The Welsh Assembly Government announced its new planning policy last week requiring housing developers to meet the Code for Sustainable Homes (CfSH) Level 3 and non-residential buildings to meet BREEAM’s ‘Very Good’ mark. Wales is the first UK country to enforce a sustainable building standard through the planning system, and the legislation is intended to further enforce targets to cut carbon emissions from new buildings. The new green building standard comes into force in Wales on September 1st this year.

One quarter of the UK’s current CO² emissions is from housing and, as part of government targets to reduce Britain’s CO² emissions by 80% by 2050, proposals were announced at the end of last year for all new homes to be zero-carbon after 2016. To help developers to meet this target a £100m boost for councils to build energy-efficient homes was announced in the 2009 budget.

The Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) and the Code for Sustainable Homes (CfSH) are rapidly becoming the rating of choice for measuring a development’s sustainability.

RPS not only offers the services of BREEAM assessors for predictive statements for planning applications and formal BREEAM assessments, but is also able to provide specialist consultancy within the BREEAM framework. RPS secured a ‘Very Good’ certificate at Design and Procurement stage for a new-build workshop and showroom in Braintree for Ernest Doe & Sons (a supplier of construction and agricultural machinery and parts). The certification fulfilled a condition of the planning permission for the client, obtained by RPS following a Public Inquiry for a redeveloped workshop/showroom building and adjacent Lidl store.

RPS’ achievement of this successful rating for the client has ensured RPS’ appointment to provide consultancy services for the Post-Construction Review, which is progressing well. With RPS’ help, the client has successfully negotiated the amendment of a planning condition which originally required the Post Construction Review Certificate to be received before the building was occupied.

RPS’ expert assessors identified that this was not a condition that could be met in practice as the BREEAM credit for seasonal commissioning was being pursued, requiring evidence of the successful commissioning of complex systems after occupation.

Had the condition not been amended then there is a possibility this would have been at the expense of the commissioning credit being gained. The performance of buildings can improve considerably when appropriate commissioning is undertaken. A BREEAM for retail assessment is also underway where RPS is acting for Lidl, who are building a new outlet on the same site as the Ernest Doe & Sons Workshop.

Ecology is an integral part of BREEAM: RPS has an on-going professional relationship with BRE and has recently staged a series of workshops on good ecology practice within BREEAM and the CfSH, on behalf of the Institute for Ecology and Environmental Management (IEEM).  The course covered the mechanics of the assessment’s ecology factors, pushing boundaries to extend existing frameworks. Scope for improving the ecology component of BREEAM was also discussed and a BRE representative was present to participate in some workshop discussions.

A similar workshop was staged by RPS last autumn which resulted in a Standard Operating Procedure being produced for both BREEAM and the CfSH together with various templates¹ to help ensure that RPS’ BREEAM outputs in relation to ecology are maintained at the high standard RPS currently sets. These templates are intended to become a BRE Technical Report. Following the success of these workshops, the course is expected to run in Ireland later this year.

A free guide to BREEAM has been drawn up by RPS, to provide practical advice on establishing BREEAM requirements and working effectively with BREEAM assessors for planners and developers. The guide is expected to become available from early September.

RPS BREEAM assessors are currently providing consultancy services across a wide range of schemes, including in homes, business, retail, industry, healthcare and education – and this is not limited to the UK but also encompasses international, European and Gulf schemes.

Copies of the guide to BREEAM can be obtained from Kath Zahran from early September onwards. Please email Kath to register to receive one in advance.

Contact:

BREEAM for Doe & Sons Showroom:
Katharine Zahran
T: +44 (0) 1273 546 800
E: katharine.zahran@rpsgroup.com

Planning for Doe & Sons Showroom:
Don Proctor
T: +44 (0) 1480 466 335
E: proctord@rpsgroup.com

Good Ecology Practice Within BREEAM:
Nick Betson
T: +44 (0) 1480 466 335
E: nick.betson@rpsgroup.com

¹ The Standard Operating Procedure and templates are available from the contact named above.