A Life Cycle Costing Taxonomy for New Affordable Dwelling Design Considering Households' Health and Financial Wellbeing
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by Aya Elghandour
As part of a collaborative partnership between the RE-DWELL project and SYHA, Aya worked on a 3 month secondment at SYHA's office, an experience that was influential to the development of her research.
This PhD is funded by RE-DWELL project “Delivering affordable and sustainable housing in Europe” which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 956082.
This PhD is supervised by Prof. Karim Hadjri (Sheffield School of Architecture), Dr Krzysztof Nawratek (Sheffield School of Architecture) and Dr Vasco Moreira Rato (ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal).
Year: 2023
Category: PhD
This PhD explores the integration of Life Cycle Costing (LCC) with design stages decision-making to support the creation of new affordable and social housing units that promote long-term household health and financial wellbeing (H+FW) in the British context.
Traditional measures of housing affordability, typically based on the rent-to-income ratio, often fail to ensure the quality of dwellings, overlooking critical factors such as thermal comfort and indoor air quality that impact low-income residents' H+FW. In response to this, the research argues that affordable housing must not only be financially accessible but also supportive to residents' physical and mental health and long-term financial stability.
The focus is on the design stages (RIBA 0-4) of new housing units, a crucial period where decisions have significant impact on both cost and quality. Despite the potential of LCC to inform these decisions, its application has been limited, primarily focusing on minimizing housing providers' expenses rather than considering residents H+FW in the long-term.
To address this gap, the research aims to develop a novel LCC taxonomy that integrates features and actions impacting H+FW into the cost analysis during the design stages of affordable dwellings. This taxonomy will be informed by literature review and practical insights gathered from 36 semi-structured interviews with British architects, and professionals from housing and public health sectors. Additionally, a secondment with a British housing association - SYHA - will provide valuable context and practical insights.
The PhD will result in a detailed LCC taxonomy tailored to the design of new affordable housing units in the UK, providing decision-makers with a tool to map out the potential actions, decisions, and issues in the design stages, along with their implications for H+FW. This research advocates for a redefined approach to housing affordability, ensuring decision-makers are equipped to make informed and conscious choices that consider both financial viability for providers and long-term H+FW of households commencing from design stages.
Links:
A Culture of a British Housing Association
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