The progressive improvement in Building Regulation standards since 2004 has resulted in a marked change in building specification and energy performance. Whilst it is true that BEAMA has often questioned the use of carbon as a metric for setting standards due to the unintended consequences of penalising electricity using appliances, it has always made perfect sense to try to limit energy use and ramp up fabric efficiency standards. Similarly, Allowable Solutions provided an excellent platform to use new built development as an opportunity for supporting infrastructure investment in areas such as electric vehicle charging, ground loops for heat pumps and connected home sensors and controls.
Against this background, BEAMA is naturally disappointed that the Government’s Productivity Plan ‘Fixing the foundations: Creating a more prosperous nation’ has completely abandoned the principles of progressive energy efficiency and energy security investment by stating there will be no move to Allowable Solutions; nor will there be changes to standards in 2016.
Clearly it is important to ensure barriers are removed to new building investment but this type of action is a lost opportunity to prepare our housing stock for the energy demands for the future. Policy development should be about balancing immediate priorities against future strategic requirements and yesterday’s announcement has failed a broader energy efficiency industry that has worked hard to support what now appears to be the energy policy rhetoric of successive Governments.
BEAMA will continue to engage with policy makers to ensure the stated intention of a continued review of energy efficiency standards is maintained and we will endeavour to link new developments to infrastructure investment.
Kelly Butler
11th July 2015
