The dawdling, ‘now you see it, now you don’t’, Building Regulation amendment saga continues to rumble on with many industry commentators voicing their fears on the impact this delay is making on UK construction levels.
This worry is now being championed by a group of Labour MPs who have urged the government to clarify its planned changes to the building code in order to boost growth.
Labour has urged the government to say where it stands on zero carbon homes amid claims a lack of clarity is holding back new house building.
Senior opposition figures signed an open letter to Communities Secretary Eric Pickles, which called for action to end the ‘dithering and delay’ on amendments to the Building Regulations.
The letter was signed by the Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls, Shadow Energy and Climate Change Secretary Caroline Flint and Jack Dromey, the Shadow Housing Minister.
As well as hitting residential property building programmes, the delay is also hindering jobs and economic growth, they claim.
Part L of the building code is the key area of contention, as this would introduce more stringent energy efficiency standards in new builds from this year.
Michael Verity, Head of Resources & Energy at Strutt & Parker said: “Developers are starting to consider how they will react to these proposed changes but as with all energy policy delays it creates uncertainty and clarity will be welcomed. We are advising on the heating solution for a new village extension where mains gas is not available and it is currently a fine economic line between a biomass district heating system or individual oil boilers, clarity on Part L would help this decision.”
It would also provide more detail on how the government will work towards achieving its target for all new properties to meet “zero carbon” standards, by 2016 in the case of residential property and by 2019 for commercial property.
The Labour team is arguing that the government needs to clarify to what extent energy efficiency standards will be uplifted this year.
If there is no uplift this year, they warn, then there is the difficult prospect of a very sizeable uplift needed in 2016 if the commitment is to be met.
As well as an announcement on Part L of the building code, he also said clarity is urgently needed on the allowable solutions policy, which would enable developers to pay into a pot for all the carbon they can’t mitigate on the site of the development.
The Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has said there is no such delay in its announcements of wider reforms to the planning and building regulations. It has always stated that the changes would be laid out later this year, DCLG maintained. We shall have to wait and see…
In this edition of Construction Magazine we Spotlight on the past and ask could historic Garden Cities such as Welwyn provide the answers for future town planners. In Build a Greener Future CITB-Construction Skills explain how the current lack of industry training will hinder its ability to take advantage of the Green Deal energy efficiency business opportunities.
Meet some of the newest industry appointments in Head Hunters. Get your diary and your passport ready for our digest of construction events happening around the world this month and check out our round-up of some of the most exciting European construction equipment launches.
All this, along with profiles on some of the industry’s best performing firms and the usual round up of UK & Ireland and World news.
Heather Campbell
Editor
