Delivering Housing Improvements

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What is the 'Delivering Housing Improvements' programme?

We need to make sure all council houses meet the Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS) by 2015. The SHQS is a government standard that all local authorities and registered social landlords must meet to ensure that their housing stock is acceptable, modern, safe and secure, good quality, and energy efficient. In order to meet the standard, all council houses must:

• meet the Tolerable Standard (this is a checklist which covers housing condition and building components)
• be free from serious disrepair
• be energy efficient (covering insulation and heating)
• be provided with modern facilities and services, including kitchens and bathrooms; and
• be healthy, safe and secure (covering pipework, ventilation, electrical and gas systems, smoke detectors, lighting and access doors).

To make sure we meet the standard, we are 'Delivering Housing Improvements' throughout Renfrewshire, and will be investing approximately £138million in our tenants' homes in the five year period between 2010 and 2015. This involves carrying out both internal and external works, such as:

• kitchen and bathroom replacements,
• re-wiring,
• central heating and/or boiler replacements, and
• improvements or replacements to the external fabrics of the buildings.

Works will only be carried out in properties where our comprehensive stock condition survey has identified failings relating to the SHQS standard. This means that some properties will already meet the standard and won’t require any work, while others may require some or all of the planned improvement works.


Delivering Housing Improvements: What's planned for the homes in your area? (Warning, pdf may take some time to download due to the large file size - 4.57 Mb)

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What has been achieved so far?

The first major phase of work began in August 2010 and focused on improvements to kitchens, bathrooms and heating systems. These improvements were delivered in partnership with three contractors – Wates, the Apollo Group and Carillion.

The works are making thousands of tenants' homes more modern and efficient and so far the response has been excellent.


Mary said: "We got a full new kitchen and full rewiring so it was quite a big job. I am delighted with my new kitchen, they've done a really good job. I am so pleased with it."

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What's next?

The second year of the project begins in April 2011. This year, the number of kitchen, bathroom and rewiring projects will increase from five to eight, with around £11.5million being spent on approximately 2,500 homes. A total of around 2,000 homes are also scheduled to have their old heating systems replaced, which involves switching electric storage systems and gas systems with back boilers to gas central heating systems with a modern condensing boiler.

This year will also see the launch of external improvements works, with around £5million worth of improvements to roofs, roughcast, gutters and downpipes being carried out in the first year. Work is now commencing on pilot projects at blocks of flats in Ard Road, Renfrew and Fairway Avenue in Paisley.

Find out more
If you would like more information about the Scottish Housing Quality Standard or our programme of improvement works, please contact our Housing Investment Team on 0141 847 3430.

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