News
BREEAM Infrastructure Certification for HS2
Posted on July 17th 2019
Costain-Skanska (CSJV) and their BREEAM Assessor Hodkinson Consultancy have recently submitted the BREEAM New Construction Infrastructure (Pilot) design assessment for HS2 Phase One, S1 and S2. This was supported by Arup, as part of a design house joint house venture with Typsa and Strabag. CSJV were responsible for all Early Works and Arup were responsible for all Main Civils Works. …
Tougher targets included in New European standard for the provision of daylight in buildings
Posted on July 15th 2019
The New European Daylight Standard EN 17037 will be adopted in UK by the end of 2019 and will supersede the British Standard BS 8206-2:2008 ‘‘Lighting for Buildings code of Practice for daylighting’’. A new BRE Guidance will be released early in 2020 to reflect this. All new requirements will need to be consistently applied to planning applications submitted after …
Learning from Building Performance Evaluation: Improving Build Quality and Customer Satisfaction
Posted on July 15th 2019
Understanding how dwellings perform in reality allows us to provide sophisticated advice and recommendations at the design stage. Performance verification enables a feedback loop for enhanced design, improved build quality and high levels of customer satisfaction. The process of learning how dwellings perform for the people who live in them is vital: For understanding what works well and what doesn’t …
Energy Storage – The Missing Link
Posted on July 15th 2019
The decarbonisation of energy use through a focus on cleaner generation sources can only reduce CO₂ emissions so far. In order to best utilise low carbon energy, thereby reducing the reliance on more carbon intensive supplies, energy strategies for new developments will be increasingly required to consider the role of energy storage mechanisms. The current thrust for the decarbonisation of …
BREEAM UK New Construction 2018 – BREEAM ‘Excellent’ more achievable?
Posted on June 12th 2019
To date, Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) have appreciated that the mandatory energy requirements of BREEAM ‘Excellent’ acted as a barrier to many schemes being awarded a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating. Therefore, LPAs often set planning conditions at a ‘Very Good’ rating with endeavours to ‘Excellent’ for a range of schemes registered under BREEAM 2018. Going forward, we expect more LPAs to …
Heat Networks Validation Engineering: planning your exit strategy
Posted on June 12th 2019
Heat networks are complex systems. From the physics of moving pressurised fluid to the chemistry of water quality, it can be challenging to make it all work. All too often these complexities end up being overlooked and at hand-over the acceptance criteria is reduced to “customers are getting hot water”. The price is heat losses, inefficiency, system malfunction and unhappy …
Our Specialists Present on Post Occupancy Acoustics, Ventilation and Overheating at CIBSE Technical Symposium and IOA Conference
Posted on June 12th 2019
Our Building Performance Evaluation Specialist Kate Paxton and our Acoustic Specialist Kim Coleman each presented the findings of their individual research projects at the recent CIBSE Technical Symposium and IOA Acoustic Conference, respectively. Kate has undertaken detailed research into the ‘performance gap’ of simulated versus measured summertime thermal comfort performance of new build dwellings in London. Her presentation to CIBSE …
What impact will ‘net zero’ emissions have on the construction industry?
Posted on June 12th 2019
Net zero greenhouse gas emissions is emerging as the next construction industry target. Net zero greenhouse gas emissions are when the sum of your activities are carbon emissions free. Achieving this is challenging. There are political, economic and technical barriers, but recent events have started to change this: Politically, the UK Parliament declared that we are experiencing a climate emergency. The …
G59 to G99: Changes in mains protection
Posted on May 7th 2019
Currently most developments with a grid-connected electricity generating output (for example, combined heat and power and solar photovoltaics) are required to be G59 compliant. Updates to the Embedded Generator Regulations (EGR), which come into force on the 27th of April 2019 will place this requirement under the new G99 regime. The changes to the regulations will have minimal impact on …
How to ensure your electric car charging prices are fit for purpose
Posted on April 29th 2019
Developments are required to install electric vehicle charging points at an ever increasing rate. This raises a question of how to determine a fair use charge. This is true for both public and private car parks. The service requirements of the Landlord Tenant Act may require considering if electric car charging forms part of a service charge. There are a …