Window replacement programme for council housing in the West End #dundeewestend

I recently raised at the City Council’s Neighbourhood Services Committee the need to upgrade the windows in council housing in a number of parts of the West End, including the Corso/Abbotsford area and Logie.

I asked for an update from housing management on this and have now been advised as follows – from the council’s Head of Housing and Communities :

“The Housing Asset Management Unit team firstly establish when the windows in a development were last replaced. This data is given a 30% weighting in terms of the decision on when they will require to be replaced, with the remaining 70% weighting going on the average cost per house on window repairs over the past 10 years. 

Housing investment works are done on a development, rather than street by street or indeed estate, basis. 

The windows in different developments throughout the City are made of a range of materials, including upvc, timber, aluminium etc. The type of material has an impact on the lifecycle of the windows and, therefore, when we programme their replacement. 

As part of our Windows For All programme, all Council houses were double glazed between 1992 and 2002. Given the volume and relatively short length of this programme, we cannot prioritise purely on lifecycle dates as the impact on the Capital Programme of a repeating 10-year programme would be unsustainable.  

However, given the impact on Covid-19 and the slippage in some programmes, the service is looking into the feasibility of speeding up our window replacement programme.”

I will continue to press for windows upgrades for all council housing in the West End Ward that is in need of this.