We follow our last blog with a summary of changes to the Building Regulations as discussed by Kate Wansbrough-Jones at the Olswang 2014 Construction law Conference.
When the Government announced its plans in 2006 to make new-build homes in England zero-carbon by 2016, there were mutterings that the target was unachievable. Now, over seven years on, 'zero-carbon' still seems a long way off.
Last year's Housing Standards Review recommended the winding down of the Code for Sustainable Homes putting the focus on the Building Regulations as a primary source of buildings emissions legislation. This puts added pressure on the consultation on amendments to Part L of the Regulations (which governs thermal efficiency standards) to bear green fruit.
However, the results of the review's consultation (the announcement of which was delayed to the frustration of many) have largely been viewed as underwhelming. Described by Andrew Warren of the Association for the Conservation of Energy as "akin to an elephant's pregnancy that has produced a mouse", the required reduction of emissions by 6% and 9% from the 2010 targets for residential and non-residential new-builds respectively is considered far softer than the targets mooted prior to the consultation. In addition, the scrapping of the proposed Quality Assurance Certification plans, which proposed that builders would have to become accredited to avoid having to deliver a further 3% reduction on carbon emissions seems to some to be a missed opportunity. Further accreditation may have given the Government powers to inspect buildings during construction and to require certain build standards in order to assure reduced carbon emissions.
The amendments would perhaps have been fortified by the inclusion of "Allowable Solutions"; a scheme which would allow developers the chance to off-set the carbon emissions from their newly built developments against investment or contribution on some other, local, green project for example LED street lamps. The Government launched an Allowable Solutions consultation shortly after announcing the changes to Part L, but the details of the plans remain in their infancy and any implementation of the scheme is unlikely to occur much before the 2016 target.
In short, changes to the Building Regulations are a positive step on the road to greener development, but whether they're robust enough to make real changes to building practices remains to be seen.
Copies of Kate's slides from the 2014 Construction Law Conference can be found and downloaded here.
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