The pilot version of the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard has been released this week.
The UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard (NZCBS) is designed to enable the construction industry to prove that built assets align with the UK’s carbon and energy budgets. Until now, there has been no single, agreed methodology for defining what ‘net zero carbon’ means for buildings in the UK. Consequently, the area has been rife with spurious claims. The NZCBS sets out the rules of the game.
It has been created by a raft of industry acronyms, including BBP, BRE, CIBSE, IStructE, LETI, RIBA, RICS, UKGBC and the Carbon Trust.
The pilot version contains the technical details on how a building should meet the Standard, including what limits and targets it needs to meet, the technical evidence needed to demonstrate this, and how it should be reported. Details on the subsequent verification process will be published separately.
The plan is to road test the pilot standard on real projects to gather feedback on applying the process.
David Partridge, chair of the standard’s governance board, said: “The standard brings together data from thousands of buildings submitted by professionals from across the built environment and will be an important step towards a net zero carbon economy.
I encourage everyone within the built environment and real estate sector, from investors, funds and lenders, through developers to building designers, managers and contractors, to start to use the pilot version of the standard. We will shortly be launching a pilot testing programme to glean feedback on applying the process on real projects.”
The Passivhaus Trust, which considers itself to be at the vanguard of the green building movement, said that the proposed targets and methodology aligned with the operational energy and renewable energy generation targets of its own Passivhaus Plus standard, including absolute energy use intensity targets similar to Passivhaus.
Passivhaus Trust research & policy director Sarah Lewis said: “The Passivhaus Plus standard offers a tried and tested route to achieving the operational carbon performance required for the UK NZCBS, with the additional benefits of addressing other important issues such as indoor air quality, overheating, and occupant comfort.
The Passivhaus Trust welcomes the UK NZBCS as a means for improving the clarity and rigour of net zero carbon definitions and as a step towards achieving higher performance building in the UK."
The trust also welcomed the focus on actual as-built performance, compared to the current approach of design intent that is adopted through existing Building Regulations. This should help reduce the “performance gap” – the gap between actual performance in use (energy use or carbon emissions) and the performance predicted at the design stage. Research shows that the performance gap in the UK can increase actual energy use compared to design predictions by on average 60% and sometimes by as much as 200%.
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