BUILDING CONSTRUCTION
Meeting the new energy efficiency regulations
Over the course of 2022, key updates are being introduced to the Building Regulations in England, Scotland, and Wales. These changes will mean that both new-build and refurbishment projects will need to meet tougher requirements. Jonathan Ducker, head of Regulatory Affairs at Kingspan Insulation GB, discusses the key changes being introduced this year for energy performance.
Direct emissions from buildings accounted for around 17% of total UK greenhouse gas emissions in 20191
. As the country looks
to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 (2045 in Scotland) it will be essential to significantly reduce these both from new and existing buildings. This will be especially important for healthcare facilities, which are often among the most energy-intensive buildings, both in terms of ‘shrinking’ emissions, and addressing the rapid rises in energy costs. To help drive these reductions, England,
Scotland, and Wales, are all in the process of updating the energy performance requirements within their Building Regulations and Standards. In England these were introduced on 15 June, with Scotland’s updates due to come into force on 1 December, and Wales expected to be introduced by the close of the year. These changes are seen as a key stepping- stone, laying the groundwork for further updates due in 2024 (Scotland) and 2025 (England and Wales), when virtually all new buildings will need to be ‘net-zero ready’. The NHS has also set its own target to reach net zero on all ‘directly controlled’ emissions by 2040.2
Specific targets The specific targets that healthcare projects will need to meet differ in each region, and depending on the project type. We’ll take a look at the changes for new- build projects first.
Part L and Section 6 The energy performance requirements for buildings are contained in Part L of the Building Regulations (separate versions England and Wales), and Section 6 (Energy) of the Building Standards (Scotland). The regulations are accompanied with guidance documents, known as the Approved Documents (ADL) in England and Wales, and Technical Handbooks (TH) in Scotland. These set out the requirements which buildings need to meet to be deemed compliant. To do this, new healthcare facilities will
need to meet three key metrics.
n Carbon emissions. These need to be 25% lower than under the previous version of Part L in England, at least 16% lower than at present in Scotland, and are expected to be either 22% or 27% lower in Wales. While the uplift is lower in Scotland, the existing requirements are more demanding than those in Wales, and previously in England. As a result, Scottish developments may still need to hit a lower overall level of emissions.
n Primary or Delivered Energy. These are new metrics designed to limit the total energy of a building. They’ve been introduced in recognition that as the National Grid is decarbonised, it may be possible for buildings which waste energy, and are expensive to operate, to still reach low levels of carbon emissions. Delivered Energy will be used in Scotland, and will consider the
expected energy use by a building. Primary Energy, which is already being used in Wales for non-domestic buildings, and which is now introduced in England, adopts a more in-depth approach. It considers the energy used in upstream activities to prepare a fuel, such as extracting, transporting, and refining, and applies a weighting known as a Primary Energy Factor (PEF) to different fuel types. This may make it more challenging to achieve compliance depending on the fuel types used to heat and power a building.
n Worst-case U-values. In recognition that the most effective approach to minimising the long-term energy use of a building is by ensuring that it is well insulated, the different elements of the outer envelope must also meet or be better than worst-case levels of thermal performance (known as U-values). The lower the U-value, the more demanding the target. These are shown in Table 1
By using insulation materials with lower thermal conductivities, it should be possible to reach the demanding U-values with slimmer constructions.
October 2022 Health Estate Journal 81
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124
