30 things you might not know about Part L

Last week’s consultation on reforms to the energy use regulations for housing put Part L of the Building Regulations well and truly back in the headlines.

This is the third of four planned re-writes of Part L between 2006 and 2016 - which on the domestic side will lead to the zero carbon homes standard. The current consultation proposes to increase the energy performance for new homes by a further 8% on 2010 standards (see “The basics”, right) and to introduce a requirement for people to upgrade the energy performance of their properties when making other upgrades.

It has not met with universal approval. While many in the industry argue that the reforms - due to be implemented in 2013 - take a pragmatic line in giving housebuilders more slack than expected while gearing up for the zero carbon standard, others say they don’t go far enough. Some even argue that a further update now is unnecessary, coming so soon on the heels of the 2010 revision to Part L.

The argument for even greater regulation points out that it has been one of the most effective tools for driving up standards, with the target of zero carbon acting as an incentive for firms to go the extra mile.

As regulations have become tighter, the cost of building to those standards has fallen. Housebuilder Barratt calculates that the cost of meeting level four of the Code for Sustainable Homes has fallen from an additional £11,000 per property in 2009 to a £4,000 premium last year.

That makes achieving the energy criteria of Part L more realistic for the construction industry, leading critics of the reforms to say they should have been more onerous. They are certainly lower than those that the former Labour government had been expected to implement.

And yet others have expressed scepticism that there is a need to renew the regulations in 2013 at all. Elizabeth Ness, group sustainability executive at Crest Nicholson, says: “[The upgrade] means the new regulations are out before there is evidence on the last ones.” Ness says that the gains in built performance from current homes, compared with those built to older standards, need to be tested before more legislation is introduced to drive further improvements.

Nevertheless, with some of the changes in last week’s consultation set to come into force from October this year, the government appears set on action as soon as possible. All the more reason you need make Part L part of your bedtime reading.

PUTTING IT INTO ACTION

11 The consultation on consequential improvements is open until 27 March; the other measures remain open for comment until 27 April.

12 New-build standards will come into force in October 2013.

13 Regulations on consequential improvements would come into force in October 2012.

14 It is envisaged that the cost of consequential improvements would be met by the government’s Green Deal and would need to cost around 10% of the budget for the primary works to meet the regulatory requirement. The government claims this will drive take-up of the Green Deal …

15 Consequential improvements required after replacing a boiler or more than half the windows in a property would not be introduced until April 2014.

WHAT WILL THE IMPACT BE?

21 This cost to housebuilders has angered smaller firms, which claim they will find it difficult to carry the burden despite the fact the rise is less than expected. Roger Humber, strategic policy adviser at the House Builders Association, says: “Effectively housebuilders are having to pay for social engineering on behalf of the government. At the end of the day, the government has decided to penalise the housebuilding industry disproportionately.”

22 However, the industry should not pass those costs on to other parts of the chain, according to Mark Clare, chief executive of Barratt Development. “If you take the view that you can push those costs on to the land price or simply charge customers more, it will simply mean less homes are built,” he says.

23 Richard Partington, director of Richard Partington Architects, says the fabric energy efficiency standard would be relatively simple to meet from a technological standpoint, but adds: “The issue is for the big housebuilders because they have a supply chain in place, which is difficult to turn around.”

24 Developments in the construction industry’s most active market, London, will already have to conform to a 55% reduction on carbon emissions over 2006 standards from 2013 - which is a bigger drop than the proposed changes