Ebbw Vale Eco Homes
Ebbw Vale Eco Homes
The site of the former steel works in the South Wales Valleys has some pioneering new eco homes (more…)
Buildings Regulations in Wales
Wales Assembly Government is to gain full control of Building Regulations. The transfer of powers to Wales has been approved by Parliamentary Council, and will come into effect before December 2011.
Wales is to be applauded for progressing faster than England towards zero carbon for new housing. How this works in practice will be interesting to see.
New Planning Policy for Wales
To move towards more sustainable and zero carbon buildings in Wales the Assembly Government expects that the following standards will be met:
- Applications for 5 or more dwellings received on or after 1 September 2009 to meet Code for Sustainable Homes Level 3 and obtain 6 credits under issue Ene 1 – Dwelling Emission Rate.
- Applications for 1 or more dwellings received on or after 1 September 2010 to meet Code for Sustainable Homes Level 3 and obtain 6 credits under issue Ene 1 – Dwelling Emission Rate.
- Applications received on or after 1st September 2009 for non-residential development which will either have a floorspace of 1,000sqm or more, or will be carried out on a site having an area of one hectare or more, to meet the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) ‘Very Good’ standard and achieve the mandatory credits for ‘Excellent’ under issue Ene 1 – Reduction of CO2 emissions.
Green Travel Plans
The Wales Sports Council together with Sustrans are providing financial help and advice for businesses and community project who want to have a Green Travel Plan. For any site wanting to reduce their carbon emissions from travel there may be help available. For example a 50% grant for a ‘bike pool’ may be available on application to the Wales Sports Council. A ‘bike pool’ is a few bikes that are available for the building occupants to use, for example to go out at lunch time, to go to local meetings or even to go to and from home. Contact Sandy Booth for more details: sandra.booth@sustrans.org.uk
BREEAM Assessments require a travel plan to be produced in the planning stage of a site, so that the need for travel is minimised, in particular the need for staff to arrive, one person one car. The travel plan is a site specific report giving details of the existing transport arrangements and then suggestions of how this could be improved.
Breeam New
Important Note:
BREEAM 2008 has 2 free Innovations credits available for appointing a BREEAM Accredited Professional at or before the start of RIBA Stage B(Strategic Brief), inviting the assessor to all design team meetings and including them in the circulation of meeting minutes. Buildings for Tomorrow can provide an Accredited Professional
