Part L: BEAMA welcomes Government enlightenment, but calls for 'partnership'

Over the past five years, the Government has shown leadership in pushing a carbon reduction approach to regulations, and in 2006 adding further weight to the mission by announcing a commitment to zero carbon homes by 2016 (this year extended to an aspiration for commercial buildings by 2019).

This summer's Part L consultation has demonstrated, however, that the Government has finally recognised the key challenges to reducing carbon emissions from buildings, along with training and education, published guidance for minimum performance and compliance checklist completion (albeit that the push for this comes within Part F for ventilation systems).

Partnership necessary:

BEAMA welcomes the Government's enlightenment, but has firmly stated in its own response that there is much work to be done working in 'partnership' with industry to get to the heart of training (and technology/system performance assessment). The aim of this would be to improve design, installation and commissioning standards in buildings.

The Government has asked for views on whether a Steering Group is required to co-ordinate a strategy to 'close the performance gap'. Why would the Government choose this route when it already has a body set up - the Zero Carbon Hub? Why create more barriers between the practitioners from industry and the policy makers ultimately responsible for delivery?

The Hub is the Government's preferred, and supported, body for handling the pathway to zero carbon. Its problem is that it does not incorporate industry at the right level, i.e. those who are manufacturing and handling the design and installation of equipment on a day-to-day basis, including the delivery of training to the supply chain. It may think it does, but with respect to building services it does not.

Firm markers:

What we need from the Government and the Hub is some firm markers up to 2016 in the shape of clear work projects. Training is the key issue; Government should now be working with industry to identify training activity (as BEAMA is with Summit Skills to develop ventilation system training and has been in discussion with the Zero Carbon Hub) and financially support roll out where appropriate.

The precedent here is the switch to condensing boilers, the run up to which involved the training of around 60,000 heating installers! A training Steering Group urgently needs setting up through the Hub, and it should involve key technology representatives at some level.

The Hub based group needs to fill the 'supply chain' training gap by determining the research needs of the key chain elements (general housebuilder awareness/technical designer/specifier/contractor/ site manager/building control).

The group's remit should be further extended to handle professional assessment of product performance claims for individual technologies and integrated systems. This relates directly to the domestic Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) and the non-domestic Simplified Building Energy Model (SBEM).

It is of great and consistent frustration to industry that Government policy can be very slow in understanding how technologies or systems work, particularly in accrediting them with appropriate energy and carbon saving figures.

Invite industry:

Why not invite industry to give professional assessment on performance, a risk assessment of how performance can differ from specification to handover and then a training package designed to limit the risk? An Accredited Building Services Scheme could be set up. For example, along the lines of Accredited Construction Details in which we work back from a desired service outcome, and provide a generic specification for system design under which individual technologies can be specified in the knowledge they are contributing to overall performance.

This is essential work for the Hub and vital for Government to meet its targets. Many technologies - from lighting and heating controls to micro renewable equipment - would benefit from a 'belt and braces' approach to building services design, installation, commissioning and handover.

And at the end?

And what needs to be placed at the end of this process? It is a simple design, installation and commissioning checklist relating directly to training; one that enables an assessor to give maximum reward for an installed product or system, safe in the knowledge that it has been optimised right through the chain.

By opening the door wider to industry groups such as BEAMA, the Government's path to zero carbon will be much straighter, would obtain a broader range of technology solutions and a much stronger supply chain.

For enquiries about BEAMA membership contact Kelly Butler at [email protected]