With the Future Homes Standard publication only 24 hours old, netMAGmedia hosted a Building Insights LIVE round table at Asia House in London, to look at the impacts for housebuilders around new approaches to heating and renewables in particular, and discovered a range of issues still to address. Sponsored by Panasonic Heating & Ventilation, WMS Underfloor Heating, Garo Electric, Recoup Energy Solutions and Envirovent, the event also heard contributions from leading academics, housebuilders, consultants and industry bodies CIBSE and UKGBC.
The Future Homes Standard consultation response having been issued with little fanfare by the Ministry of Housing after a long delay, delegates were able to assess the actual provisions of the new standard for the industry, as well as the revised Parts L and F of the Building Regulations. A chief concern for the heating and renewables side of delivery was the requirement for 40% of ground floor area to be delivered by roof-mounted solar PV. Confirmed within the standard as part of the consultation’s preferred ‘Option 1’, this is the core metric around which designs will need to work, with a mix of distributed mechanical ventilation, higher air-tightness and waste water heat recovery.
There were a range of views on the solar PV aspects of the standard, including on whether kilowatts should be used as the target measure, not a percentage, and exemptions to the 40% requirement. Voices among the group suggested that this would need to be further revised before the full introduction of the Home Energy Model later this year, which will be the assessment mechanism for compliance. Delegates including Mike Jones of Garo Electric said that not requiring battery storage was a major missed opportunity in the standard to maximise the benefits of PV for future resilience in an uncertain energy context going forward.
Concerns were also expressed around the ‘dual running period’ where SAP 10.3 will be able to be used alongside HEM, and the accuracy of assumptions on energy and water consumption which were currently being used in HEM, in comparison with SAP. Further issues were discussed around the ‘notional building’ model being used for HEM, including the use of a ‘target emissions rate’ for compliance, and the benefits of potentially looking at ‘energy use intensity’ (EUI) as a measure of performance.
Delegates including sponsor representatives also asserted that user experience and education was fundamental to ensuring that new approaches for housebuilding such as mainstream use of heat pumps and underfloor heating, to ensure homes perform as expected. In addition, the importance of correct commissioning of heating systems was cited as a major issue to get right, with a mixed picture currently evident in the sector. This would be crucial in order to counter the adverse publicity around heat pumps recently, in particular, and help to build consumer trust and confidence.
Sponsor attendees were also able to answer key questions from the group, and outline solutions for the Future Homes Standard, from waste water recovery in electric showers, to heat pumps working in reverse as cooling, and underfloor heating as a mainstream alternative to traditional central heating. Evidence on performance was also highlighted by representatives from academia including the Energy House 2.0 project at Salford University.
James Parker, event chair and editor of ADF, commented:
“The timing could scarcely have been better for an in-depth look at the long-awaited consultation response on the Future Homes Standard for the housebuilding sector, in particular the challenges for housebuilders around specifying low carbon heating systems and renewables. There was a substantial amount of technical detail to cover, and this was admirably tackled by our delegates having only had sight of the Ministry of Housing’s standard provisions (plus the new revised Parts L and F) for 24 hours since its launch. It is reassuring to know we will be coming back to the table in April to discuss building fabric compliance as a separate, although related discussion!”
The full list of attendees was:
Dr Jaydeep Bhadra Domestic Sector Technical Manager, CIBSE
Richard Lupo Managing Director, Shift Environment
Prof Lubo Jankovic Professor of Energy and Buildings, Energy House Labs, University of Salford
Jonathan Cheng Sustainability Manager, Dandara
Dan Jestico Director, Sustainable Design, Savills
Mike Leonard Visiting Professor, Birmingham City University, Centre for Future Homes
Abigail Woolf Senior Energy and Carbon Advisor, UKGBC
Greg Jones Residential Sector Lead, Hoare Lea
Ian Pritchett Co-Founder, Greencore Housing
Sponsors’ Attendees:
Mike Jones National Specification Manager, Garo Electric
Nathan Tranter Head of Heating, Panasonic Heating & Ventilation
Ronny Reeves Business Development Director, WMS
Ellis Maginn Technical, Design & Specification Solutions, Recoup Energy Solutions
Larry Soper Technical Services Manager, Envirovent
A Building Insights podcast capturing highlights and recommendations from the discussion, will be available at: insights.netmagmedia.co.uk