Policy update - Hard cash and lots of change. Nick Jones, Inbuilt
Figure 2 - PV is likely to be part of the solution for most zero carbon buildings from 2019. Copyright Pascal Rodriguez.
As we marked our ballot papers last May we knew there would be change but few of us could have estimated the scale and speed of it. Whilst the previous government could have been accused of over consulting on everything, Eric Pickles, the new Community Secretary was making sweeping changes within days. So what are the key changes that affect the built environment and is there any financial support in these cash strapped times?
First to be affected in June were the house builders with the scrapping of centrally applied targets for new homes contained in the Regional Spatial Strategies. This does beg the question of how will we know if we are building enough if we do not have considered targets.
The problem with such changes is that the impacts last for years so the 9% drop in new homes permissions in quarter 4 is worrying. Clearly not all the drop is down to the policy change (there was a 22% drop over the whole year) but if it is not addressed soon we will end up with a shortage of sites once the market picks up. There will be a new National Planning Policy Framework but this is not due out until April 2012 and we need to address the issue before then. The New Homes Bonus due later this year may help and could even result in local authorities courting developers to get the cash. However localism means there still needs to be buy-in of local communities who could see it as a bribe to councils.
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When the construction does pickup it is also unclear as to the sustainability standards that these buildings will need to conform with. The government has rightly noticed the plethora of planning requirements that vary from authority to authority. Where these use BREEAM, the Code for Sustainable Homes or Passivhaus they can work well but they often have additional constraints or requirements applied that can lead to contradictions. A poorly considered mix of standards can complicate the whole design and construction process, add costs and actually hinder delivery of sustainable buildings. Government has promised that developers and councils will work together to develop a “simple and transparent menu of costed standards”. A blend of well considered and consistent standards sounds great but it is a ‘Big Ask’ and arguably somewhat pointless when there are already workable BREEAM and Code standards that could be applied at different levels.
To further complicate the situation the Government has recently started a root and branch review of the Code – not just on whether it should be modified but whether it should exist at all. BREEAM on the other hand is not Government owned so cannot be modified by them, although a Code for Sustainable Buildings is planned for 2013.
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