Welsh Assembly announce higher proposed CO2 targets for 2013 building regulations vs England Regs

With the Building Regulations powers set to transfer to Wales on 31 December 2011, Welsh ministers have set out the first proposals to improve the energy performance of new housing.

WAG have provided a statement that is ‘intended to inform industry what will be expected and when’. They state work will start shortly on detailed proposals, which will include stakeholder engagement to lead to a public consultation during 2012 with a view to implementation in 2013.

It sets a proposed target for CO2 emissions in 2013 of 55% against 2006 Building Regulations as compared to Englands 44% target, meaning developers could have to pay more to build in Wales than in England with possible repurcussions on new house prices.

See

http://bit.ly/fL5dq7

for the full document.

How environmentally friendly are your Buildings and Practices?

How do you establish where you are currently? Where could you improve?

Coles Knapp offer:

• On Construction Domestic EPCs (including SAP calculations for Part L Building Regulations)
• Level 4 Commercial EPCs (which qualifies us to do SBEM calculations for Part L Building Regulations)
• Code for Sustainable Homes
• BREEAM Office/Retail/Industrial
• BREEAM In Use
• RdSAP – Domestic EPCs
• Display Energy Certificates

The above methodologies can be used in different scenarios to establish different environmental/sustainability credentials.

• Businesses wanting to look at their building efficiencies can use the RdSAP, SAP and SBEM methodologies to highlight problem areas, and target the most cost effective solutions.

• Those building new properties can establish sustainability credentials by achieving good Code for Sustainable Homes or BREEAM ratings.

• Businesses wanting to look at building management efficiency and their sustainable practices and policies as well as their building performances can use BREEAM In Use to measure their achievements and benchmark improvement.

• Those looking to drive down energy costs can use the Display Energy Certificate methodology to clearly display their usage and target areas to drive it down.

Coles Knapp are experts in all of the above fields and can provide the advise and guidance needed to help businesses work out what they want to achieve and how they are going to get there.

UK Building Regulations Part G – Water Efficiency Calculations

UK Building Regulations Part G (under the revisions which came into force in April 2010) requires calculations to be carried out to assess potable water usage per person per day for new domestic properties – this must not exceed 125 litres per person per day.

Coles Knapp have extensive experience of preparing the water calculations for your submission. These can be carried out on a generic specification for the initial submission, then fine tuned as water use fittings are specified for the dwelling.

Contact us now for a free quotation or for more information on how we can assist you.

New UK Building Regulations 2010 – Part L

New Building Regulations 2010

The new Building Regulation revisions (Part F, Part J and Part L) are to be introduced on 1st October 2010. Amongst many changes is the next step in the move towards zero carbon development, with Part L ‘Target Emission Ratings’ (TERs) moving to approximately 25% less than under previous regulations for both domestic and non-domestic properties.

Coles Knapp are well prepared for the new regulations, which involves new versions of the calculation software we use for the heat loss calculations, and are happy to offer advice to clients on the changes.

Staggered Implementation for Domestic Properties

One key factor announced by CLG is the deferment of On Construction (domestic) EPCs under the new methodology (called SAP2009) until 27th March 2011. This effectively means any new building regulations submission after 1st October 2010 will be under the new regulations (and the Part L submission will prepared with SAP2009 and have to meet the new targets), but the EPC (which is prepared on completion of the dwelling) on any property completed prior to 27th March 2011 will be prepared on the previous version (SAP2005). This could result in two sets of calculations on some properties. This date of 27th March 2011 is set to tie in with a new version of the software for EPCs on existing dwellings (RdSAP).

This does not affect non-domestic properties where there will be one change to the new software (and calculation methodology) for both Building Regulation submissions and EPCs on 1st October 2010.

The new targets represent new challenges for designers and developers. For more information on how we can help please contact us.