BUILD FOCUS: REFURB & RETROFIT
BUILD FOCUS:
REFURB & RETROFIT
In this two-part feature, Safeguard Europe’s MD asks if a new standard is enough to encourage the surge in retrofitting to hit carbon targets, and Chisholm & Winch’s MD discusses a recent high-end phased hospitality refurbishment.
and will require any of its members carrying out energy efficiency retrofits to comply with the standards, whether publicly funded or not. There is potentially a huge amount of work for those firms who invest the time and money to go through the certification process. However, a question mark remains over where the equally huge amount of funding needed to do such work will come from.
HUDSON LAMBERT IS DIRECTOR AT SAFEGUARD EUROPE
CAN RETROFIT MEET THE CARBON CHALLENGE?
Why retrofit?
A new standard will ensure that energy efficiency retrofits are carried out properly. But is that enough to encourage the surge in retrofitting we need to hit our ambitious carbon targets? Hudson Lambert, Director of Safeguard Europe, investigates.
The driving force behind this desired surge of domestic retrofit projects is the UK Government’s 2019 commitment to achieving a Net Zero Carbon economy by 2050. According to data from the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS)1, residential buildings accounted for 13% of the UK’s carbon emissions in 2017 – so that’s a sizeable chunk to tackle. The silver bullet would be to de-carbonise our energy supply. But since the chance of that happening is extremely slim, the policy of reducing the energy used by homes remains a priority. Aside from carbon reduction commitments, there are other compelling reasons to improve the energy efficiency of homes. The latest statistics from BEIS2 estimate that there were 2.53 million households in fuel poverty in 2017, with only 10% of fuel-poor households in homes with an Energy Efficiency Rating of C or above. Since we know that cold and damp homes create and exacerbate health problems, improving these homes would also lead to better health for those living in them. Work has been underway to tackle fuel poverty. The Energy Company Obligation (ECO), which require energy companies to invest in energy efficiency improvements to reduce carbon emissions, was launched in 2013 with most elements aimed to help the poorest households. There have been three waves, with differing focuses each time, but these have only really scratched the surface of the problem.
SAFEGUARD EUROPE
T
he goals of the new energy efficiency retrofit standard, PAS 2035 Retrofitting Dwellings for Improved Energy Efficiency, are good: to ensure that any works are carried out properly, by competent people so that all the measures complement each other and deliver overall improvements. Although it is referred to as PAS 2035, the new Publicly Available Standard comprises two documents: PAS 2035:2019 and PAS 2030:19. The former is a framework for project delivery, setting out how works should be carried out, and introducing new roles including a retrofit coordinator and a retrofit assessor. The latter gives specification and guidance on the installation, testing and handover of energy efficiency measures and is an update of a 2017 version. Both were published in June 2019, but there are transition periods in place. From June 2021, any contractor carrying out publicly funded energy efficiency retrofit works will have to be certified to PAS 2030 and carry out works in line with PAS 2035. TrustMark will be monitoring compliance FC&A – SEPTEMBER – 2020
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