How it works
HAUS is driven by changes in the environment which have been shown to have a measurable impact on health.
We take data from our review of published medical studies to produce a bank of impacts, covering a wide range of factors from air pollution to opportunities for walking. We use these to forecast what might happen if one or more of these factors are changed.
The impact of disease is felt by individuals, our NHS and social care providers, through our ability to care for others, through lost work, lost wellbeing and lost life years. HAUS provides a bank of more than 70 unit costs of health, taken from published economic valuation studies and our own research into the costs of ill health.
HAUS is a comparative risk assessment model, which means that it compares levels of risk to health between a baseline and at least one other scenario. It includes evidence on demographics and risk of disease in the modelling, and calculate changes to health in terms of attributable cases of illness and premature life years lost. We then apply the financial impact of these changes into the potential cost to society.
For more information read our briefing note Valuing the ‘external’ social costs of unhealthy urban development (December 2023) and Dr Eleanor Eaton’s presentation ‘Introduction of the HAUS model‘ (July 2024).
What makes HAUS different?
There are some tools available which provide costs on changing specific aspects of a proposed development. These tend to focus on one element, such as green space, or one area of cost, such as costs to individuals.
HAUS allows users to forecast how changes in the indoor or outdoor environment impacts population health, what this costs individuals, agencies and services, and how it compares to other changes.
HAUS will also allow users to connect to the original evidence they need. This could be published medical studies on the association between housing conditions and health, for example.
Importantly, the data includes children, who are often overlooked in modelling.
Developing HAUS
HAUS has informed our spatial planning and urban transport interventions through work with embedded researchers in Bristol and Manchester.
In Bristol local government officers were able to consider land-use trade offs for a large scale regeneration plan and in Manchester HAUS has brought another layer of data into the Streets for All design checklist to help the city’s ambitions for healthier place making. Outside these local applications, we are working with real estate investors to explore how health data could be used to inform their plans for sustainable urban schemes. HAUS is also being explored in our national government intervention for its potential to help improve how we consider health in policy appraisal and strategic planning.
Next steps
The model is still being tested, so it can’t be shared – yet.
We are planning to make a simplified beta version available for anyone who wants to experience the model.
While government and industry testing continues we can take expressions of interest for future collaborations. Get in touch.