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CIBSE NATIONAL CONFERENCE


No payback for some improvements


‘Energy effi ciency will come along as a virtue, but it won’t come along if you’re thinking purely about the economics,’ said Simon Harris, of quantity surveyor Cyril Sweett. He told delegates during a


session on cost planning for refurbishment projects that the Golden Rule – the point at which the Green Deal is made economically viable – will determine whether the policy is a success. He said: ‘The Golden Rule


is all about savings that are generated from investment, which must be greater than or equal to the investment in that measure – it could become the Green Deal breaker.’ Research on the issue


of costing refurbishments has revealed that certain


George Adams


Are engineers really up to ‘selling’ refurbishments?


Research conducted by contractor SPIE Matthew Hall has revealed that a good business case needs to be established to make clients see the benefi ts of green refurbishments. George Adams from SPIE identifi ed


Simon Harris


fabric improvements made to a building don’t pay for themselves, claimed Harris, while renewable measures appear to have a bigger payback, but still not enough to close the gap between initial spend and eventual savings. ‘If the Golden Rule is going


to be strictly applied, we’re going to fi nd only the very bad performing buildings will get funding – the low hanging fruit.’ Feed-in tariffs and the


Renewable Heat Incentive will also have a direct bearing on the economic case. Reviews of these tariffs are being undertaken now, and no doubt will be again in the future, which will impact on the business case of undertaking refurbishment projects. Harris suggested that


industry needs to map the drivers for green refurbishment and really understand what they are. He also recommended mapping the costs and the benefi ts of all the options.’


22 CIBSE Journal May 2011


key drivers that should help to push the retrofi tting agenda. The UK has a larger than average disparity between GDP generated by construction, which is currently around 3% to 4%, and carbon emissions generated by industry and the built environment, which is around 53%. ‘In other countries those fi gures are much closer together,’ said Adams. Power costs are another driver identifi ed by SPIE. Between 2005 and 2009, gas costs rose by 42%, with another 50% to 80% hike likely to be seen over the next 10 years.


‘ One way to drive retrofi ts is to treat the engineer as a refurb salesman’ Kate McCormick


A similar hike is expected in fuel prices, with the government offi cially predicting a 50% increase, while Shell anticipates it will be nearer 300%, caused by energy growth. Add to this the expected shutting of 25% of the UK’s power plants by the UK government, and it will leave the UK needing to source 40% of its energy from renewable sources. Kate McCormick from SPIE said


one idea to drive retrofi tting is to treat the engineer as the ‘salesman


of refurbishment’. However, a recent report by the Carbon Trust has


confi rmed that engineers are simply not getting their message across. McCormick said: ‘The report says that just 7% of people believe the green credentials claimed by fi rms.’


It’s time to learn from building users


The industry can make a huge difference to people’s lives through good retrofi tting – but a great deal of money can also be wasted by failing to learn from users’ experiences, insisted William Box, of consultancy Carnego Systems. ‘As an industry we don’t often


think about users,’ he said. ‘But users are a critical part of the engineering process. It’s easy to focus on, for example, building fabric, and to leave users out of the picture.’ A key obstacle to recognising the


importance of user experience is that the industry focuses on what is measurable, said Box. ‘We are looking at meeting


standards without actually knowing whether the device being fi tted can do the job that needs doing.’ People’s sense of being in


control of their environment is crucial to infl uencing their behaviour. But we don’t help and train them to use control systems in their homes, and we can expect too much of them, said Box: ‘People don’t understand


mechanical insulation? But then, why should they?’ When it comes to learning


lessons from retrofi ts, the industry is still not collecting all the data that is out there, insisted Box: ‘And we need to grab and to use it in real time, not after two years.’ Feedback needs to be provided


quickly, and users’ views must be taken into account, added Box. ‘But in the next few years I predict that we’ll see more integration between engineers and psychologists aimed at infl uencing user behaviour.’


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