Consultation documents were released at the end of January for 2012 for the next version of Building Regulations. they are expected to come into force by October 2013 subject to any transitional arrangements.
The consultation is presented into 4 sections:
Section 1 outlines the consultation approach and then presents proposals to change various technical aspects to the regulations.
Section 2 outlines proposals to increase energy efficiency to buildings
Section 3 states proposals relating to electrical safety in homes.
Section 4 outlines changes to the building control system.
Summary of key proposals in Section 2:
– For new non-domestic buildings the government has proposed reductions of either 11% or 20% in carbon emissions targets (over Part L 2010)
– For the 20% improvement, building-integrated renewable energy generation technologies are likely to be required
– Increased energy efficiency standards for existing buildings
– introducing consequential improvements to dwellings
– For new properties the government proposes fabric energy efficiency targets of (kWh/m2.year) in addition to the current emissions targets (kgCO2/m2.year)
The Section 2 document includes proposals for tighter CO2 emissions standards for new homes and non-domestic buildings to progress to ‘zero-carbon’ standards, plus tighter performance standards for works to existing buildings. It will also include proposals to introduce requirements for additional energy efficiency improvements to be carried out when other specific works are planned over a phased basis.
The impacts of the changes are expected to strengthen the new-build standards towards zero carbon and introduce a separate fabric energy efficiency (FEE) target for new dwellings. There are likely to be proposed changes to the calculation tools, the Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) used for homes and the Simplified Building Energy Model (SBEM) or approved or approved Dynamic Simulation Model software tools used for non-domestic buildings. The changes are also expected to increase the standards of energy efficiency for existing buildings and secure greater up-take of improvement to support the governments’ planned Green Deal initiative. In conclusion there will be measures introduced to incentivise improved compliance and as built performance.
New Builds
For new builds the government is set to introduce zero carbon standards from 2016 for homes and from 2019 for non-domestic buildings. The Part L proposals will involve extra costs for developers to comply with the lower building emission targets. For Part L 2013 it is proposed to retail the notional building approach of calculating standards based on fabric i.e. walls, windows, boiler etc. As proposed target percentages are pushed it is proposed to differentiate the notional building further between top-lit (TL) and side-lit (SL) buildings (as 2010) but also between predominantly cooled buildings (SL-C) and predominantly heated buildings (SL-H). A building under consideration would be matched to one of those categories by the national calculation methodology in order to determine a Target Emission Rate for the building.
A 20% aggregate improvement on Part L 2010 is achieved when a more challenging package of fabric and services improvements are applied and then photovoltaic (PV) panels equalling 1.6% of the floor area are added. The aggregate approach means the level of cost will vary between building types. According to the impact assessment document, for non-domestic buildings, retail warehouses and secondary schools show the highest incremental costs per m2.
In order to prepare for a potential move to absolute standards from 2016, it is proposed that absolute delivered energy targets will be built into the dwellings calculation methodology for Part L 2013 and builders will be required to meet these.
The energy targets set are still up for discussion with initial figures of either 39kWh/m2/year for mid-terrace houses and apartments or 46kWh/m2/year for detached and semi-detached houses based on work by the Zero Carbon Hub considered the ‘full’ FEE, or the introduction of Interim FEE’s levels of 43/52 kWh/m2/year. The governments preferred option is a CO2 target equivalent to the ‘full’ FEE plus requirements for energy efficient services that amounts to an aggregate of 8% reduction over 2010.
For existing buildings the focus will be on the proposal for ‘consequential’ improvements, meaning that when a homeowner or business carries out works to their building they would be asked to undertake additional work to improve the energy efficiency. The proposal is for these changes to be in place from October 2012 so that they are in line with the introduction of the Green Deal. Some changes are also being made to the standards for works in existing buildings including raising the minimum performance standards for replacing domestic windows from an energy rating of ‘C ‘to ‘B’.
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