Building Standards Scholarship 2015/16 Building Control Influence
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Building Standards Scholarship 2015/16 Building Control influence on the energy performance gap of buildings Bernadette Bowden Southend-on-Sea Borough Council January 2016 1 Abstract The performance gap (buildings which consume more energy in operation than was predicted in design) has been found in new buildings and across all sectors, in the UK and worldwide; studies have shown that operational energy use can be up to five times higher than estimates during design (Carbon Trust, 2011). Specific factors relating to the design and construction (including commissioning) of new buildings can be influenced by building control professionals through their involvement in plan checking and site inspections, as they carry out their function. Poor construction leading to the avoidable waste of energy was attributed by building control as predominantly a result of poor quality control on site, lack of an appropriately skilled workforce, and incorrect thermal detailing on site. Increased awareness of the performance gap, particularly for less experienced building control professionals, will assist them to address poor construction or issues surrounding late or incomplete commissioning. The risk-based approach to site inspections, building control staffing levels, and the competitive environment in which building control bodies operate, are barriers to building controls ability to carry out Part L compliance checking, and results in reduced opportunity to influence the factors identified as contributing to the performance gap. Lack of information reduces the ability of the building control body to check for Part L compliance. The Building Notice application type has been identified as 2 resulting in less information and its suitability for use with new build has been questioned. Further research into this area is recommended. 3 Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................................... 2 Contents .................................................................................................................................................. 4 List of Tables and Figures ........................................................................................................................ 6 Glossary of Abbreviations and Definitions .............................................................................................. 8 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................. 9 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 10 2. Theory and literature review ........................................................................................................ 12 2.1 What is the performance gap ..................................................................................................... 12 2.2 The factors contributing to the performance gap ...................................................................... 15 2.3 The function and limitations of building control ........................................................................ 21 2.4 The existing process for regulating the energy performance of new buildings in England ....... 24 2.5 Building Control influence over the factors identified as contributing to the performance gap27 2.6 Barriers and drivers for building control’s influence on the improved energy performance of new buildings .................................................................................................................................... 30 3. Methodology ................................................................................................................................. 32 4. Ethics ............................................................................................................................................. 35 5. Results and findings ...................................................................................................................... 36 5.1 The energy performance gap ...................................................................................................... 38 5.2 The factors contributing to the performance gap ...................................................................... 41 5.3 The function and limitations of building control ........................................................................ 46 5.4 The existing process for regulating the energy performance of new buildings ......................... 50 5.5 Building control influence on the factors identified as contributing to the performance gap... 53 5.6 Barriers and drivers for building control influence on the improved energy performance of buildings ............................................................................................................................................ 55 6. Discussion ...................................................................................................................................... 60 6.1 The energy performance gap ...................................................................................................... 60 6.2 The factors contributing to the performance gap ...................................................................... 63 6.3 The function and limitations of building control ........................................................................ 67 6.4 The existing process for regulating the energy performance of new buildings ......................... 69 6.5 Building control influence on the factors identified as contributing to the performance gap... 71 6.6 Barriers and drivers for building control’s influence on the improved energy performance of buildings ............................................................................................................................................ 73 7. Conclusion and recommendations ............................................................................................... 75 4 7.1 Recommendations ...................................................................................................................... 78 8. References and bibliography ........................................................................................................ 80 9. Appendices .................................................................................................................................... 84 5 List of Tables and Figures Figures Page 1 The Performance Gap (Menezes, 2012) 12 2 The Performance Gap growth from Design to Operation (Green 15 Construction Board, 2013, p.4). 3 Factors which affect performance gap (Green Construction Board, 17 2013, p.6) 4 Total Energy Consumption in Operation (CarbonBuzz, 2013) 19 5 Part L of Schedule 1: Conservation of fuel and power (CLG, 2013) 25 6 Employment by Sector 36 7 Awareness of Performance Gap by Length of Experience (in years) 39 8 Awareness of the performance gap compared with level of agreement 40 to Q6 – Compliance with Part L is not as important as compliance with other areas of the regulations 9 Likelihood of changes during construction being reflected during as- 42 built energy rating 10 Factors contributing to poor construction 43 11 Likelihood of provision of commissioning certificate to Building 45 Control 12 Opinion of whether Part L is properly enforced, by Sector 47 13 Responsible for checking Part L compliance on site 49 14 Responsible for ensuring overall Part L compliance 49 15 Adequacy of existing Part L Regulations 51 16 Likelihood of site inspection checks of insulation being carried out 52 17 Importance placed on Part L in relation to other areas of the 56 regulations, by sector 18 Opinion of whether risk-based approach to site inspection has 57 resulted in less site inspection 19 Barriers to ability to check for Part L compliance 59 6 Tables Page 1 Building Control influence over the factors identified as contributing to 28 the performance gap 2 Building Control influence over the factors identified as contributing to 54 the performance gap including survey results 7 Glossary of Abbreviations and Definitions ACAI Association of Consultant Approved Inspectors AI Approved Inspector ARU Anglia Ruskin University BC Building Control BCO Building Control Officer/Surveyor BMS Building Management System CABE Chartered Association of Building Engineers CCC The Committee on Climate Change CIBSE The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers CIOB The Chartered Institute of Building CLG Department for Communities and Local Government CPD Continuous professional development LABC Local Authority Building Control PG Performance Gap SAP Standard Assessment Procedure SBEM Simplified Building Energy Model 8 Acknowledgements I would like to thank the following people for making this research possible: - The Building Control and Standards Scholarship Panel (Gina Al-Talal, Kevin Dawson, Ben Langford, Tony Perks & Anna Thompson) for their guidance, reassurance and for giving me the opportunity to carry out this research, - LABC and the ACAI for distributing the survey to their members, - The building control professionals who participated in the survey, and the construction professionals who agreed to be interviewed, - The Building Control Team at Southend-on-Sea Borough Council, - The Essex Building Surveyors Association, - Carlos for keeping me on track during my MSc Sustainable