Next up in our blog series, we spoke with Liz Peacock, the Head of Development and Sustainability. 

Her career is distinguished by a broad and diverse range of experience within the housing and care sector, including student accommodation.  She transitioned into the education sector briefly before returning to her main passion, housing, where she then joined Bield.  In this interview, Liz discusses the team’s efforts to implement strategies aimed at delivering sustainable, energy-efficient housing to thousands across Scotland.

Q: Can you give us a brief introduction to yourself and the team?

A: I'm currently Head of Development and Sustainability.  We as a team are responsible for new developments, new buildings and we're also responsible for investment works and deep retrofits, aiming towards achieving net zero.  We've got quite a wide scope.

I’m joined by Stephen Blair, our Development Manager, who deals with all new build sites and some conversion works.  On the net zero side of it, I've got Ron Mould, who's our Net Carbon Manager.  He also looks at the net zero projects and the deep retrofits.  The newest addition to the team is Sam MacKenzie, who looks at all the investment of our existing stock and planned maintenance, which could include new heating systems, windows, doors, kitchens and bathrooms. 

Q: What sets Bield apart from other housing associations?

A: What we're trying to do is bring technology and digitalisation into our developments to allow older generations to live longer in their homes, so that'll make us stand out a lot more compared to other providers.  Also, our net zero projects will see us having energy efficient, low-cost homes which will hopefully make us stand out going forward. 

Q: How’s the work going?  Are there any achievements you would like to share?

A: We launched a new strategy in June last year which sets out our targets for the next ten years.  Our big focus just now is new development and conversion of our closed assets. 

General day to day tasks are to bring projects to life; a lot of planning, design work and options appraisals, but that's very similar for the net carbon side. 

We're doing a lot of feasibility studies on how we can deep retrofit and what our options are and how we can integrate energy efficiency measures into existing buildings to reduce energy consumption over the next year.  Not every day is the same to be honest. 

There's that kind of changeability, but you know that what you're doing in the background is going to make a difference, so I think that's what kind of keeps me going.  I've got a good team behind me that support and deliver and it makes it all worthwhile. 

From the energy side, we implemented an advocacy service alongside Changeworks where tenants can go and get help and advice and make sure they're getting the correct benefits, are on the correct tariffs and things like that.   It’s not been easy for tenants, especially in the energy crisis, so having that support there for them makes a big difference - that's been a real success.  We also distributed a lot of air fryers to help reduce energy consumption.  Tenants really appreciated that because they don't cost as much to run. 

Q: Undoubtedly, there are challenges.  Could you discuss any recent hurdles and how you've overcome them?

A: Due to recent Scottish Government budget cuts, funding for new buildings and net zero projects worries us slightly, as does not being able to establish new projects to connect with local partners.  Those are going to be our biggest challenges going forward. 

A lot of these projects can't be delivered without funding, so we're relying on the Scottish Government.  With the net zero side, some of our buildings have got 50 flats, so how do you physically make that energy efficient but not at an excessive cost?  It's difficult but we're getting there.  We definitely have a very motivated team and they all have the same ambition and drive, so it's good that we're all on the same page and moving forward.

Q: What are your plans for the future?  Are there any new initiatives or projects on the horizon?

A: We have got a lot of projects in the pipeline.  Currently, we are installing solar panel systems in several of our tenanted properties as part of our initiatives to reduce energy costs.  These systems have already been installed at Carron Court and we’re planning to extend this to other developments in the future.

Stay tuned to hear more about the other teams working behind the scenes every day to support our tenants and team.