SUSTAINABILITY in the Sunderland Echo Property Supplement
SUSTAINABILITY
Following our previous two articles we have had various enquiries regarding issues on ‘green’ design and sustainability. We therefore decided to discuss environmentally responsible design and the Code for Sustainable Homes. The Code for Sustainable Homes is a national bench mark for housing standards set by the government and are due to become more stringent in April this year to ensure that all new government funded homes comply with Code Level 4. We will explain below what this exactly means.
SUSTAINABLE DESIGN
‘Green’ or sustainable design does not just mean placing a wind turbine or solar panels on your roof. It requires a holistic approach to all aspects of design including orientation and location of a building to maximise natural ventilation, daylight and solar gains.
It is irrelevant whether people agree with climate change or global warming, the fact is that there is a need for more new housing which in turn needs to decrease in energy consumption to reduce dependency on expensive fossil fuels and impact on the environment.
Buildings impact on the environment in three ways: through the resources used in their creation, through the energy used in their operation and through the waste produced in construction, operation & disposal. The government’s legislation on new houses – The Code for Sustainable Homes – aims to score housing developments on these criteria in several ways.
CODE FOR SUSTAINABLE HOMES
The Code for Sustainable Homes is a standard for new dwellings that has been introduced to change national house building practice. It was introduced in December 2006 by the Government to improve the energy performance in the design of new houses. The Code will reduce the overall environmental impact of the construction sector and will form the basis for future Building Regulations in relation to CO2 emissions from energy use in homes.
The Code for Sustainable Homes deals with more than just energy use and carbon dioxide emissions. There are nine performance categories on which each development is scored:
- Energy use and carbon dioxide emissions
- Water
- Materials
- Surface water run-off
- Waste
- Pollution
- Health and well-being
- Management
- Ecology
The Code incorporates six levels for compliance, each of which has mandatory carbon dioxide emissions standards. The total points scored in each category determines whether the scheme is code level 1 through to 6.
Code level Reduction in carbon dioxide emissions compared with Building Regulations, Part L (2006)
1 10%
2 18%
3 25%
4 44%
5 100%
6 ‘Net Zero Carbon’
It is proposed that all new dwellings should be ‘zero carbon’, that is, compliant with Level 6 of the Code, by 2016. Although this seems a while off, massive strides are needed to achieve this not only in the design of our new homes but also in our everyday lifestyles.
OUR CODE LEVEL 6 SCHEME AT REED STREET
We were set a brief to design a ‘carbon negative’ social housing scheme on a former car park site in South Tyneside with many constraints including trees, vehicular routes, neighbouring properties and services below ground.
In simple terms, a carbon negative building will use less energy than it creates, which allows the excess energy to be fed into the National Grid, effectively making the building negative in energy use.
We have designed 21 environmentally responsible dwellings which are to be ‘carbon negative’ in energy use. The project will generate all its electricity from solar PV panels and among other things, the scheme is also designed to maximise passive solar gains, natural surveillance and be exemplar in the use of natural, breathable materials. The scheme has an innovative car club service where residents will share electric cars, allowing them to give up their private vehicles without sacrificing mobility.
The highly innovative project has been designed to exceed Code 6 of The Code for Sustainable Homes and planning approved was granted in January 2010.
Further informative links can be found on our website www.fitzarchitects.co.uk under the “useful stuff” section and you can keep up to date in our “blog” section with developments such as the Reed Street project, one of the UK’s most advanced housing schemes.
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