News News in brief


Plan for route map to BIM Chief construction adviser Paul Morrell told delegates at this year’s Autodesk BIM Conference that publicly procured buildings should use building information modelling (BIM) in the future. A team of BIM experts has already been commissioned to prepare a route map showing how the public sector can make a progressive move to BIM to reduce costs. The report is expected to be released in March. See page 52 for details of CIBSE’s one-day conference next month on Building Information Modelling


SMEs struggle to compete Small construction companies are still facing crippling barriers when competing for public sector work due to the complex demands of government procurement policy, says the National Federation of Builders. With the demise of public projects such as Building Schools for the Future, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are feeling excluded from the bidding process, with fewer contracts available, says the NFB. www.builders.org.uk


Correction The main picture caption of the article on hydrogen fuel cells in the October issue of CIBSE Journal (see page 57) was mislabelled: the photograph showed, not a hydrogen storage tank, but a hot water thermal store. We apologise to Transport for London for the error.


Industry split over claims of new carbon stealth tax n


The unexpected change to a key UK carbon-reduction


scheme that was announced by the government in its spending review appears to have divided parts of the business sector. Under the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR), unveiled by the Chancellor last month, all the money generated from the Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC) will now go to the government instead of being redisbuted among the companies affected. Under the CRC, introduced in


April, companies that reduced their carbon emissions would receive a rebate from the government on the levies paid, while those that did not reduce emissions would pay the levy in full. The unexpected change to the CRC last month prompted


some business leaders to accuse ministers of introducing a green ‘stealth tax’, while the British Property Federation said the change would ‘cost the wider business community almost £3.5bn more than it would have’. However, some property company professionals told the Journal they believed the change to the CRC could be a positive step. David Fairbrother, environmental


director at developer Land Securities, said: ‘We are hopeful that this [change to the CRC] will open up routes to discussions for clarifying the CRC scheme even further and make it a true beneficial trading mechanism.’ Paul Edwards, head of sustainability at Hammerson, said: ‘By converting the complicated CRC system to a tax from 2012, the coalition government has


simplified the whole system in one quick move.’ The spending review also confirmed that a Renewable Heat Incentive would be introduced, and the Chancellor allocated £1bn to set up a ‘green bank’. In addition, a Localism Bill, to be


published shortly, will include details of major reforms to the planning system. But CIBSE’s technical director, Hywel Davies, said such reforms could have consequences for delivering low carbon buildings: ‘It could have serious implications for the delivery of “zero carbon” homes – if the planners do not like renewable technology, then it could become difficult, costly and in some cases not be commercially viable to meet the increasingly stringent zero carbon targets.’ See our News Analysis on the spending review, page 16


Ministers may drop DEC roll-out


The idea of a mandatory roll-out of display energy certificates (DECs) to commercial buildings could be dropped by the government. The Department for


Communities and Local Government (CLG) held a consultation on the issue earlier this year, and is still considering its position more than three months after the consultation ended. But a CLG spokesperson told


the Journal the department was unable to confirm what action


the government would take, and added: ‘No decision has yet been taken. In light of the economic situation, I think government is very mindful of bringing in more red tape. If it does happen, [the roll-out] will be on a voluntary rather than a mandatory basis.’ But CIBSE’s technical director


Hywel Davies said that businesses can already get a DEC for their buildings, and don’t need to wait for the government to do anything. He said: ‘People can get a


voluntary DEC now; there’s nothing to roll out for that, voluntary DECs are already there. ‘And, from government’s own


work on DECs, we understand that fewer than 50 buildings have voluntary DECs.’ The government states in its


official response to the Committee on Climate Change’s second annual report that it is still considering its position on DECs. It is not clear when a final decision will be made.


8


CIBSE Journal November 2010


www.cibsejournal.com


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