Energy, Sustainability and Carbon
Energy statements, Part L, the Future Homes Standard, whole life carbon and BREEAM.
Latest in Energy, Sustainability and Carbon
300 articlesGrid capacity and a rural renewable scheme
On a constrained network the connection offer tells you what scheme is worth applying for. Treating it as an engineering matter for after permission is how capacity gets wasted.
BREEAM energy credits and the condition that secures them
A condition requiring a certified rating is really a condition requiring the low carbon specification to survive value engineering. How to set it up so it does.
Energy statements for a major refurbishment
A refurbishment energy statement has a real baseline and a constrained set of measures. How to establish both, and how to set up the demolition comparator honestly.
The energy hierarchy applied to a single self-build
One house does not need a major scheme's carbon modelling. What the local validation list actually asks for, and how to answer it in two or three pages.
Renewable energy requirements on employment units
A renewables percentage applied to a shell and core warehouse depends entirely on what it is measured against. How to settle the definition and draft a condition that can be complied with.
Solar panels on a pitched roof: permission and policy
Class A of Part 14 allows roof-mounted solar on a house, including the front slope and in conservation areas, subject to a 0.2 metre projection limit and conditions on appearance.
Whole life carbon: modules A to C and what gets reported
Whole life carbon is modules A plus B plus C, with D reported separately and never netted off. What each module covers, which assumptions drive the result, and how to present it so a reviewer can check it.
Communal heat networks and what planning policy requires
National policy says little about site heat networks; the requirement comes from local plans and, in London, policy SI 3. What evidence persuades, how zoning changes the safeguarding argument, and which conditions work.
Heat pumps in an energy strategy: what officers check
A heat pump energy strategy is judged on three things: the seasonal performance figure against the design flow temperature, the external unit's location, and the noise assessment positions.
Future Homes Standard transitional rules for consented sites
A planning permission does not fix which edition of the energy requirements applies. The transitional mechanism works plot by plot, so the evidence of a start on each individual dwelling is what matters.
Embodied carbon of foundations and ground works
On brownfield sites the substructure can carry more embodied carbon than the frame above. How piling, rafts, ground improvement and mix design compare, and how to report substructure so the saving is reviewable.
Green roofs: what counts and what the drawings must show
A thin sedum blanket satisfies almost no current policy. What separates extensive, biodiverse and intensive roofs, how much attenuation credit to expect, and the drawings that discharge the condition.
Water efficiency standards and how to hit 110 litres
The tighter 110 litre standard applies only where a plan policy adopts it and a condition imposes it. How the water efficiency calculation works and which fittings decide the result.
Energy and carbon conditions: what gets discharged when
Energy and carbon conditions bite at different points in the programme. The triggers, the as-built evidence councils accept, and what to do when design changes break one.
Overheating risk in a loft conversion
Sloping rooflights collect more solar gain than vertical windows, and a converted loft has almost no thermal mass. Part O rarely applies, so the design has to deal with it.
Electricity grid capacity and when it stops a scheme
Capacity is a deliverability problem, not a policy objection. What to ask the network operator, how to read an offer, and how phasing conditions should be drafted.
Heat network priority areas and what they oblige
Priority areas are a planning expectation; zoning under the Energy Act 2023 is a duty. The difference decides what evidence a major application has to carry.
Energy statement baselines: Part L against policy targets
A Part L pass and a policy percentage improvement are different measurements and should never share a table. How each is built, why carbon factors changed the answers, and what the reconciliation paragraph needs to say.
Urban greening factor: calculating a score that passes
The urban greening factor is a weighted average across the whole red line area, not just the landscaped parts. Here is how the weightings work, where the score is won, and how to present a calculation an officer can check.
Whole life carbon thresholds: which schemes are caught
The trigger for a whole life carbon assessment is not floor area. In London it is referability to the Mayor; outside London it is the adopted local plan, or nothing at all.
Solar panels on a listed building: what is possible
Solar on a listed building turns on visibility, fixing detail and reversibility rather than on the panels. The slopes least likely to be refused, and the documents consent needs.
Embodied carbon in a retrofit against a new build
A retrofit against new build carbon comparison turns on four module groups, the structural appraisal behind the reuse case, and the grid decarbonisation assumption nobody states.
Fabric first against renewables: where the money goes
Fabric first is right for the first few thousand pounds and wrong for the last few. Work out the crossover for your own plot with SAP sensitivity runs rather than borrowing someone else's league table.
Part O overheating: simplified method or modelling
Approved Document O offers tabulated glazing limits or a dynamic thermal simulation. Single aspect flats, high risk locations and noisy roads push schemes into the modelling route whether the team planned for it or not.
Not sure which documents your council will ask for?
Enter your postcode and PlanScope recommends the right reports for your project, then drafts them in minutes.
Enter your postcode on PlanScope