Energy & Sustainability

A survey by MakeMyHouseGreen.com, which uses smart data to calculate savings made by green technology, has shown households that have invested in solar panels increased their Energy Performance Certificate score by 15-22 points and jumped at least one band.

Part L of the Building Regulations came into force in June in England and the respective regulations in Scotland and Wales will be changed later this year. A lack of clarity on how to carry out U-value calculations for multifoil insulation has been resolved by the BRE Group’s Conventions for U-value calculations, aka BR443 (2019 edition).

According to the latest Boiler Upgrade Scheme figures, 2,000 heat pump installations each received a subsidy of £5,000 in July, costing the UK taxpayer £10m.

SocEnv have launched a brand-new website – socenv.org.uk – improving user experience, accessibility and engagement with the environmental professional community.

CABE’s annual conference will take place on 13-14 October 2022 at Celtic Manor Resort, Newport

With an energy crisis looming and a climate crisis in full swing, can buildings become more than structures that consume resources or can they actively power themselves? Denise Chevin finds out

Denise Chevin explores the key principles of its design, specification and inspection/assessment

Window specifiers in the local authority sector are urged to pay close attention to the Future Homes Standard as the first changes came into force on 15 June 2022.

The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) is correct to highlight that the lack of a Government retrofit strategy remains a barrier to greening the nation’s homes and upskilling the UKʼs workforce in order to deliver a truly sustainable built environment, the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) has said in response to the EAC’s recent Building to Net Zero report.

As the government announced £650m investment to upgrade public buildings with low carbon heating and energy efficiency measures Gillian Charlesworth, CEO, Building Research Establishment (BRE) commented: “The UK has one of the oldest and least energy-efficient building stocks in Europe, which unnecessarily inflates demand for natural gas.

The Bunhill 2 Energy Centre in Islington, London, is an innovative facility that transfers heat from the London Underground to people’s homes. We spoke to practice leader Carol Costello from architects Cullinan Studio about how it was achieved.

The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) has released a report including recommendations for how the construction industry can meet climate change challenges and including a call for embodied carbon regulation.

David Adams asked in May’s issue of Building Engineer if there was a way for those on apprenticeships to meet in the middle with those about to retire: Chris Farr FCABE provides an answer

Society for the Environment (SocEnv) held its annual awards ceremony on 8 June to celebrate the achievements of the environmental professional community – including announcing the winners of the 2022 SocEnv Awards.

The Futurebuild convention and the Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM) have published their collaborative ‘Futurebuild Report’, which looks at how construction industry working practices can develop and improve, with a focus on worker health.

Mark Voss, Design Operations Manager/Associate at Wintech Façade Engineering, outlines the challenges in reducing embodied carbon in façades

The Building Research Establishment has agreed a new project with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to overhaul the Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP).

Hayley Steel, a partner at law firm Clarke Willmott LLP, asks if retrofitting homes is the silver bullet for net zero

In the race against time to decarbonise, plans are afoot for district heat networks to bring a solution, but how does this fit with the existing building stock, asks Andrew Pearson

Housebuilders are worried the focus on solar panels could increase development costs. The National Federation of Builders (NFB) has criticised the government’s energy strategy for increasing the use of solar panels rather than wind turbines – one of the cheapest forms of renewable energy – and described the decision as shying away from changing planning laws to facilitate onshore wind turbines.