Attitudes towards retrofit and redevelopment within the construction industry have evolved rapidly in recent years, due to a combination of proposed strengthening of statutory energy efficiency targets, as well as an increased understanding of the construction industry’s impact on the climate crisis (with the built environment and construction sector responsible for approximately 38% of global carbon emissions1).
The current state of affairs
Historically, emphasis has been placed on the carbon impact of the operation of our buildings. Planning policy has sought to achieve energy efficiency improvements against the relevant Building Regulations criteria (Part L of the Building Regulations) alongside a mechanism to offset any shortfall in performance through financial contributions. In addition, the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) Regulations set by Central Government establish specific Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) ratings for buildings in operation, requiring specified EPC certificates to be achieved to lawfully let a building. Currently, properties need to achieve a minimum EPC rating of ‘E.’ At the time of writing, we are still expecting the MEES regulation to mandate an EPC rating of ‘B’ for non-domestic buildings by 2030, applying to any new and/or existing leases.
However, as the National Grid continues to be decarbonised, operational energy (the energy used during the use of a building) is becoming an increasingly smaller proportion of a building’s total carbon impact and. Instead, attention has turned towards embodied carbon, i.e., the carbon emitted principally during the extraction, production, transportation, manufacturing and construction of the building. Greater importance has also been placed on reducing embodied carbon through applying circularity principles, for example, through the re-use of existing materials on site, the use of reused or recycled materials from offsite, and the adaptive design of new buildings so they can be utilised for a range of land uses over their lifetime, thereby ensuring their longevity and ease of deconstruction at the end of their lives.
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1Climate Change | Construction Industry Council (cic.org.uk)
