News archive for October, 2025
Don’t Let Gateway 2 Freeze Out Your BREEAM and HQM Credits
Posted on October 29th 2025
As Gateway 2 submissions approach, design freeze pressures can lead to missed sustainability opportunities. Elements like commercial refuse stores, cycle storage, and ecological enhancements, which are key for BREEAM and HQM credits, can often be overlooked or value-engineered out if not locked in early. Once Gateway 2 is passed, design changes become difficult and costly, risking the loss of credits …
Circular Economy: You’re Doing More Than You Think
Posted on October 29th 2025
Development teams already embed many circular principles, such as those below. Examples of further steps are illustrated in the image and can help ensure our buildings are resilient and retain long-term value. Designing out waste: Reuse of excavation waste on site, specification of materials with recycled content and, diverting construction waste from landfill, all feed into how you design out …
Retrofit Projects Are Not All Bad
Posted on October 29th 2025
Following the PAS 2035 standard for retrofit projects can help to avoid the impacts of “bad retrofit”, as recently reported following a National Audit Office (NAO) report. Done well, retrofit of existing homes can lead to significant reductions in residents energy bills as well as CO2 emissions from the dwelling. The NAO report found that 98% of retrofit projects that …
Defra Launch Consultation on Part G Water Efficiency Standards
Posted on October 29th 2025
In response to the growing challenge of water scarcity, DEFRA have launched a consultation on the Building Regulations Part G water efficiency standards. Water scarcity is already constraining house building within areas of water stress, such as the Sussex North Water Resource Zone and Cambridgeshire. Meeting the housing targets set by the government will require changes to water efficiency standards …