About the Code
The Code for Sustainable Homes sets a single, national standard for the design and construction of new homes. There are 6 Levels of sustainability (1 being the lowest, 6 the highest) achieved by measuring performance in areas such as energy use, water consumption, ecology, pollution and waste. Legislation introduced in May 2008 states that all new homes must now be marketed with such an assessment.A copy of the Code and other useful information is freely available at: Code for Sustainable Homes
Whilst there is no minimum standard set for the private sector, all public housing must achieve at least Code Level 3. However, it is also increasingly the case that Local Authorities now insist on at least Level 3 as a planning condition for even small volume schemes. A house built to the statutory building codes in the Building Regulations would not even achieve Code Level 1.
As the above graph shows, these minimum standards are set to rise in the near future. The Government expects that all UK housing should achieve Level 6 (Carbon Neutral) by 2016.
This represents a considerable challenge for the construction industry. Although the changes are incremental they will change the way we build significantly more than the combined changes to Approved Documents ‘L’ & ‘M’ in 2006. We will need to fundamentally change the way we design and build our homes to meet the increasing requirements of The Code. To achieve carbon neutral homes by 2016 we will need to be building to standards equal or even higher than in Scandinavia.
The good news is that The Code itself is based on a reasonably easy to understand points system which allows a quite a lot of flexibility as to how to meet the requirements for each Code Level. The down-side to this is that there are no ‘hard and fast’ answers as to how to meet The Code. The best way to achieve the necessary Code Level will change for each development based on the design of individual housing units and site specific variations.
The key to a good and economic design that meets the required Code Level is to involve an assessor as early in the design process as is possible. We would strongly recommend that the developer, architect, code assessor and QS meet at the initial stages of any development where The Code is to be implemented. Well before a planning application is made the design needs to be approached in a holistic way so that points can be maximised for minimum cost. Whilst up to Code Level 3 it is usually not impossible to design relatively ‘standard’ units and then ‘bolt on’ the additions necessary to achieve compliance, this approach is never going to produce an efficient and cost effective way of meeting The Code. If a planning application is made before seeking advice form a Code Assessor then it is very likely that points will have already been lost.