construction, Northmores and Mole Architects assembled for the symbolic placement of the final ridge tile on one of the buildings to signify the completion of the build phase.

The next stage will be the installation of all the internal fixtures and fittings over the forthcoming six months, including electrics and plumbing. The project is on schedule with a completion date before the end of the year.

Dovehouse Court, which will comprise 15 almshouses and a new office for the charity, is being built to stringent Passivhaus standards. This results in low energy costs and improved indoor air quality, all made possible by installing energy-efficient windows and doors, with stricter levels of airtightness, mechanical ventilation and heat recovery, as well as high levels of building insulation.

Ann Bonnett, Chair of GTC said:

“It is excellent news that we have finished the build phase at Dovehouse Court and have marked the occasion with a Topping Out ceremony. The teams working on the project will now be focusing on the internal aspects of the build. In addition to welcoming back residents who lived in the former bungalows on the site, at the beginning of 2023 we will also be inviting applications from Girton residents over 55 or those who have a close connection to the Village, with the plan to implement a series of phased appointments in the early months of the year.”

Mark Hart, Joint Managing Director, Barnes Construction added:

“We are delighted to have reached this significant stage in our project at Dovehouse Court and are now working on the next phase leading to completion of these energy-efficient almshouses. I’d like to thank both the consultant team and our own team on-site, including our first Passivhaus Champion Ben Cross, who has ensured we have met all required criteria along the way.”

[Above photo: Topping Out at Dovehouse Court, left to right: Ian Bramwell, Senior Associate, Mole Architects; Jamie Saunders, Director, Northmores ; Mark Hart, Joint Managing Director Barnes Construction; and Marc Bermann, Trustee, Girton Town Charity.]