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Workstream 2: Standards and regulations
The sector is working together on upgrading practice standards and developing common procedures and protocols to tackle climate change.
Voluntary codes and methodologies have been proposed or are being developed, which once successfully trialled are likely to become mandatory within a relatively short time frame. It is anticipated that lessons learned from the development of standards will translate into the institutions’ input and advice on regulatory change.
The workstream has been exploring current standards and regulations and looking at how these are being stretched on a voluntary basis, topic areas covered have included: Whole Life Carbon, Energy, Nature, Resilience, Adaptation and Water. The need for regulations and standards to be developed with joined up thinking and integration at the forefront was stressed by the group which has contributed to CIC’s responses on areas such as the National Planning Policy Framework. This focused on how planning policy could support climate change adaptation further and suggested proposals to give significant weight to the adaptation of existing buildings to improve their energy efficiency.
Recently it has played a major role in coordinating and CIC's response to the Future Homes and Building Standards consultation urging government to make up for lost time with an improved plan for healthier, climate resilient homes and buildings: https://www.cic.org.uk/news/go...
This workstream is co-ordinated by the National House Building Council (NHBC) and includes measurable deliverables divided into three priority groupings: short-term, medium term and long term.
Resource Library
- Part Z
This proposed Building Regulations amendment ‘Part Z’ and Proposed Document Z outlines requirements on the assessment of whole life carbon emissions, and limiting of embodied carbon emissions, for all major building projects.
- RIBA 2030 Climate Challenge
The RIBA has developed voluntary performance targets for operational energy use, water use and embodied carbon. These performance targets form the basis of the 2030 Climate Challenge (Version 2, 2021). The performance targets align with the future legislative horizon and set out a challenging but achievable trajectory to realise the significant reductions necessary by 2030 in order to have a realistic prospect of achieving net zero carbon for the whole UK building stock by 2050.