Debbie Haynes works at OX Place, our housing company, where she is responsible for energy efficiency work in their new homes.
Monday
With an energising cup of tea, I start trawling through my emails. As I don’t work on Fridays, I always have to get up to speed on what is happening with different developments first thing on Monday morning. Sites are often at different stages – getting ready for planning submission, appointing contractors, or the exciting moment when work actually starts on site. Each stage requires different advice, checks and information to support my team.
Today I see that engineering advice on communal air source heat pumps has come in from our expert to guide work on one of our sites in Marston. After speaking to my colleague Lila, I ‘plain English’ his useful but technical information and email this out to the team working on that.
The first meeting of the day is an online one with our community engagement manager, Rob – we work together on surveys with our new residents – finding out what has gone well and what we can do better.
I continue to work on reports and emails after that until our online team meeting at 2 pm. At this point we get updated on financials, procedures, how all our sites are progressing, problems and highlights – and of course, a chance to catch up with each other. We appreciate seeing each other, even if only virtually!
Tuesday
Most of my work is desk-based, so I log on to news that our Bertie Place planning application (complete with the energy statement) has been submitted. It’s the start of a long road, but a great milestone for my colleague Stuart.
After a few hours of desk work, quick chats with colleagues about energy and renewables issues they are finding onsite, I nip out to check our first electric car club car. The Curve at Between Towns Road is a handy ten-minute walk and I find the car charging up. Seeing it being used by our tenants and other local people feels like a real result after endless work with charge point installers and Co-Wheels car club to get it up and running in time. Phew!
Wednesday
I sort out payments for our energy Quality Assurance service providers. This vital service looks over all design documents to check for energy-related issues or inaccuracies, and to check they all align and meet the standard set. On site they carry out training of contractors, air tightness testing and site visit checks for insulation, air tightness, and how new technologies are installed.
Later on, after yet more emails and document checking, I put my head together on the more strategic work – the simple task of working out how we can get our homes to zero carbon AND be able to afford it. Hmmm, that might take longer than an afternoon but I produce a specification for specialist consultant support.
Thursday
In the morning, there is an online training event on how to build homes to net zero standards – with interesting examples of other companies who have built impressive Passive Houses and what they learned. After a quick lunchtime walk and meal, I have back-to-back meetings for three hours; feeding in on the energy-related work for sites in Littlemore and Marston – I’m always pushing for the best energy outcome. After getting up to speed with my emails, I put on my out-of-office ready for the weekend.
Friday
Time for a lie-in. ZZZZZ.
Rate this page
