You will recall prior to the coalition Conservative government, that Part L was on a ‘Road to Zero Carbon’, with the signig of the Climate Change act. Various editions of Part L were up lifted at approximately three yearly intervals, with goals of Dwellings being zero carbon by 2016, commercial buildings by 2019. After the coalition, with the conservative government at the time with a majority, the decision was taken to u-turn from that approach within the Building Regulations, much to the dismay of the UK Green Building Council.
On the 21stMay 2018, UK Prime Minister Theresa May pledged to halve energy usage from new buildings by 2030, in a speech in response to climate change as “one of the greatest industrial opportunities of our time”.
Reduce energy bills
By halving the energy use of new commercial and residential buildings, the UK could reduce energy bills for occupants by as much as 50 per cent, adding that the government would also aim to halve the costs of reaching the same standard in existing buildings.
The Prime Minister said, “Meeting this challenge will drive innovation and higher standards in the construction sector, helping it to meet our ambitious homebuilding targets and providing more jobs and opportunity to millions of workers across the country,” . “It will be a catalyst for new technologies and more productive methods, which can be exported to a large and growing global market for clean technologies.”
The announcement followed the action in March 2018,where 50 construction and property businesses signed a joint letter calling on the government to provide long term green building policy certainty by setting rules ensuring all new buildings are built to ‘net zero carbon’ standards by 2030.
“Government should set a trajectory for building regulations to achieve net zero carbon from 2030, as well as introducing long-term incentives for retrofitting homes and commercial buildings. These market signals will be key in driving investment and innovation in the supply chain to meet these challenges and get us on track to meeting the Paris Agreement.”
So, it would appear that the Building Regulations are to return onto the road towards Zero Carbon, we will of course update clients as soon as draft proposals are announced.