The Government has announced it will amend building regulations next year to set a whole building performance for water efficiency of 125l/p/d for new homes following a favourable response to consultations.
Water Efficiency in New Buildings – A Joint DEFRA and Communities and Local Government Policy Statement says 74% of the respondents to its December consultation on regulating water efficiency were supportive of a new building performance standard. Less unanimity was evident on work place buildings, however.
There was little unanimity too in where the domestic standard should be set, with 40% of respondents choosing the 120l/p/d standard, well below the current 135l/p/d average. It says 120l/p/d would be more onerous than Level 1 of the Code for Sustainable Homes and a broadly conforming 125l/p/d is therefore preferred.
For non-domestic buildings, there was broad support for the BREEAM office standard, but this was seen as the “least worst” (sic) approach. With little evidence of water usage in such buildings available, the Government accepted that short-term benchmarking is not robust or practical and standards will be developed for key water fittings.
“However, we recognise the value of benchmarks to both stimulate innovation and drive up standards,” it says. “We therefore propose to investigate the scope for setting a standard or range of standards for non-residential buildings as part of the DCLG-led work of the Green Commercial Buildings Task Group.”
Accordingly, proposals will be brought forward next year for revising the Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999 and research will be conducted through the Task Group to see if a whole building performance standard could be used for non-domestic buildings and possibly establish higher water efficiency standards.
DEFRA will publish its water strategy in the autumn and the issue of more challenging standards will be addressed in that context, with the possibility of a water escalator to concentrate minds.
http://www.communities.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1511887
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