Energy, Sustainability and Carbon – Page 10

Overheating assessment for a planning application

Overheating mitigation shows on the elevations, which is why authorities want the assessment before permission. Modelling routes, weather files and the noise conflict.

Zero carbon conditions and how they are discharged

Design-stage energy modelling wins the permission. As-built verification discharges the condition. Here is how the two differ and where schemes come unstuck.

Energy strategies for listed buildings and the heritage balance

The statutory duty to have special regard to preserving a listed building does not disappear because a scheme saves carbon. Here is how to order the measures, prove necessity and keep the fabric working.

The baseline problem in a refurbishment carbon assessment

A refurbishment starts with a structure that carries no product stage carbon inside the assessment boundary. Here is how to state that boundary, choose a defensible counterfactual and avoid the service life assumptions reviewers pull apart.

Water efficiency standards and the optional requirement

New homes meet 125 litres per person per day by default. The tighter 110 litre standard needs a local plan policy, a planning condition and the full calculator.

Wind turbines on a farm: the policy tests that apply

There is no permitted development right for a wind turbine on agricultural land in England. Six workstreams decide the application, and radar safeguarding is the one to test first.

Retention versus demolition: the carbon policy argument

Retrofit first arguments are decided on option appraisals. How to define comparable options, avoid the three distortions reviewers look for, and evidence why retention was discounted.

Circular economy statements: reuse targets and evidence

Diversion from landfill, recycling and reuse are three different numbers, and statements that report only the first are answering the easy question. How to build the evidence instead.

Flat roof photovoltaics and permitted development limits

Rooftop solar rights sit in Part 14 of the GPDO, and the class depends on the building rather than the panels. Here are the limits, the prior approval step and when an application is safer.

Securing an energy strategy through planning conditions

The trigger wording on an energy condition decides whether a phased scheme can hand over on programme. Here is how to draft, vary and discharge energy and carbon conditions.

Wind effects of a rooftop plant enclosure

A plant enclosure added late raises the effective height of a building and feeds downwash to the pavement. Here is how comfort and safety criteria are applied, and why acoustic screening pulls against wind mitigation.

Energy assessment for student accommodation schemes

Student accommodation concentrates hot water demand into two short peaks and puts high gains into small single aspect rooms. Here is how the classification, the distribution losses and the overheating assumptions decide the submission.

Cooling hierarchy: proving the case before mechanical cooling

Active cooling sits at the bottom of the hierarchy for a reason. What has to be modelled and evidenced at each earlier step before it becomes defensible.

Circular economy statements: what the assessor checks

A reviewer traces every figure in a circular economy statement back to an audit or a drawing. What the targets measure and what counts as evidence.

Future Homes Standard: advising on schemes in progress

A planning permission gives no protection against a Part L uplift. How transitional provisions have operated, and how to design a scheme that works under either standard.

BREEAM credits that depend on the planning decision

Many credits in a BREEAM pre-assessment are not in the design team's gift. Which ones the site and the decision notice control, and how to word the condition.

The optional water efficiency standard and how it applies

The 110 litre optional standard applies only where the local plan justifies it and a condition imposes it. Here is how it is calculated, specified and discharged.

Embodied carbon in retention against demolition

A retrofit first case is won on how the options appraisal is framed, not on the final carbon figure. Here is how to set the comparison up and what evidence survives committee.

Regulated and unregulated energy: why the split matters

Planning carbon targets are calculated on regulated energy alone, which is why a strong percentage reduction can sit alongside high real consumption. Here is how to report both figures honestly.

Energy efficiency standards and commercial conversions

The letting standard and the planning system run on separate tracks, and they meet at the exemption stage. Here is how to sequence upgrade works around consent.

Retrofitting a listed building: fabric and consent

Most measures that cut a heating bill in an old house are the ones conservation officers least object to. Here is what needs consent, what does not, and how to build the case.

Sequestered carbon in timber: reporting it honestly

A whole life carbon assessment showing a negative embodied carbon total has usually dropped the end of life release. Here is how to report timber sequestration so a reviewer can verify it.

23 September 2026Read article →

Modern methods of construction and the carbon case

Modular and offsite systems can cut waste and operational energy, but the embodied carbon answer depends on the frame material and the transport distance. What a defensible planning submission needs.