NEWS
Schools urged to keep it simple
New design guidance for school buildings stresses the importance of using simple, standardised solutions to improve quality and cut costs.
The guidance was produced in response to last year’s James Review, which set out the case for greater use of standardisation in school buildings.
The Department for Education (DfE) designs, developed by the Education Funding Agency (EFA), encourage the adoption of ‘simple rectilinear forms’ to meet the targets of the Priority School Building Programme within shrinking public sector budgets. The designs will suit a range of sites and orientations, according to the DfE and there is a ‘kit of parts’ available for more awkward sites where straight lines are not possible or where existing buildings must be incorporated into the design. Copies of the guidance can be downloaded from the DfE website at
www.education.gov.uk
Buyer beware on
energy tariffs The Prime Minister’s
announcement (subsequently hastily watered down by Ofgem) that that energy suppliers would be forced to give customers their lowest tariff has undermined confidence in the government’s decision-making over energy policy, according to B&ES head of sustainability David Frise. ‘You have to have a free market – people should be able to choose the product they want at the price they want – you can’t nanny them,’ said Frise.
‘If you force one tariff on everyone, then that tariff will have to be a higher one so the suppliers can make a profit.’
CIBSE technical director Hywel Davies said: ‘Energy tariffs are currently complex, and are not transparent to consumers. ‘But, as the Prime Minister appears to have learned, simplification is not a simple task.’
8 CIBSE Journal November 2012
Passive approach crucial to avoid decades of high bills
Willmott Dixon’s Passivhaus development in Highgate
l Country faces ‘disastrous legacy’ of poor standard housing
Poor indoor air quality (IAQ) and high energy usage are the consequences of low levels of investment in building quality, according to research by the University of East Anglia’s Adapt Low Carbon Group.
‘There is huge concern about the lack of investment in housing and the housing shortage,’ said Dr Bruce Tofield, author of the Delivering a Low-Energy Building report. ‘This report highlights another housing crisis, which is less visible today but could be equally damaging over time.
‘Building as we do today could create a disastrous legacy, spanning many decades of higher bills, poorer health, and the country becoming unable to meet climate change targets.’ However, the UEA team that spent four years on this
research, which studied building performance standards in the UK, Germany, Sweden and other parts of Europe, added that both crises could be solved Delivering a low-energy building recommends building ultra-low energy Passivhaus buildings that require up to 90% less energy for heating and cooling. As well as saving money in the long term, setting Passivhaus standards would accelerate innovation, skill formation and competitiveness. The report calls for a radical reshaping of the traditional procurement model, arguing that poor teamwork across the construction supply chain leads to defects and is the main cause of buildings using more heating than predicted by both design engineers and in energy performance certificates (EPCs).
‘Building to the Passivhaus quality standard is the route to better homes, lower bills, and better returns’ said Tofield. ‘Far-sighted developers now realise that this
is more cost-effective because maintenance will cost less, prices will be stronger, and rental streams better protected.’
The research details how low- energy buildings can be delivered, often at no extra cost. It also shows how other industries have created the necessary processes, and highlights the financial benefits that come from the higher productivity of people working in low-energy buildings.
Best-practice examples cited in the report include UEA’s own Elizabeth Fry Building and the Broadland Housing Group in Norwich, which is embarking on the UK’s biggest-ever Passivhaus project. Further economic benefits will include a high performance and competitive construction industry, internationally competitive supply chains, and the elimination of fuel poverty, the researchers claimed.
See ‘Opinion’, page 26 All party group calls for green evidence
The All Party Parliamentary Group for Excellence in the Built Environment has launched an inquiry into sustainable construction and the Green Deal. It calls on firms, organisations and individuals to submit evidence of best practice, as well as identifying challenges and barriers to the adoption of sustainable design. It wants to consider the part that legislation is playing in this market, as well as seeing if the industry is ‘playing its part’. The inquiry will also consider whether sustainability is suffering in the recession, and what more can be done to promote green construction in public and private sector building projects.
It will look in detail at the Green Deal and ask if it is the right policy. The committee would like all evidence submitted by 30 November. This cross-party group will then hold sessions from January to March next year, so that selected organisations can present oral evidence in support of their submissions, with the findings published before the parliamentary recess next summer. Sir Tony Baldry, chairman of the group, said: ‘If the UK government is to meet its challenging targets for reducing carbon emissions, then much has to be done to take carbon out of the construction and use of our buildings and facilities.’
www.cibsejournal.com
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