Planning cycle for new build and major redevelopments

UK Regulations – The Government’s  Future Homes Standard  proposes bringing back, in 2025, zero carbon requirements that were due in 2016 but cancelled in 2015 (“we are giving the industry some breathing space” at page 11). The original regulation included a ‘carbon offset’ cost for where developers were unable/unwilling to create buildings that would not emit carbon over the lifetime of the building. The proposed Future Homes Standard  “will require new build homes to be future-proofed with low carbon heating and world-leading levels of energy efficiency”.  A consortium of building professionals, London Energy Transformation Initiative (LETI), raises concerns with the Future Homes Standard that “A home in 2020 could be less insulated than a home under 2013 Building Regulations” and that “ Local authorities will lose the ability to meet their climate emergency zero carbon commitments.” This was echoed in a letter from the Committee on Climate Change to Government in Feb 2020, also saying that

“Making a new home genuinely zero-carbon at the outset is around five times cheaper than retrofitting it later, and almost always will reduce residents’ energy bills too.”

Both bodies emphasise the importance of requiring post construction monitoring (“Be Seen”) and ensuring that Building Control Bodies work well. LETI also demands that, instead of the complicated calculations of “%reduction from Part L”, Energy Use Intensity (EUI) kWh/m²/yr should be used for pre and post construction calculations. https://www.leti.london/one-pager  Actual targets for different building types and effect of low carbon electricity sources are detailed in LETI’s Climate Change Design Guide.

Opportunities For English Local Authorities include:

• Green Homes Grant Local Authority Delivery scheme (GHG LAD) aims to raise the energy efficiency of low income and low energy performance homes. “In July 2020 the Chancellor announced a £2 billion Green Homes Grant scheme to upgrade homes across England. Under this, £500 million funding will be allocated to local authorities through the Local Authority Delivery (LAD) scheme, to improve the energy efficiency of homes of low-income households, helping reduce fuel poverty, phasing out high carbon fossil fuel heating, and delivering progress towards the UK’s commitment to net zero by 2050.” (applications for phase 1b by 4^th Dec 2020)
• The £50 million Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Demonstrator (SHDF Demonstrator) programme announced in July 2020, closed in Nov 2020 and aiming at 2020 to 2021 will “support social landlords to demonstrate innovative approaches to retrofitting social housing at scale. It will mean warmer and more energy efficient homes, a reduction in households’ energy bills, and lower carbon emissions.”
• Local Authorities are eligible to apply for the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS), for buildings where they pay the energy bills -whether retrofitting or enhancing the design of new buildings. The scheme is for 100% of decarbonisation measures and also a skills fund to pay for manpower/consultants. Where applicants apply for a ‘Category 1’ measures such as a heat pump they can apply for a long list of other measures such as LEDs and smart management systems.

London Regulations – When the 2016 regulations were cancelled London was the only Local Authority that was able to proceed to impose a carbon offset cost (cancelled paper page 11). However the Future Homes Standards proposal is to not allow any Local Authority to have higher standards than the centrally determined ones. And in parallel there is a  MHCLG Planning Consultation ‘White Paper’ (84 pages) where the Government proposes reducing planning variations in Local Authority areas.

The GLA continues to assume that it will be able to implement the New Build regulations in the new London Plan. Prior to full approval by the Government this is already a material consideration in planning decisions. The draft London Plan has guidance on ‘Be Seen’ here and guidance on whole life carbon assessments here.

London Opportunities – The London Green New Deal aims to reduce carbon and boost jobs for Londoners. £10m was announced  to boost green jobs, tackle the climate emergency and address inequalities. Initiatives include:

The Retrofit Accelerator for Homes ‘whole-house’ approach to the property to: Improve the ‘building fabric’ (walls, windows, floors and roofs), Improve the heating system, Install renewable energy where possible (such as heat pumps and solar panels)

The Retrofit Accelerator – Workplaces (formerly known as RE:FIT) helps public sector organisations, including hospitals, local authorities, schools, universities, government departments, leisure centres and museums to implement retrofit projects.

The GLA has published Heat Pump Retrofit in London  with case studies of 15 building types and the business case to choose low carbon heating options.

It has commissioned and published the London Building Stock Model where the preliminary potential for retrofit can be checked from the desktop.

Council Regulations and Constraints – Haringey Council can only work within the regulatory regimes at UK and London level and has seen a 62% real term reduction in government funding since 2010. Haringey spent £20m on housing on 2019/20 and was constructing the 2021/22 budget when the pandemic necessitated emergency unbudgeted spend. 

The comments that Haringey Climate Forum adds to the tables of actions below regarding buildings assume that the Council will still be able to exercise influence on local buildings and that funding sources will be made available from central Government.

Haringey Opportunities – Recently Haringey, with some other London Local Authorities, commissioned a report Towards Net Zero Carbon Achieving greater carbon reductions on site – The role of carbon pricing. This was written by architects and building professionals and detailed how to achieve significant improvements with efficient fabric, ventilation as well as low carbon heat.