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INDUSTRY VIEWFINDER: A NEW ERA OF ENERGY EFFICIENT BUILDINGS
“What ‘eco’ technologies/approaches do you expect to use to meet the new requirements within Part L 2021 in domestic/residential projects?” g Will Definately Use g Will Probably Use g Potentially Will Use g Unlikely To Use g Will Not Use
Solution advantages Key areas to focus on In our reader survey, we asked respondents to choose and rate their top five construction factors in terms of their importance for designers to focus on to meet the new Part L in new homes. The list included building envelope, thermal bridging, air tightness, low carbon heating, renewables, air quality, moisture and damp, space standards, aesthetics, and light. For our respondents, by far the top aspect of design and construction to focus on for Part L, was the building envelope with 354 ratings, ahead of thermal bridging with 246) would be a probable result, given the tightened new U-values. However air tightness was still rated by 206 respondents (somewhat related to the building envelope) therefore these figures may be correlated. Low carbon heating was next, with only a relatively modest 125
ratings, followed by renewables, air quality, and moisture and damp, with a lowly 74. Perhaps concerningly, few among our respondents picked aesthetics or light as key factors to focus on in designing to meet Part L (receiving 48 and 40 ratings respectively).
Closing the performance gap
Part of the new regime under Part L is resting on contractors, to provide a proper audit trail within the BREL/BRUKL reports that demonstrates that they have achieved the necessary quality of construction onsite, in order to close the stubborn Performance Gap that exists currently between design and construction. The reports will need to show such factors as continuity of insulation (avoiding heat losses through gaps), in design drawings
but also in the as-built construction. Thermal bridging needs to be minimised, to provide an insulation layer that’s as continuous as possible, and details will have to be provided to demonstrate this. The new regulations state that opportunities should be considered to reduce thermal bridges, and any product substitutions should be reflected in the SAP calculation and documented to ensure they are still compliant.
Conclusion
Given the challenges posed for the industry by the much tighter regulations, the architects and architectural technologists we surveyed said they needed more help from a range of sources in complying with the newly updated Regs. The spread of votes were similar across Parts L, F and O for the factors we proposed (government incentives, other grants, government advice and regulation, advice from manufacturers, technical guidance, and advice from third parties). Part L saw the most ratings for the former two, i.e. greater funding, likely a result of it being a more comprehensive, and therefore more cost-intensive, set of requirements.
Building Control is now in the hot seat. The credibility of the new regime for ensuring low energy buildings for the future, constructed according to their design promises, rests on them being able to rigorously monitor the process. Beyond the design challenges for architects, will they be able to fulfil their end of the bargain?
The full white paper can be downloaded free of charge at
www.architectsdatafile.co.uk
WWW.ARCHITECTSDATAFILE.CO.UK
ADF FEBRUARY 2023
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