As the industry is already aware, tighter building regulations and measures to improve household energy efficiency are to play a key part in the new United Kingdom programme to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Also the Secretary of State for the Environment Margaret Beckett has said there will be a new planning policy statement setting out how the Government expects participants in the planning process such as builders and developers to work towards reduction of carbon emissions in the location, siting and design of new development. As already announced by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, a lead is being given on this aspect of the climate change programme with creation of the first 'exemplar' sustainable settlement at Northstowe in Cambridgeshire, where English Partnerships is to oversee the building of 10,000 new homes designed to meet 'very high' Eco-standards.
The Part L building regulations coming into force on 2006-04-06 will according to Government sources further raise energy standards of new and refurbished buildings and help to improve compliance with the higher environmental standards now being demanded.
This effort will be linked with the new Code for Sustainable Homes which will give minimum standards for energy and water efficiency at every level of its application, with its lowest levels raised above those of mandatory building regulations.
The cumulative effect of the building regulations update and the recent changes is expected as ODPM has forecast to produce a 40 per cent improvement in the energy efficiency of new buildings.
A review of measures to improve the sustainability of existing buildings should be completed by the Summer of this year.
A new initiative with major retailers, Eco-design of energy using products, will be sought via voluntary agreements implementing the relevant framework directive and other EU and international initiatives.
These and related measures on improving household energy efficiency are expected to contribute an additional 1.2 million tonnes of carbon savings to the climate change programme, bringing the total estimated savings by 2010 to 4.8 million tonnes.
Further reduction of carbon emissions.
The Defra report on the UK Climate Change Programme points out that the building regulations do not currently address the fabric of a significant proportion of the building stock.
'There is significant potential', it says, 'to reduce carbon emissions further through an improvement in the energy efficiency of existing buildings.
'The Government is currently undertaking a wide-ranging review to identify measures to improve the sustainability of the existing building stock, including energy efficiency, and will put recommendations to Ministers by the Summer of 2006'.
As part of the 2006 revisions to the building regulations, the Government has engaged in an unprecedented dissemination programme aimed at ensuring that all stakeholders can acquaint themselves with the changes and what they mean in practice.
This includes 'train-the-trainer' workshops for over 200 industry trainers, seminars and regional road shows for building control bodies.
An e-learning pack that walks through the new Part L as applied in an example situation will be issued to every building control surveyor.
A requirement for random sample air leakage testing of buildings has also been introduced to help secure better compliance by showing where there is unacceptable air leakage.
The paper also promises that the new Code for sustainable building will set out voluntary standards beyond those required in the building regulations.
'Importantly', says the document, 'the Code will form the basis for the next set of improvements to building regulations to ensure that industry can have certainty in the longer term regarding the minimum levels they will be expected to build to.
The Code will apply to all new buildings, with the initial focus on new housing.
'Once the Code is launched, all new homes funded by the Government or its agencies, including through relevant public-private partnerships, will have to meet Code level 3.
'As an interim measure, these homes will have to meet the new Ecohomes Very Good 2006 standard from 2006-04-01, which is broadly equivalent to Code level 3.
The Government is now looking at how to encourage new homes to be built to the highest levels of the Code'.
Summarising the effect of all these measures in the building industry, the Government estimates that the sustainable buildings Code, the energy performance of Buildings Directive, the commitment on procuring public buildings and further measures coming out of the review of the existing building stock, together could deliver additional carbon savings of 0.1 million tonnes in 2010.
