The Zero Carbon Sat Nav says
“Turn around when possible”!
Only a few months after receiving the Royal Assent, many were surprised by the
announcement of the Chancellor, on 17th July, that seemed to leave the previously agreed
moves towards zero carbon building somewhat dead in the water.
Up until this point the industry had been gearing themselves up for zero carbon housing by
2016 and non-commercial buildings by 2019. However it looks as though, if the revised
strategy is to take shape, then it will form more of a voluntary basis rather than legislation,
similar to Code for Sustainable Homes, (see my previous blog “RIP Code for Sustainable
Homes… it was nothing personal.)
Since the announcement there has been an open letter to the Chancellor signed by over 200
organisations including some of the big hitters from the housing developers. The RIBA has
also aired its ‘disappointment’ along with other bodies, however are we really ready as an
industry for this standard?
Now, I don’t think for a moment we’re not advocating the requirement for zero carbon
building and we have worked extensively with many of our clients in providing sustainable
developments, previously winning the BRE Global award for the highest scoring
development to the Code for Sustainable Homes. However, our team of SAP assessors are
still seeing the remnants of developments which were implemented under the previous Part
L requirements let alone the most recent, and so with zero carbon theoretically less than
twelve months away the industry, products and skills would appear to still be someway short
of the mark.
I believe that the proposed revised system would be based on a monetary carbon offset
basis for dwellings and perhaps coupled with the CIL payments now attributed to buildings, it
may still be financially preferential to build to the zero carbon standard. Or alternatively it
may be that due to the skills & materials shortage that many developers would prefer to keep
to the current status quo, perhaps even reflecting the offset onto the house prices.
What would be interesting to see is if the current proposals are implemented, how many of
the 236 signatories on the open letter to the Chancellor would opt for the carbon offset
scheme, let’s face it there’s nothing stopping developers building to zero carbon standards
now if they feel strongly about it.
In no way am I trying to be cynical about the situation, more just trying to be realistic in that
the gap between our current building practices and those of a zero carbon build are greater
than a nine month period. Based on our experience in modelling zero carbon dwellings,
there is a lot more involved than many assume and goes much further than just increasing
insulation and including a host of renewable technologies, but workmanship and site
practices also need to be looked at.
On this basis perhaps the way forward is rather than to completely bin the zero carbon
aspirations, introduce another stage to the process to enable designers, product
manufacturers and tradesmen to continue to develop their practices but in more manageable
steps as we work towards such a target?
In closing, the open letter to the Chancellor asks for him to work with business leaders to
“find a mutually acceptable way forward” – we wait with interest on any such development!
Bio:
Martin Lewis is the Technical Director at Chaplin Farrant Limited and is a Chartered
Architectural Technologist as well as being an On Construction Domestic Energy Assessor.