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INDUSTRY VIEWFINDER
Rating key factors and methods in terms of how challenging they are for meeting the new Part L requirements g Very Challenging g Moderately Challenging g Slightly Challenging g Not At All Challenging
carbon reduction (arguably the key means of doing so). 51% said they had a ‘good’ or ‘very good’ understanding of fabric energy efficiency compared with 37% in 2023, while there was an 18% increase in those with a ‘very good’ level of understanding versus 2023 on the minimum fabric requirements for new Part L. However as a result of this there were slight drops in those respondents picking ‘good’ or ‘acceptable’ (down 5% and 8% respectively). We asked architects how well they understood the introduction
of the ‘primary energy target’ or ‘primary energy rating (PER)’ as the main metric for measuring a property’s energy use, based on the fuel used as well as the fabric. Things had improved since 2023, with 48% this year saying they had a good or very good level of understanding. However, very good was only up by 3% this year, suggesting that this somewhat obscure method of looking at building performance (PER looks at the ‘upstream’ sustainability credentials of the fuel sources used for heating the house) requires more explanation. With new builds now required to submit photo evidence of compliant constructions under Part L, we introduced a new question for 2024 to ascertain architects’s confidence in whether the approach would address the ‘performance gap’ between as-designed and as-built performance. The responses were inconclusive: 32% saying it ‘definitely would’ address the issue, but the same number saying they didn’t know, and 36% saying that it “definitely wouldn’t.”
EXPERT VIEW
Chris Perry of TODD Architects gave his view on whether the new ‘notional building’ model – for creating ‘reference values’ to achieve fabric and emissions targets against in the new Part L – was actually a barrier to achieving compliance: “The whole notional dwelling specification concept is quite confusing, and a fixed target might be better; but it doesn’t really impede anything.”
Assessing the challenges We asked our respondents both in 2023 and this year how difficult
they believed it would be to achieve the new carbon emissions reduction targets (31% lower emissions in residential, 27% lower emissions in non-residential) to ensure designs comply with the new Part L. The numbers of people saying that the emissions would be ‘very difficult’ to achieve in residential were similar year on year (30% this year, rising to 33% this year), but overall it was an improving picture, with 74% this year saying the reductions would be ‘very’ or ‘slightly’ difficult, compared with 83% last year, and 18% saying it would not be ‘very difficult,’ up on last year. The slight rise in people saying that it would be ‘very difficult’ to achieve possibly suggests a similar factor to the arrival of a 3% recording of people saying they had a ‘very poor’ awareness of Part L’s requirements in this year’s survey. Namely that as the year has progressed since the mandatory introduction of the new Part L, the practical ramifications have both raised unexpected challenges, and further questions. This has only been exacerbated by the delayed release of the consultation on the Future Homes Standard at the end of the year. In non-residential, things were promising, with 17% this year saying it would be ‘very difficult’ to achieve the Part L carbon reductions, versus 30% in 2023. Those saying it would be ‘slightly difficult’ had also increased, by 7% to 57%.
There were of course a series of specific barriers which remained to achieving the new regulations in schemes. We focused on Parts L and O, and firstly asked respondents what they saw as the main barriers to achieving compliance with Part L 2021. The no-surprises front runner – the cost of upgrading specs – had actually become a more significant barrier for a large proportion of respondents, driven by price inflation in the industry as well as perhaps greater awareness of the ‘real’ cost of Part L since its introduction. 71% said it was a ‘significant’ barrier for them in 2024, against 66% in 2023 (up 5%).
Possibly more concerning, given it relates more to the capabilities of the industry itself, was a still relatively high number of respondents saying that ‘competency and quality of installation’
WWW.ARCHITECTSDATAFILE.CO.UK ADF MARCH 2024
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