Digital twin tech helping Newcastle City Council’s (LCN)

11th September 2023

Case Study:

Newcastle City Council’s Low Carbon Neighbourhood project

Summary:

CoreLogic were appointed to work with Newcastle City Council on a Low Carbon Neighbourhood (LCN) pilot project, to facilitate home surveys to plan for whole house retrofitting and neighbourhood-scale decarbonisation, covering 228-homes.

In response to the pilot project CoreLogic provided Retrofit Assessment Services that included a visually enhanced package, incorporating individual property virtual tours, floor plans and elevations, drone imagery and standard Retrofit Assessments.

Individual property assessment data assets were embedded into an interactive neighbourhood website, forming a single visual representation of the entire area, containing everything in one platform, making it easier to view and share with third parties.

Objectives:

Newcastle City Council required a single in-home property survey solution that was non-intrusive but captured sufficient detail. The data collected would need to inform the viability of low carbon technologies to determine which set of solutions would be appropriate for different property archetypes.

The single survey would need to collect enough information to take them all the way through modelling, without the need for subsequent site visits (until pre-installation survey stage).

The design of the survey and the process through which the data would be shared with other parties was also critical. They required an efficient, replicable, and scalable approach to planning the decarbonisation of homes and infrastructure works.

Requirements:

Single home visit minimising need for subsequent surveys until pre-installation
Capture sufficient detail to inform the viability of low carbon heating options
Ability to share survey data efficiently and effectively with third parties
Method must be replicable and scalable to planning the decarbonisation work

Solution:

To provide a visually enhanced Retrofit Assessment that would include a digital property twin, architectural level floor plans, property condition photography and external aerial imagery. These in-depth visual elements would help to inspect the property condition, make it easier to scope for retrofit improvements, share the data with third parties and create a digital record of the entire property.

The digital twin offered a solution that would go beyond a standard Retrofit Assessment, providing an in-depth visual aid to a complete property inspection, recording every detail. Added features such as dollhouse views, floor plans, measurement mode, tags and links to google street view enhanced the information, building a detailed record of the housing stock.

In addition, CoreLogic provided a high-level drone image of the whole neighbourhood with the complete retrofit assessments of individual properties inset, creating a full visual representation of the project area with all the media in a single website, apt for a Low Carbon Neighbourhood (LCN) approach.

Virtual Tour includes a 360° walk-through, tags & annotations, measuring tool and high resolution photos
Drone Imagery provides a thorough roof condition surveys performed using drone photography
Floor Plans/Elevations provide architectural level measured floor plans and property elevations

Visual Media:

Interactive neighbourhood website 18 Havelock Place – Retrofit Assessment Report

18 Havelock Place – Virtual Tour

The Benefits

Capturing survey data in one visit has reduced time spent re-engaging tenants and booking revisits around their availability at each stage of the design planning. Fabric measures, individual air source heat pumps, photovoltaic systems have been designed and alternative measures such as communal air source heap pumps and shared ground source heat pumps are now being evaluated, all using one set of digital twin data. As the project progresses and various LCTs are evaluated, there will be further iterations that can be revisited and accurately modelled without having to revisit homes.

The floor plans are being imported directly into BIM modelling and similar archetypes will be cloned, reorientated and profiled across the neighbourhood. The DNO has installed secondary substation monitoring and the future plans are to model the load growth from various system designs against existing power quality parameters.

Individual property address data assets were embedded into an interactive neighbourhood website, forming a single visual representation of the entire area. The virtual site allows third parties to quickly become familiar with the neighbourhood composition.

The visually enhanced Retrofit Assessment solution optimised efficiency and decision-making. It enabled better visualisation, feasibility analysis and collaboration with third parties, causing minimal disruption to tenants.

Significant time and cost savings with the ability to remote access and analyse the property data, reducing the need for repeat site visits
Enhanced visualisation and ability to analyse the property in detail, aiding modelling of low carbon technologies at pre-installation stage.
Minimal disruption to tenants as installation options can be virtually tested to evaluate their feasibility prior to implementing any physical change.
Better quality data outputs for use by third parties, facilitating remote specification, quotation, and collaboration when designing multiple measures.