Standards

The shortlist of finalists in the running to design a Passivhaus demonstration project for BRE Watford and Ravenscraig have been named this month.

A group of academics and industry professionals is urging Government to incentivise post-construction testing following recent research which found that new homes may not be meeting their energy design targets.

New powers introduced in December will allow the Welsh Government sole responsibility for building regulations in Wales after having previously being held by the UK Government.

The United Nations is encouraging governments, non-governmental organisations and the wider community to discuss what kind of communities they wish to see in the future.

BRE and British Gas are to partner for a new domestic project that will demonstrate refurbishment, analyse occupier behaviour patterns in energy consumption and usability of smart systems.

An investment for design teams looking at strategies for low carbon buildings has been put forward, to aid in the development of resilience to climate change.

A £6.5m investment into renewable energy skills training has been announced by business secretary Vince Cable, which will see collaboration between universities and the industry.

Green Deal work undertaken by Birmingham City Council is to extend to non-domestic public buildings, spending £1.2bn on retrofitting over eight years.

Voices from across the built heritage and conservation sector expressed concern in August at the lack of representation for old buildings within the terms of the Green Deal - the official drive to improve the energy performance of the nation’s buildings set to be launched next year.

The Government has insulated over 2.6m homes in the UK across three years, under its national energy saving scheme.

A survey of small and medium enterprises has revealed that while many are interested in energy efficiency and have made moves to implement such measures, a lack of information, cost and red tape are barriers to SMEs being able to take full advantage.

Heritage body the Society for the Protection of Older Buildings (SPAB) and a number of organisations and individuals in the conservation sector, have called for Government to consider the needs of pre 1919 buildings under the Green Deal.

The Australian state of Canberra has entered the next phase of the development of national legislation which would see minimum energy efficiency standards implemented across the country.