On 31 January 2012 the Department for Communities and Local
Government launched a consultation on proposed changes to the
Building Regulations regime in England. If implemented, some of
these changes may become effective from October 2012 with more
following in 2013. The changes relevant to this article are those
aimed at reaching carbon targets for buildings (see below) by
improving energy efficiency and existing building control
systems.
Whilst the consultation documentation is largely technical, certain
proposals are likely to impact broadly on the uptake of clean
technologies in the building sector. Section two in particular,
(which aims to raise the energy performance standards for new and
existing buildings and introduce new requirements for energy
efficiency consideration in works on existing buildings) provides
examples and analyses of the ways in which new performance targets
could be met in practice (for example, through the use of more
energy efficient building fabrics and integrated solar
panels).>
Background
The government is committed to a (nearly) zero carbon standard
by 2016 (for all new homes) and 2019 (for all non-domestic
buildings). Building Regulations generally provide a set of
requirements when building, extending, altering, changing use or
carrying out certain services and fittings to buildings. Concerns
have been raised (1) that discrepancies exist between the energy
performance of buildings at the design stage compared with such
performance when built, and (2) a general sense of poor compliance
with existing Building Regulations. It is said that these could
hinder progress towards reaching the carbon targets. The proposed
changes will seek to ensure suitable levels of energy efficiency in
buildings and act as an interim step towards achieving the carbon
goals.
Section two - proposals to increase energy efficiency of buildings
For the purposes of this article the consultation contains an
interesting section on proposals to increase the energy efficiency
of buildings (Part L) (there are other sections for instance on
changes to building control systems and electrical safety). It is
intended that provisions relating to energy efficiency will be
phased in alongside the introduction of the Green Deal, from
October 2012.
Key proposals include:
- Introduction of a specific energy efficiency target for new
homes;
- Setting challenging CO2 targets for new non-domestic
buildings;
- Introduction of a regulatory fabric energy demand target to
close the loop-hole created by the 2006 'fuel factor' which
relaxed standards for homes forced to use higher carbon
fuels;
- Drafting regulations to incentivise use of a new quality
assurance standard for new builds;
- Introduction of consequential improvements to existing
buildings; and
- Changes to the standards of works in existing buildings.
Responses to the proposals
Responses concerning the introduction of consequential
improvements should be submitted by 27 March 2012 and on the
remainder of the proposals by 27 April 2012.
The Consultation documents and response questionnaires are
available here.
This article was written for Law-Now, CMS Cameron McKenna's free online information service. To register for Law-Now, please go to www.law-now.com/law-now/mondaq
Law-Now information is for general purposes and guidance only. The information and opinions expressed in all Law-Now articles are not necessarily comprehensive and do not purport to give professional or legal advice. All Law-Now information relates to circumstances prevailing at the date of its original publication and may not have been updated to reflect subsequent developments.
The original publication date for this article was 07/02/2012.