{"id":91565,"date":"2021-04-07T12:34:34","date_gmt":"2021-04-07T11:34:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/?p=91565"},"modified":"2021-04-07T12:34:34","modified_gmt":"2021-04-07T11:34:34","slug":"new-build-retrofit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/new-build-retrofit\/91565\/","title":{"rendered":"Retrofit vs new build \u2013 which should take priority?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Which should take priority \u2013 new build or retrofit? It\u2019s much easier in some ways for social housing teams to argue for investment in new build as a way of achieving decarbonisation targets, as at least the likely costs are broadly understood<\/h2>\n

But what about the tenants who are crying out for more affordable warmth and the other benefits of low carbon retrofit \u2013 in rural areas of the North, in particular, this is a major strategic priority. And nationally there\u2019s no doubt that the energy efficiency of our existing housing stock is a bigger, more pressing problem to tackle.<\/p>\n

Gary Cawley, director of CPC<\/a>, offers advice on how to weigh up the options, based on the funding streams currently available and the experience of social housing clients in the North working with CPC to meet their decarbonisation goals.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a growing dilemma. How do we meet the demand for low energy new homes at the same time as tackling the energy-guzzling old ones? Which should come first in the queue for public sector resources?<\/p>\n

The vital role local authorities and registered providers have in addressing the ever-present housing crisis is now being compounded by the drive for net zero: around 75% of existing housing stock needs to be retrofitted to make it carbon neutral ready. The pressure is overwhelming, particularly when you also add in the other competing demand of investment in building safety.<\/p>\n

This is as much a moral dilemma as it is a financial one \u2013 addressing cold, expensive-to-heat homes vs supplying high quality new homes \u2013 and my sympathies really are with those who are tasked with setting the strategic approach.<\/p>\n

But if you are in that position, perhaps sharing some of our experience working with and talking to social landlords across the North<\/a> might provide a bit of help.<\/p>\n

Get to know your stock<\/h3>\n

First, let\u2019s think about retrofit. All social housing providers<\/a> are at different stages when it comes to getting to grips with this issue. Some already have their 30-year business plans in place and know their route map to 2050, while others \u2013 the majority \u2013 are not there, or have even yet to start the process.<\/p>\n

The first step is always to get to know your housing stock. This might sound simple, but providers do have different levels of awareness of what\u2019s needed, and it can be difficult depending on how large your stock is, its age profile, geographic location and type of tenure. In-house capacity and digital capability will have to be taken into account, so it may be sensible to seek third-party help.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t skip this step though. It\u2019s impossible to assess the scale of retrofit requirements or to make the right investment decisions without understanding where your stock is currently, so a thorough audit and assessment of housing need is going to be essential.<\/p>\n

While some existing stock will have very low EPC values, the vast majority of the UK\u2019s social housing actually sits at the upper end of band D or the lower end of band C, so it may be that there\u2019s not too much work to do to get them carbon neutral ready.<\/p>\n

Consider the funding streams available<\/h3>\n

A thorough look at where cash could be obtained will certainly help to build your 30-year forward plan, as you will need to know how much of the financial burden your own organisation will need to carry.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s fair to say that the money available from Government is better established and more robust for new build projects rather than retrofit.<\/p>\n

For example, as in previous years, there\u2019s a large pot of funding available for new build through the Affordable Homes Programme, with applications for the period 2021 to 2026 having recently opened, and with scheme-by-scheme bidding or multi-year strategic partnerships for longer-term developments. In total, \u00a37.39bn is on offer through Homes England.<\/p>\n

The government is also increasingly unlocking financial incentives for MMC solutions<\/a>, and for good reason \u2013 MMC will enable your projects to be greener, finished quicker, and can be cheaper and delivered at scale.<\/p>\n

For example, the Affordable Homes Programme contains stipulations with regards to MMC builds as part of its strategic partnerships, while there are also incentives contained within the New Homes Bonus scheme for MMC developments.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, Homes England is running a project to assess the benefits of MMC development across the country, while a governmental MMC taskforce has also been established with the same aim.<\/p>\n

As we push ever forward to net zero, the government is sure to bolster its support for MMC as we seek more efficient ways to make our homes energy efficient and carbon neutral, so it\u2019s an essential consideration for social landlords, not just in the future, but for today.<\/p>\n

For example, CPC clients are already investigating and realising the benefits of MMC \u2013 such as Sheffield City Council, which recently trialled a volumetric solution for four new affordable homes with a view to extending this across its future portfolio, and Middlesbrough Council, which has constructed new office space this way for its burgeoning digital economy.<\/p>\n

To find out more about how we can help you incorporate MMC into your development plans, see our Offsite Construction of New Homes (NH2)<\/a> and Modular Buildings (MB1)<\/a> frameworks. Our in-house experts will be on hand from the beginning of the process to provide advice and guidance.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t get stuck worrying about technologies<\/h3>\n

How about the resources to support retrofit?<\/p>\n

As we discussed in a previous blog on the Local Authority Delivery scheme, although this part of the Green Homes Grant has been popular and successfully delivered to date, the funding falls short of what we and the rest of the sector would like to see. Additionally, chancellor Rishi Sunak failed to give any indication of future policy with regards to the Green Homes Grant<\/a> or other sources of retrofit funding.<\/p>\n

The Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund is set to be made available in stages, beginning later this year, but again, not enough is known about the detail to provide any real confidence to the sector yet.<\/p>\n

But some encouraging noises are also coming out of the private finance sector, where green products are starting to emerge for social landlords seeking to fund capital expenditure; for example, \u201csustainability-linked loans\u201d. Such products could be available for both retrofit and new build programmes.<\/p>\n

Where retrofit funding should be directed also raises questions though. Understandably, there\u2019s some hesitation over the installation of new technologies, for example, especially with regards to clean heating, and what to adopt at this early stage.<\/p>\n

There is some discussion about the potential for hydrogen heating and whether new mixed-fuel boilers can or should be installed, or whether we should now be installing all-electric heating, given more renewable sources are now used in electric power generation. There are also some concerns over air source heat pumps, and whether they can really live up to their promise as the large-scale solution to gas boiler replacement.<\/p>\n

But please don\u2019t allow the debate to get in the way of action.<\/p>\n

All of these solutions are likely to have their place in the country\u2019s route to retrofit. For example, we\u2019re already seeing heat pumps installed in new and existing homes right across the country, and they are proven to work at scale in countries such as Norway.<\/p>\n

They will require some research as to whether they will be suitable for your buildings as they will work better for some homes than others (e.g. those already off the gas grid), but there is a lot of technical advice and support available via the appointed suppliers to our Energy Efficiency Consultancy (N8C) framework \u2013 click here to find out more<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For those already on their retrofit journey, our Energy Efficiency Measures and Associated Works (N8) framework is available, giving you access to a range of local, pre-approved suppliers across a suite of 21 energy efficiency measures, for projects large or small. Click here to read more<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Whichever way your strategy takes you \u2013 towards new build or retrofit, or a balance of both \u2013 CPC is here to support social housing providers in the North and Midlands.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gary Cawley, director of CPC, offers advice on how to weigh up the retrofit vs new build options, based on the funding streams currently available and the experience of social housing clients in the North working with CPC to meet their decarbonisation goals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[307],"tags":[693,430,673,279,569,656,831,973,570],"stakeholder_rel_tag":[172469],"contributor_rel_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-91565","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-energy-news","7":"tag-climate-change","8":"tag-energy-efficiency","9":"tag-energy","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-housing-standards","12":"tag-housing","13":"tag-hvac","14":"tag-sh-lhc","15":"tag-social-housing","16":"stakeholder_rel_tag-lhc-procurement-group-limited"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRetrofit vs new build \u2013 which should take priority?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Gary Cawley, director of CPC, offers advice on how to weigh up the retrofit vs new build options, based on the funding streams currently available\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/new-build-retrofit\/91565\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Retrofit vs new build \u2013 which should take priority?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gary Cawley, director of CPC, offers advice on how to weigh up the retrofit vs new build options, based on the funding streams currently available and the experience of social housing clients in the North working with CPC to meet their decarbonisation goals.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/new-build-retrofit\/91565\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Planning, Building & Construction Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PBCToday\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-04-07T11:34:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Retrofit-vs-new-build-.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1726\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steph Blundell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Retrofit vs new build \u2013 which should take priority?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Gary Cawley, director of CPC, offers advice on how to weigh up the retrofit vs new build options, based on the funding streams currently available and the experience of social housing clients in the North working with CPC to meet their decarbonisation goals.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/Steph_PBCToday\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@PBC_Today\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/new-build-retrofit\/91565\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/new-build-retrofit\/91565\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Steph Blundell\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/baf6766a43e70a35cada0c600519a2fb\"},\"headline\":\"Retrofit vs new build \u2013 which should take priority?\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-07T11:34:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/new-build-retrofit\/91565\/\"},\"wordCount\":1372,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Climate Change\",\"Energy Efficiency\",\"Energy Sector\",\"Environment\",\"Housing Standards\",\"Housing system\",\"HVAC\",\"SH LHC Procurement Group Limited\",\"Social Housing\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Energy News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/new-build-retrofit\/91565\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2021\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/new-build-retrofit\/91565\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/new-build-retrofit\/91565\/\",\"name\":\"Retrofit vs new build \u2013 which should take priority?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-07T11:34:34+00:00\",\"description\":\"Gary Cawley, director of CPC, offers advice on how to weigh up the retrofit vs new build options, based on the funding streams currently available\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/new-build-retrofit\/91565\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/new-build-retrofit\/91565\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/new-build-retrofit\/91565\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Retrofit vs new build \u2013 which should take priority?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Planning, Building & Construction Today\",\"description\":\"The Latest Planning, Building & Construction News\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Planning, Building & Construction Today\",\"alternateName\":\"PBC Today\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pbctoday-logo-yoast-seo-organisation-1920-1080-001.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pbctoday-logo-yoast-seo-organisation-1920-1080-001.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080,\"caption\":\"Planning, Building & Construction Today\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PBCToday\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/PBC_Today\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/baf6766a43e70a35cada0c600519a2fb\",\"name\":\"Steph Blundell\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/62283f53e7b9ae55cd3516832342b97ce87c86f2c2130dfce68124d194b36df8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/62283f53e7b9ae55cd3516832342b97ce87c86f2c2130dfce68124d194b36df8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Steph Blundell\"},\"description\":\"Steph is the Senior Digital Editor here at PBC. When she\u2019s not working hard on cranking out first-class content for our online viewers to enjoy, she\u2019s keeping our social media lively and up to date\u2026 you could call her a social media guru? We\u2019re sure she\u2019d like that. With a BA in English and Journalism, Steph isn\u2019t fazed by attention to detail; on the contrary, she enjoys getting her teeth into a good article. In her downtime Steph loves nothing more than getting together with friends to enjoy a few (several) gin and tonics. Think you\u2019ve got some content Steph would be interested in? You can contact her either by phone on (01270) 502876 or by email at sblundell@pbctoday.co.uk\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/steph-blundell\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/Steph_PBCToday\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/author\/stephblundell\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Retrofit vs new build \u2013 which should take priority?","description":"Gary Cawley, director of CPC, offers advice on how to weigh up the retrofit vs new build options, based on the funding streams currently available","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/new-build-retrofit\/91565\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Retrofit vs new build \u2013 which should take priority?","og_description":"Gary Cawley, director of CPC, offers advice on how to weigh up the retrofit vs new build options, based on the funding streams currently available and the experience of social housing clients in the North working with CPC to meet their decarbonisation goals.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/new-build-retrofit\/91565\/","og_site_name":"Planning, Building & Construction Today","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PBCToday\/","article_published_time":"2021-04-07T11:34:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2000,"height":1726,"url":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Retrofit-vs-new-build-.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Steph Blundell","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Retrofit vs new build \u2013 which should take priority?","twitter_description":"Gary Cawley, director of CPC, offers advice on how to weigh up the retrofit vs new build options, based on the funding streams currently available and the experience of social housing clients in the North working with CPC to meet their decarbonisation goals.","twitter_creator":"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/Steph_PBCToday","twitter_site":"@PBC_Today","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/new-build-retrofit\/91565\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/new-build-retrofit\/91565\/"},"author":{"name":"Steph Blundell","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/baf6766a43e70a35cada0c600519a2fb"},"headline":"Retrofit vs new build \u2013 which should take priority?","datePublished":"2021-04-07T11:34:34+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/new-build-retrofit\/91565\/"},"wordCount":1372,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization"},"keywords":["Climate Change","Energy Efficiency","Energy Sector","Environment","Housing Standards","Housing system","HVAC","SH LHC Procurement Group Limited","Social Housing"],"articleSection":["Energy News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/new-build-retrofit\/91565\/#respond"]}],"copyrightYear":"2021","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/new-build-retrofit\/91565\/","url":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/new-build-retrofit\/91565\/","name":"Retrofit vs new build \u2013 which should take priority?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-04-07T11:34:34+00:00","description":"Gary Cawley, director of CPC, offers advice on how to weigh up the retrofit vs new build options, based on the funding streams currently available","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/new-build-retrofit\/91565\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/new-build-retrofit\/91565\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/new-build-retrofit\/91565\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Retrofit vs new build \u2013 which should take priority?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/","name":"Planning, Building & Construction Today","description":"The Latest Planning, Building & Construction News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization","name":"Planning, Building & Construction Today","alternateName":"PBC Today","url":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pbctoday-logo-yoast-seo-organisation-1920-1080-001.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pbctoday-logo-yoast-seo-organisation-1920-1080-001.jpg","width":1920,"height":1080,"caption":"Planning, Building & Construction Today"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PBCToday\/","https:\/\/x.com\/PBC_Today"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/baf6766a43e70a35cada0c600519a2fb","name":"Steph Blundell","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/62283f53e7b9ae55cd3516832342b97ce87c86f2c2130dfce68124d194b36df8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/62283f53e7b9ae55cd3516832342b97ce87c86f2c2130dfce68124d194b36df8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Steph Blundell"},"description":"Steph is the Senior Digital Editor here at PBC. When she\u2019s not working hard on cranking out first-class content for our online viewers to enjoy, she\u2019s keeping our social media lively and up to date\u2026 you could call her a social media guru? We\u2019re sure she\u2019d like that. With a BA in English and Journalism, Steph isn\u2019t fazed by attention to detail; on the contrary, she enjoys getting her teeth into a good article. In her downtime Steph loves nothing more than getting together with friends to enjoy a few (several) gin and tonics. Think you\u2019ve got some content Steph would be interested in? You can contact her either by phone on (01270) 502876 or by email at sblundell@pbctoday.co.uk","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/steph-blundell\/","https:\/\/x.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/Steph_PBCToday"],"url":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/author\/stephblundell\/"}]}},"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-10-13 16:18:22","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91565\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91565"},{"taxonomy":"stakeholder_rel_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stakeholder_rel_tag?post=91565"},{"taxonomy":"contributor_rel_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor_rel_tag?post=91565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}