48 INDUSTRY VIEWFINDER Who is generally responsible for compliance with Part F in your projects?


Our survey found that 20% of housebuilders and developers we surveyed were fi ndin it etreely challenin to easure carbon reductions for Part L across their whole site, while 24% said ‘it’s been no different.’ A slightly lower number were fi ndin it etreely challenin for art  , althouh  said it was ‘quite challenging.’ Lastly for Part O, 19% said that measuring overheating was ‘extremely challenging,’ but 25% believed it was ‘no different.’


SKILLS SHORTAGES We also asked respondents of what particular skills and training they have had to address in order to comply with the new standards (with options including insulation, on and offsite timber frame, SIPs, ICF, thermal breaks, membranes, triple glazing, air-tightness tapes, low carbon heating, MVHR and waste water heat recovery, solar PV & battery storage, electric and radiant heatin, under oor heatin, rainwater harvestin and greywater recycling).


Housebuilders possess a wide range of skills in-house, including at the smaller end of the market, but the new Regs are challenging those existing skills. The attention to detail is being ramped up, the reporting on as-built construction becoming more onerous, and new skills such as applying air tightness tapes and installing heat pumps are becoming more commonly required. Bridging this skills gap may be a particular concern for soe saller fi rs, but also soe volue housebuilders ay struggle to deliver on certain skill sets. Installing insulation, whether PIR, PUR or mineral wool, to a much tighter tolerance in order to achieve the new U-values in Part L may require a skill level which tests many housebuilders. Similarly, skills around fabric approaches such as on and offsite timber frame construction, SIPs panels and ICF (Insulated


Concrete Formwork) all require new skills, if they are being tackled inhouse to a hih level of enery effi ciency, and not by subcontractors.


Other areas where there may be skill gaps to bridge for housebuilders include installing thermal breaks and membranes, sourcing and installing triple glazing, and applying air-tightness tapes. More likely to be taken care of by specialist installers include heating and electric systems like low carbon heating (e.g. heat pumps), MVHR and waste water heat recovery, solar   battery storae, electric heatin, under oor heatin, and rainwater harvesting and greywater recycling. With 45% of our surveyed professionals saying that skill shortages remained a serious barrier to compliance with the standards, we asked them which areas in particular they have had to address in terms of workers’ skills, including training. Insulation was on top, probably demonstrating its ubiquity as a solution to the Part L requirements. 62% said they have had to address skills issues for installing the new levels of insulation to meet Part L U-values in walls and roofs. This was followed by thermal breaks (a relatively new methodology), at 52%, then solar PV and battery storage, which continues to evolve and therefore was no surprise at 47%. Eco heating methods are similarly constantly evolving, and in themselves are a new area for many developers, and placed at number four with 43%. Further down the list, yet also relatively new methodologies requiring skills uplift and training were MVHR and waste water heat recovery (40%), triple glazing (38%), and membranes, airtihtness taes and under oor heatin all at  ther more established approaches like timber frame, including offsite timber frame, SIPs panels, electric and radiant heating, rainwater and greywater harvesting, and Insulated Concrete Formwork, came in at between 32% and 22% of our respondents’ choices.


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