The definition of Zero Carbon Home has been harmonised with that used for the exemption from Stamp Duty Land Tax in the latest revisions to the Code for Sustainable Homes.
The different definitions was having a commercial effect on some developers who were claiming stamp duty relief to offset land purchases, only to find they weren’t eligible.
The changes are a result of updates to legislation and feedback from assessors and developers and updates the previous October 2008 document.
Other important changes include:
Energy Ene1: Dwelling Emission Rate:
l Guidance on how to carry out a post construction assessment has been included.
l Small Scale Wind (Micro generation) is now dealt with under appendix M.
l Community hot water schemes are now allowed under SAP- new option Domestic Hot Water (DHW) from community scheme.
l Default factors for “in use” to be used for a variety of Mechanical Ventilation Systems. Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR) is now recognised under SAP and not dealt with under Appendix Q.
l Community Geothermal heating systems are now assessed the same way as waste heat from Power Stations.
l CO2 emissions associated with appliances and cooking is now explained in Section 14 of the main SAP text and can be factored in when building Zero Carbon properties.
l PV output on a block of flats is to be averaged across the dwellings by net floor area. This includes instances where they serve only common parts. Special Case added: Photovoltaic panels in buildings with multiple dwellings. Explanatory text covering technologies which take advantage of SAP assumptions specifically the Fuel Factor has been added.
l Air-conditioning: Methodology clarified on how to deal with it.
l Mixed use developments: Energy use is apportioned using square meterage (not modelling).
Ene 7: Low or Zero Carbon (LZC) technologies – ‘Base case’ definition has been reviewed and brought into line with that used for Pol2.
Surface Water Run-off
l Sur 1: Management of Surface Water Run-off from developments – has been significantly updated to take new guidance PPS25: Development and Flood Risk into consideration. The mandatory section has been divided from the section where credits are awarded. Basically the new mandatory statement, has the same intent as the previous mandatory element. Volumes and rates of runoff should not be worse after the development. The main changes are to align this with current best practice, improve definitions and give references to lend greater clarity on calculations and allowing for climate change.
l Sur 2: Flood Risk Assessment criteria - the same as the previous version but has been aligned with PPS25, definitions clarified and referenced.
Waste Was 2: Construction site waste management Criteria Assessment, default cases: The threshold limit for developments requiring Site Waste Management Plans has been increased to £300,000 in line with new regulations.
Health and Wellbeing Hea 4: Lifetimes Homes: Lifetime Homes is now a mandatory requirement for a Level 6 assessment.
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