Joined-up working

The countdown to the introduction of the latest version of Part L is almost over, and I must confess that I am a fan of the strategic approach to the amendments. Like it or loath it, Part L will arrive in England and Wales in April and we need to deal with it.

Of more concern to me is that the construction industry as a whole may well fail to recognise that the adoption of such a strategic approach to Part L will provide it with greater opportunities than energy reduction. Other potential benefits include the way the team will have to work together to achieve a regulatory compliant design and in the lessons we can all learn from its implementation. Let me explain…

Time to put words into action

The new revision to Part L will set a single standard for compliance (based on carbon emissions), which will take away any design ambiguity and encourages - demands, even - the integrated approach to design to which the industry has been paying lip service for as many years as I can remember, despite the best efforts of many leading lights.

In particular, the removal of the ‘elemental calculation method' from the new Part L is a major step forward. This gave the architect license to proceed with the building design without any need to consider its environmental design and us engineers an excuse to come to the party late. But the collaborative way of working means that we all bring something to the gathering, are informed of the impact of our decisions and can affect the outcome.

This collaborative approach is nothing new to most of us - especially those who have had the dubious pleasure of bidding for PFI schemes in the healthcare sector, where energy and sustainability targets have been the norm for some time. Having survived more than 40 PFI campaigns, I share the view of my architectural colleagues: it will have a successful outcome only if there are common aims which are now more focused through Part L) and strong leadership ensuring we work together to achieve them.

The collaborative approach required by Part L will be successful only if there is strong team leadership

I believe a ‘design champion' is required for each and every project if we are to succeed - someone to provide this leadership, encouraging collaboration and ensuring that the mechanisms are in place to deliver the client's design agenda. This role requires knowledge of the design process as a whole, the encouragement of high quality design and an ability to make sure the client is appropriately engaged in the process and engages the right design team. It also requires the ability to ensure the design vision matches the client's business and inspirational needs and provides a platform from which both a strategic and detailed brief can evolve.

Well, traditionally the design leader has been the architect. And it is to them that overall responsibility to obtain Building Regulation approval falls. But is the architect the right person for this role now - particularly when faced with such complex issues as the new Part L? Will they understand the concept of the performance-based approach, which now requires the use of the not-so-easy-to-use SBEM tool or, worse still, a highly complex building simulation to test the choices? Surely this needs an engineer's touch?

Well, no, actually. The use of simulation is now routinely undertaken by architects to evaluate the energy and environmental performance of their design concepts, even though historically this has been undertaken by building services or specialised environmental systems engineers.

So who should fill the design champion's shoes? Who is best placed to take on responsibility for driving this new challenge through? Well, in my opinion, it is still the architect! With a lot of hand-holding and a few words of encouragement from us in the building services engineering fraternity, these professionals remain the ideal candidates to steer a project through to completion and a design through the rigours of the new Part L. Trust me - architects understand a lot more about complex design issues than engineers give them credit for. They have to. And now we have a new and unshiftable focus in Part L, things can only get better.