How ‘Sleeving’ Can Affect Heat Networks
Posted on February 28th 2024
The Future Homes and Buildings Standard Consultation proposed methodology for sleeving low carbon plant on heating networks uses peak demand for sizing of plant. This will have a significant impact on developers, potentially accelerating the rate of heat network decarbonisation compared to a methodology using annual heat demands, but it will result in larger plant and associated impact on utilities, …
Company co-founder Wendy Hodkinson dies peacefully from Ovarian Cancer
Posted on August 18th 2023
Wendy Hodkinson, co-founder of the company, died on Friday 11th August 2023 following a 3 year battle with Ovarian Cancer. She died peacefully with her family in Michael Sobell Hospice, Northwood. Alongside her husband Richard, Wendy founded the company in 1998 to promote environmental and sustainability standards for new housing. The company was one of the first sustainability consultants in …
How Sustainable Design Addresses Climate, Health and Energy Challenges
Posted on February 27th 2023
Quality buildings address the current concerns of their occupants, including increased energy costs, health and wellbeing, and climate change. Some examples of how these are addressed in your designs are shown in this image:
Acoustic Design for High Quality Housing
Posted on January 18th 2018
An increasing demand for housing is leading to the continuous development of urban areas and infill of brownfield sites. As a result, the impact of environmental noise is becoming an increasingly important consideration for developers when designing high quality new buildings. External noise affects health and quality of life, as well as impacting on the availability of natural ventilation through …
London’s Draft Solar Action Plan Promotes PV Panels Through Planning
Posted on October 11th 2017
The draft London Solar Action Plan was published by the Mayor of London for consultation on 11th August. It sets out a key target to encourage more solar energy installations through the planning system, including for new development and retrofitted on existing buildings. The new draft London Plan, to be published in November this year, will continue to encourage major …
Updates to BREEAM Fees
Posted on June 14th 2017
The BRE are increasing the BREEAM registration and certification fees, as of 1st July. If your projects are registered before 30th June the current charges will apply. For UK New Construction, the following registration and certification fees will apply after 1st July: Further changes are: BREEAM UK Refurbishment and Fit Out registration fees are increasing from £195 to £250. Home …
Changes to BREEAM and HQM Assessment Fees
Posted on April 28th 2017
The BRE typically update their scheme fees every two or three years and the last fee change for many of the schemes was back in July 2014. Scheme fees are changing in the following versions: Notably the biggest changes are as follows: Registration fees are increasing from £195 to £250 for New Construction and Refurb and Fit Out assessments HQM …
UKGBC Releases Technical Papers on Health and Wellbeing in Homes – with the help of Hodkinson Consultancy
Posted on April 4th 2017
With the help of our technical input, the UK Green Building Council has recently launched a suite of technical papers on health and wellbeing in homes. This builds on their Health and Wellbeing in Homes report launched in July last year, to which Hodkinson Consultancy was a key contributor. The papers build on the guidance provided in the full report, …
Improving Build Quality through Post Occupancy Evaluation
Posted on January 13th 2017
We currently monitor buildings for a number of our clients to provide valuable feedback on post-occupancy performance, to ensure that lessons are learnt going forwards and that the most efficient arrangements are used for future projects. This improves the overall performance of buildings, minimises the performance gap, and ensures that buildings operate effectively for their occupants. Post occupancy evaluation (POE) …
Environmental Performance Considerations when Selecting Glazing
Posted on January 13th 2017
Glazing is usually one of the most expensive packages within the construction process. It is therefore essential that all glazing requirements are considered and appropriate glazing specified to secure best value. The main issues to consider with glazing are: Acoustic levels Daylighting Levels Solar Heating Thermal Efficiency Acoustic Glazing To meet acoustic requirements set out in BS8233:2014 acoustic glazing is …