Energy Matters Issue 6

ISSUE 6 | 2021 www.elmhurstenergy.co.uk

ENERGY MATTERS Getting to grips with the Future Building Standards

The road back to the classroom

Reasons to be positive in 2021

Elmhurst releases update to Design SAP 10 Beta

Energy Matters | Issue 6 | 2021

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Foreword allows us to deliver a better service to members. Call demand at certain times of the day is very high, peaking at 50 to 60 calls an hour, and despite having recruited new staff, we do occasionally miss a call. One advantage of the new phone system is that if you don’t have the time to wait then we will call you back the same day, or first thing in the morning if the call is late in the day.

Government funded training

Martyn Reed Managing Director Elmhurst Energy

Welcome to the latest edition of Energy Matters and the third since the arrival of COVID-19. I hope that you continue to feel well supported by the team who are, at the time of writing, mostly working from home, but all our systems are up and running with staff available to provide any support that you need.

In the last three months we have experienced a bit of a roller coaster ride of activity with each of the stands responding to the crisis differently. Currently existing dwellings is going through the roof, on construction is stable and non-domestic is, unfortunately, going through a quiet period. See our section on market statistics for more detail.

The good news is that with COP 26 in November, the government focus on green recovery and construction, things should start to improve quickly.

Despite all the upheaval the Elmhurst team continue to make progress:

New phone system In December we invested in a brand new telephone system that

In January we were delighted to win a real exclusive benefit for Elmhurst members: Government funded training and accreditation.

In our bid we explained how important energy efficiency was to a green recovery and why the industry needed more Retrofit Assessors and Retrofit Coordinators. I am delighted to report that Elmhurst has now trained and accredited over 1000 Retrofit Assessors and Retrofit Coordinators, all of which are able to deliver retrofit projects to meet the requirements of PAS 2035 and ECO.

Consultations Elmhurst members will be very aware that we put a lot of effort into responding to the numerous consultations issued by government. We do this because we believe that it is the best way of influencing policy direction and that our knowledge, supported by the collective experience of our 7600 members, means that our opinions are heard.

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In July 2020 we were asked to feed into the Environmental Audit Committee review, where we put forward a number of requests that can be viewed in our consultation response in the news section of our website.

When the report was published in March 2021, we welcomed the conclusions and recommendations and were pleased that some of our points had been adopted.

that it is used to drive up quality and ensure that better decisions can be made by purchasers, tenants and policy makers.

The best position would be to have them accessible in all three places: 1. Within the Property Passport for the current owner/occupier 2. On the EPC register for future prospective owners and tenants 3. Via open data for academics and policy makers to analyse

There is no doubt that the demand for such a scheme is high and in our opinion the scheme with a few tweaks would have been fine.

One unfortunate and attention grabbing headline related to how a Property Passport could “replace the EPC”. In our view, and on this point, the authors are confusing the EPC portal (or PDF document as it is in Scotland) with the information that it contains, and the mass of valuable data that lies behind. For those who don't know, the Property Passport is a central repository that relates to every dwelling, and contains a wide range of data, manuals, guarantees and information related to the property.

Quite frankly it doesn’t matter what the document is called but the Property Passport will contain information that is not suitable for publication and one of the many great things about EPCs is that they are accessible, either individually or collectively, through open data. By making data publicly available it ensures

Green Homes Grant Voucher Scheme Another subject that grabbed a lot of the headlines recently has been the Green Home Grant Voucher Scheme which is being scrapped 12 months early, and only 4 months after its launch.

Undoubtedly the Green Homes Grant has not been the success that everyone hoped for but it was fundamentally well meaning, easy to access and applied appropriate levels of checking to identify misuse, and assure quality. What it didn’t have was time to bed down.

There is no doubt that the demand for such a scheme is high and, in our opinion, with a few tweaks the scheme would have been fine. What was needed is long term commitment, but is that not what we have said about every publicly funded energy saving initiative?

That’s probably enough to be going on with so I will sign out by wishing you the best of luck, both personally and professionally, over the coming months and to remind you that the Health and Wellbeing webinars that we

recorded for you during lockdown 1 are still available to view at: www.elmhurstenergy.co.uk/ health-and-wellbeing-webinars

Martyn Reed Managing Director Elmhurst Energy

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Energy Matters | Issue 6 | 2021

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Contents F E AT U R E

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05 Elmhurst leading the way with PAS 2035 06 Getting to grips with the Future Building Standards 08 Reasons to be positive in 2021 10 Energy efficiency is important for owner occupied homes too

14 Pulse now in regulations 16 Building Diagnostics 18 Elmhurst releases update to Design SAP 10 Beta 18

20 Technical Corner: M-Four's Housing Energy Modelling Services 22 Market data

12 The road back to the classroom

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Getting to grips with the Future Building Standards

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Elmhurst leading the way with PAS 2035 Simon Flint, Existing Dwellings Technical Consultant

From late June 2021 retrofit work carried out under the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme will have to comply with the PAS 2035 standard. This isn’t big for the retrofit industry. It’s huge.

PAS 2035 is the code of practice that businesses operating under the TrustMark (the established Quality Mark for the sector) must follow. The code was created to transform the retrofit industry by focusing on quality and accountability, in order to increase consumer confidence.

We are currently in a period of transition to allow for preparation, upskilling and business planning and for the new legislation to become law.

Elmhurst has been leading the way in the retrofit industry, becoming one of the first schemes to establish a PAS 2035 Retrofit scheme and training course, from its first inception in 2019.

Along with dedicated accreditation schemes and training courses for Retrofit Assessors and Coordinators, Elmhurst has released a suite of bespoke software tools to aid in the accurate completion of assessments.

Elmhurst Accredited Retrofit Coordinators will have access to our online Retrofit Coordinator Tool, which enables the creation, development and lodgement of Retrofit Plans to the TrustMark Data Warehouse.

The tool builds on TrustMark's basic software solution, by delivering a much smarter user interface, and additional features for quicker and easier data entry.

Members also benefit from integration with ECOSurv, where at the click of a button installers and Retrofit Coordinators can lodge PAS 2035 retrofit plans through the ECO Surv PAS 2035 Workflow platform, with information sent directly to

Elmhurst and the TrustMark Data Warehouse.

The platform streamlines the workflow process for Installers and Retrofit Coordinators undertaking PAS 2035 retrofit work under the government’s Energy Company Obligation (ECO) as well as the Green Homes Grant scheme.

Elmhurst has always emphasised quality, which is why we’re fully supportive of the PAS 2035 framework and its aims to ensure professional accountability and high standards of work. June represents an exciting time for those involved in the retrofit industry and we’re proud to be at the forefront supporting our members.

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Getting to grips with the Future Building Standards The Future Homes Standard

For Part L 2021: n

Jason Hewins, On Construction Support Team Leader

On 27th January 2021 MHCLG published the long-awaited responses to the Future Homes Standard consultation.

The Future Homes Standard consultation proposed the direction of travel for Part L in England over the next five years, proposing an interim uplift to Part L for new dwellings in 2020 and implementation of the Future Homes Standard in 2025. The consultation responses have given industry clarity in a number of areas including: For the Future Homes Standard in 2025: n

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New homes to emit 75-80% lower carbon than current Building Regulations Heat pumps likely to provide space and water heating for the majority of new homes.

The standard to be set so to restrict the use of gas, oil and LPG boilers being used.

New homes to have very high fabric standards including a wall U-Value of 0.15 and triple glazing The consultation on the final Future Homes Standard brought forward to 2023

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The Approved Document and final version of SAP 10 to be published in December 2021 and comes into force in June 2022 New homes to emit 31% lower carbon than current Building Regulations Compliance to be based on Primary Energy, Carbon Emissions, Fabric Energy Efficiency and Minimum standards for Fabric and Services Mandatory air tightness testing for all new homes A requirement to supply on site photographs to the BCB, OCDEA and homeowner Tighter transitional arrangements based on each commencement of work on each plot and a reasonable period of one year Local authorities will retain the ability to set standards above Building Regulations

Elmhurst has created a live online CPD course which covers the Future Homes Standard outcomes and the Domestic areas of the Future Buildings Standard consultation. More details and availability can be found on the training calendar.

The Future Buildings Standard consultation closed on 13 April, to which Elmhurst submitted its response to the proposals.

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Future Buildings Standard Josh Wakeling, Non-Domestic Support Team Leader

On 19th January 2021 the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) launched a new consultation called the Future Buildings Standard.

The consultation focuses on changes to Part L non-domestic building regulations and development of SBEM. The United Kingdom has already made considerable progress and efforts in reducing the carbon intensity of the electricity grid over the past decade and has committed to becoming a carbon neutral country by 2050.

This means that when a new building uses electricity, CO2 will become a less important measure of performance due to its energy

ultimately being supplied by a carbon neutral electricity grid.

However, the energy in the national grid will still be a limited resource that should be used carefully. Reducing the UK’s demand for energy will lower the need for a heavy electrical infrastructure, allowing for the utilisation of low or zero carbon technologies in domestic and non-domestic buildings - helping us achieve the Government’s target of net zero emissions by 2050.

This consultation includes the following proposals: 1. Seeking wider feedback through this consultation on making improvements to the National Calculation Methodology 2. Developing SBEM and the National Calculation Methodology to better account for energy uses and to incentivise appropriate design solutions 3. Introducing more challenging energy efficiency standards and improving compliance 4. Supporting building owners to better understand how to use their building efficiently Please visit the news section of the Elmhurst website to read the proposals in full.

Part L2 Uplift standards The Government’s preferred option proposes to deliver a 27% reduction in carbon emissions on average per building compared to the existing standard. This is expected to typically be delivered by very high fabric standards, resulting in lower levels of heat loss from windows, walls, floors and roofs, improved services such as lighting, and low carbon technologies such as heat pumps or photovoltaic panels.

With this in mind, Government are proposing the following three performance metrics for new non-domestic buildings to be measured against: i) Primary energy target ii) CO2 emission target iii) Minimum standards for fabric and fixed building services We expect that the increase in standards for 2021 will drive developers to phase out fossilfuels now, ahead of 2025. It is anticipated that heat pumps will be utilised for space heating and hot water, as well as heat networks, district heating, and even direct electric heating.

Summary Following the release of the Future Buildings Standard consultation, we are pleased to see the government’s preference option, option two, adopting all-round improvements to building fabric and building services performance requirements for the 2021 Part L uplift. We are also interested to see the push towards low carbon heating and onsite renewable technologies. The cost to the building industry may be higher for option two, however it will be the first major positive step since 2013 towards the government’s goal of delivering highly efficient non-domestic buildings, which are better for the environment and fit for the future.

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Reasons to be positive in 2021 Stuart Fairlie, Technical and Operations Director

In a world which continues to deal with the effects of COVID, this is a big year for climate change. Just to confirm that it is slap bang and centre of Government thinking. If you haven’t noticed, they frequently say we should ‘build back a greener brighter, better future’ for us all.

1. COP Conference At the end of the year there will be a major focus on the delayed UN Climate Change (CoP) conference in Glasgow, which the UK will chair for the first time. Make no mistake, the event is of huge importance; the heads of all nations will visit, along with thousands of advisors and journalists - COVID permitting!

The UK will no doubt want to make a great statement of how we lead the way in climate change and will need new policies and ambitions to present to the world.

The Government is very keen on building back greener and they know that the buildings we live

3. Change to SAP and SBEM methodologies There is the first major change to the SAP and SBEM methodologies for 10 years, which provides the first meaningful steps toward the Future Homes and Building Standards in 2025. They are long overdue, and start to plan a route map for new build homes throughout England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, with planned updates to existing dwellings and conversion now in full consultation mode too.

4. Complementary regulations and policies

and work in are a very real issue when it comes to the use of energy throughout the UK.

2. A shift in attitudes There has been a seismic shift in attitudes to a cleaner future for heating, be it the very lively debate between electricity and hydrogen which is currently dominating current thinking; but thrown into the mix is batteries, on site energy generation, electric vehicles, heat networks etc.

Certainly great effort and research is required and no doubt lots of heated debate about what is good and not so good will come throughout the years to come.

We are delighted to see that energy conservation and ventilation regulation and guidance will be working together, not fighting each other!

Build tight and ventilate right is the correct approach.

Overheating in buildings is being taken seriously, and there are more proposals for onsite testing.

A huge effort is taking place around the so called ‘performance gap’, of why properties do not use the energy they are designed to in the real world. All this will result in better standards and more importantly better buildings in the future.

5. Online EPC register We welcome the new online EPC register (E&W and NI), giving much more flexibility to change and adapt and push people towards different policies and grants, giving a life beyond the physical pdf documents.

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6. PAS 2035 framework The wholesale change of approach utilising PAS2035 is now taking place and from June/July this year all ECO installations must use the new framework. This approach was the answer to the Each Home Counts review from many years ago, analysing why previous retrofit policies didn’t work as well as they should have.

Unfortunately it is only ECO policy at moment, but Government suggests all new polices associated with energy efficiency retrofit will use it.

PAS2038 is also currently being developed covering the retrofit of non-domestic buildings.

7. Lenders to consider climate resilience If you didn't know, banks and building societies are now being forced to consider climate

resilience in their lending decisions and as the expression goes ‘money makes the world go around’. This will no doubt have an impact on linking mortgages and financial products to the energy efficiency of the buildings in question, which will certainly raise the stakes!

8. Calls for Evidence Lots and lots of consultations and calls for evidence from various Government departments around the regions surround energy in buildings, as you know we at Elmhurst attempt to respond to them all. We always seek our members’ thoughts and ask others to respond with their own too. The more knowledgeable people who respond the better, as I was once quoted “If you don’t respond, then don’t moan if the government suggest something which you don’t agree with!”

Admittedly they take time and

effort to respond, but we keep trying our best.

At Elmhurst, we keep stating the obvious: we must firstly understand our buildings to be able to manage them effectively; we must move towards understanding the asset (the building), occupation (the people in it) and metered energy (used) for all buildings; this will solve all the energy dilemmas!

Display all the metrics on all the outputs, as people are driven by different goals e.g. lower fuel bill, warmer home, less carbon, or less energy. All these opportunities exist and they just need to be brought together and used by expert Energy Assessors like our members.

The future is bright and we will ensure that we keep our members up to date with all consultations and opportunities that come through this very exciting year.

Watch this space!

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Energy efficiency is important for owner occupied homes too Martyn Reed, Managing Director

It is generally accepted that following years of investment, measurement and reporting, social housing is now some of the most energy efficient in the UK

More recently, minimum energy efficiency standards have been applied to the private rental sector and although starting slowly, they are already encouraging landlords and tenants to pay close attention to their Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs), with improvements being made.

But what about the owner occupied sector?

When it comes to mortgaged properties, a recent Government consultation proposed new rules to encourage mortgage lenders to help householders improve the energy performance of their homes.

Under the plans outlined by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), mortgage lenders will initially be encouraged, and ultimately required, to disclose information on the energy performance of their property portfolios in England and Wales every year, as well as the gross value of their lending for energy saving home improvements.

The Government is also consulting on the merits of setting minimum energy targets for mortgage lenders that could help build the market for green finance products to support home energy efficiency.

Elmhurst Energy is already working with two major lenders to help them prepare for the market opportunities and risks of this proposed new regime.

In its response to BEIS we urged mortgage lenders to adopt the latest proposals, but also challenge Government on the underlying objectives.

These proposals contain important ideas that have been mooted for many years, and there is no doubt that mortgage lenders hold the keys to unlocking a lot of investment in more energy efficient properties.

As the saying goes, ‘sunlight is the best disinfectant’. By shedding light on the energy performance of mortgaged homes, pressure will be brought to bear to find new ways to improve our housing stock.

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As the consultation itself points out, working with lenders as part of a sustainable economic recovery will not only help homeowners to overcome existing barriers to improving the energy efficiency of their homes, but will also create and sustain jobs in the home retrofit supply chain.

The proposal will provide significant benefits to homeowners as well as the environment. It should help to reduce bills, increase comfort, increase property value, as well as support the delivery of our fuel poverty targets and the UK’s fifth Carbon Budget. For Energy Assessors it will also undoubtedly mean more opportunities with increased confidence being placed in energy assessments and Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs).

However, some of the messages are muddled. The Government needs to be clear about whether this proposed policy is about saving cost or carbon, or both.

EPCs are based on a cost metric.

They are the ideal tool for

developing incentives to reduce energy bills and ensure warmer homes. But if carbon reduction is also a priority - which we absolutely believe it should be then BEIS should be introducing a dual metric for mortgage lenders, whereby they can report on minimum standards on environmental impacts as well as the EPC. To avoid a risk that mandatory disclosure of the energy performance of their portfolios could potentially cause mortgage lenders to shift their lending away from older, poorer performing homes in favour of a ‘better’ portfolio, Elmhurst is proposing that a ‘weighted average EPC’ should be disclosed taking into account the age bandings of properties. It is also recommending that there is improved access to the Government’s new EPC register to link with lenders’ systems.

Elmhurst believes that mortgage lenders must play their part in facilitating the changes needed to meet our net zero targets.

We would be daft to ignore the

impact and importance of their relationships with customers at critical trigger points, such as home purchase, renovation or re-mortgage. Our hope is that these proposals will drive forward greater innovation in ‘green mortgages’ and other interventions that improve the energy efficiency and value of our homes and other mortgaged properties.

So what’s left?

The last remaining sector to confront maybe the trickiest, owner occupied properties without a mortgage. Whilst it may be easy to assume that this sector is able to look after itself there are a large number of properties that have not changed hands in over ten years, have no EPC and are currently below the radar. It is difficult to imagine that such a sector will respond to regulatory controls so perhaps a more carrot based approach is appropriate. We don’t know the details but we are aware that all options are being considered, so watch this space.

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The road back to the classroom Mitesh Nathwani, Training Manager

It’s been just over a year since the coronavirus brought about all the changes we now call normal.

Initially we kept thinking about how we would adapt to delivering our training online, what systems we would need to put in place and how to make the most of the situation we are in.

Now it’s more a case of how will we return back to classroom based training and, more importantly, when?

The last twelve months has shown that, like our assessors old and new, we have adapted in the way we are offering our training, whether that’s online, hybrid or classroom based.

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We have seen this change in our day to day living as an opportunity to cement our place further as the premier trainer in the Energy industry. This is due to the great deal of confidence in the housing and energy industry.

The housing industry must be one of the most buoyant and has seen massive growth in the past year, especially since the introduction of the government’s Stamp Duty holiday, and the furlough scheme being extended further. It has also meant that lodgements have been at their highest for a long time.

Roadmap out of lockdown With the introduction of Boris Johnson’s roadmap to ending lockdown, we are now in a place where we are preparing to return to classroom based training as the demand is still high, with many learners still wanting classroom based training over the online format. The last twelve months has shown that, like our assessors old and new, we have adapted how we are offering our training, whether that’s online, hybrid or classroom based. That said, we will be limiting numbers back to the classroom to ensure social distancing. We will also start using local venues to ensure we can keep up with the demands we have for training.

It’s funny how over a year ago members used to ask why we could not deliver our courses nearer to them… and now we get asked when can we deliver classroom based training?

A buoyant industry The Chancellor’s Stamp Duty holiday has definitely played a huge part in ensuring the housing market has stayed so resilient during the pandemic, especially when other markets and industries have taken a huge hit.

This has kept demand for training at an all-time high. We believed that this would die down once the stamp duty holiday came to an end, but it never really tailed off. Now with the extension to the stamp duty holiday and funding from the Government’s Green Homes Grant scheme we are busier than ever. The funding has allowed us to offer our Retrofit Assessor online course as well as our ever popular Live Online Domestic Energy Assessor course for a nominal fee as well as offer learners our great membership and accreditation packages too.

Such has been the popularity of this that we have trained over one thousand Retrofit Assessors in the past few months and over one hundred Domestic Energy Assessors too during the same period, too.

This clearly shows the growing confidence in the housing market as well as the energy industry.

We have also noticed clients are recruiting new people into the industry to meet the demands put on them and existing Energy Assessors are taking on new strands to meet demand.

The knock on effect is that we a refilling each and every course within a short period after

releasing new dates. We are now at a point where we are having to put more courses on than we had ever imagined, and being able to return to classroom based training will definitely help with meeting the growing demand.

Could you deliver training?

Because of the demand we are looking for freelance trainers who have industry experience.

If you or anyone you know may be interested in working with us to deliver our ever expanding portfolio of DEA courses please do not hesitate to contact me.

See you soon!

With that said, I just wanted to thank you all for being a part of the Elmhurst family and together we can see that even during hard times, growth is still possible.

I envisage the next few months, with the loosening of the lockdown rules, that life will become easier for us all and busier too. Here’s looking to the spring and summer, stay safe and I hope to see you face to face in the near future.

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Pulse now in regulations Jason Hewins, On Construction Support Team Leader

You may be aware that there is a new method of air tightness testing that has been approved

by MHCLG to carry out air tightness tests.

This method is known as Pulse and it is slightly different to the traditional blower door which could offer a number of advantages for air tightness testers. In this article we explore what Pulse is, how it works and what it means for iATS testers.

Pulse was developed by Build Test Solutions. It uses compressed air released in bursts to measure airtightness at 4Pa and can take as little as 6 seconds to complete. It was developed to test buildings under ‘normal’ conditions so does not force leakage paths and stress the building fabric. Pulse has also been approved for airtightness testing of existing buildings in PAS 2035 as well as the Building Regulations in England.

The Pulse system is made up of three parts - an air release tank, a compressor to fill the tank and a control unit where everything is calculated and recorded.

The process starts by releasing a known amount of air from the air release tank into the suitably prepared test building. The Pulse system then measures the response of the test building to this released pressure to calculate

the air leakage whilstcontinuously monitoring temperature and pressure.

Elmhurst Energy Consultancy has already started using the Pulse method for some of its own projects, most recently carrying out comparison air leakage testing for a local authority to test the efficacy of a liquid sealing system on a trial house undergoing a full retrofit.

Elmhurst Consultancy will carry out Pulse Comparison Air Leakage Testing on the trial house. The Pulse air leakage test will be carried out prior and then post application of the improvement measures and Consultancy will provide a comparison report summarising the methodology, approach and subsequent results.

The Pulse Airtightness Leakage is

the ideal system to use for this particular application as it can be used to determine retrofit strategies and to validate the quality and performance of delivered works.

If you are an accredited iATS tester, later this year you will notice changes to the lodgement portal as we are adding the option to enter and lodge Pulse tests, giving testers the choice now that Pulse is an approved testing method. Just like the blower door method, Pulse testers will have the option to upload straight from the Pulse system onto the iATS lodgement portal for seamless lodgements.

Pulse is not a replacement for the current blower door method of air tightness testing, but it provides an alternative option for air testers who may benefit from using this method. Elmhurst will be providing training for air tightness testers on the use of Pulse, so keep an eye on our Training Calendar as Dates will be released shortly.

It is a great opportunity to learn about the new method and get hands on experience with the Pulse system.

For more information about Pulse please visit https://buildtestsolutions.com/ air-leakage-testing/pulse

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Building Diagnostics Chris Ricketts, Business Manager for Elmhurst Energy Consultancy

Let me tell you a story; it’s a story that I hope demonstrates what our multidisciplined Consultancy Service has been getting up to with regards to building performance evaluation (BPE) and product performance evaluation.

BPE for us is where we use and combine our services, tools and techniques to determine how well a building and its elements are performing. Quite often this is done to help diagnose a problem, highlighted by a short fall in its performance. We are often picking this up posthandover in the building’s occupancy stage so we are validating its in-use performance vs its predicted As Built stage.

A recent case involved a developer contacting us because one of the tenants in a newly developed set of four flats has a significantly increased energy bill than that predicted on his As Built EPC. The first tool out of our array to inform our investigation is our Measured Energy Performance Report, easily conducted with the resident in situ providing analysis and indications on how the dwelling is performing. It is an essential report and set of metrics for understanding overall building performance, running costs and carbon emissions.

On that initial site visit, alongside the design and documentation review, we may uncover other areas/ issues that could benefit from a more detailed investigation such as an occupancy audit, a water audit,

The mantra of BPE is Test Measure, Model and Improve.

a Pulse air tightness test or even a Thermography inspection.

Informed with this we can then further investigate and follow up using appropriate assessment tools and techniques so that the energy performance is looked at in conjunction with fabric performance, heating systems and occupant behaviour.

In the instance of our Developer, concerns over build quality performance and air tightness were identified. Following up on our Measured Energy Performance we conducted a Pulse air test, Pulse is air permeability measurement system, less disruptive than blower door fan testing particularly in occupied homes.

It helps inform us on changes to airtightness that may have occurred in the first stages of occupation as the building ‘settles’ and also improves the accuracy of SAP ratings. It uncovers issues with the air tightness and concerns with build quality - hence onto another tool in our diagnostic tool kit: thermography and the carrying

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out some spot checks with a thermographic camera in parallel with reviewing the thermal bridging. Thermal bridges are not just a location of heat loss, but the resulting colder surfaces are often linked to mould formation.

The mantra of BPE is Test, Measure, Model, and Improve.

And it’s a virtuous circle that can be adapted for projects of any size - where the focus can be on building or product performance.

The versatility of this model made BPE a natural fit for the research, measurement and monitoring of new and innovative products for the Energy Company Obligation (ECO). ECO has either centred on pre and post works EPC assessments and more recently, very basic level Deemed Scores.

But neither of these approaches are readily able to assess the true impact of measures (energy, CO2, running costs), nor are they well suited to assessing new and emerging technologies.

Under the ECO3 Innovation strand, Elmhurst Consultancy has been supporting a number of innovative energy saving product suppliers alongside sponsoring energy companies to measure the real world performance of an existing, usually poor, SAP rated dwelling before and after their energy saving product is installed in a number of pilot properties.

We will also measure and monitor in a number of control properties as well. Again, Measured Energy Performance is the key service and tool that is deployed as it is a quick low cost, low disruption assessment of overall fabric thermal performance. In these circumstances we often monitor for longer periods to obtain more data for in depth analysis.

As part of the measurement and monitoring process we carry out air tightness testing, and because Pulse tests are much less disruptive than blower door tests, a benefit it offers is that it can be carried out on existing homes.

All this is alongside tools such as

Heat3D, for U-Value measurement and thermography are often employed to build a baseline of data to robustly demonstrate the measurable benefits of a manufacturer’s or supplier’s energy saving product or device.

So what next? Where do all these tools and services lead us? Well, one call to action could be all ECO works and perhaps wider public funded energy efficiency investment activity could soon require real world measurement (our Measured Energy Performance Service) separate to or in addition to an EPC. So if you are interested in delivering measured performance projects and bettering the return offered

by Deemed Scores, get in touch!

Whether you’re looking to offer this service independently or in partnership with Elmhurst Energy Consultancy, we’ll see what we can do to support you.

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Elmhurst releases update to Design SAP 10 Beta Jason Hewins, On Construction Support Team Leader

Following the MHCLG publication of the Future Homes Standard consultation responses, and launch of the Future Building Standards consultation for England in January, Elmhurst has now released a new version of its popular Design SAP 10 Beta software.

These changes include the addition of the now retained Fabric Energy Efficiency Standard metric, with the two proposed options for setting the new Target Fabric Energy Efficiency Rate (TFEE) from the Future Building Standards consultation included.

As well as this, we have now updated our compliance results to reflect MHCLG confirming ‘Option 2 - Fabric plus Technology’ as the compliance standard for new dwellings in Part L 2021. The Target Primary Energy Rate (TPER) and Target Emission Rate (TER) now reflects this standard.

These changes will allow you to gain an indication of how your

assessments will perform against the new energy efficiency standards to be used in Part L 2021 for new homes. Design SAP 10 Beta also has the ability to import assessments from Design SAP 2012 to see what changes need to be made to the construction in order to comply with Part L 2021.

This allows you to liaise with your clients to give them a head start in updating their building specifications for the implementation of Part L 2021 in June 2022. This is particularly relevant to developers who rely on traditional fossil fuel heating such as Oil or LPG boilers as it is expected compliance using these fuels will be much more onerous than in the current Building Regulations.

The Design SAP 10 Beta application is available to all existing Design SAP license holders free of charge.

Should you wish to obtain a copy of the application please contact the On Construction Support Team who will be happy to arrange this for you.

Energy Matters | Issue 5 | 2020

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MEMBER’S CORNER www.elmhurstenergy.co.uk

M-Four's Housing Energy Modelling Services David Falla, Head of Commercial, Technology and Innovation for M-Four

Who is M-Four?

M-Four is a forwardthinking consultancy business, focused on driving change and bringing excellence to the socialhousing sector. Over the past five years, their consultants have been working closely with housing providers, local authorities, and other public sector organisations, providing a range of consultancy services that have helped improve over 15,000 properties across Scotland.

They implement practical, progressive solutions with expertise and enthusiasm, whilst remaining truly devoted to their overarching goal: to look after our planet and the people living on it.

M-Four’s Energy Modelling Services The team at M-Four strongly believe that utilising energy consultancy services can contribute to the overall goal of eradicating fuel poverty in Scotland, through providing information which drives change forwards.

One of the primary services offered by M-four is their Energy Efficiency Consultancy Service, which they are delivering in collaboration with Elmhurst Energy using their Streamline software, and Housing Associations. This service places energy data into the hands of Associations, enabling better investment planning, reducing carbon emissions and reducing fuel bills, whilst also helping the association achieve EESSH2 compliance Each of M-Four’s Energy Assessors are trained and certified

by Elmhurst Energy.

This partnership allows us to ensure they have the skills and knowledge to deliver professional energy assessments, modelling and lodge Energy Performance Certificates (EPC).

How it Works Existing data, in the form of EPCs already carried out by the Association, is curated and analysed by M-Four, with a view to applying the recommendations and producing an Energy Performance Report (EPR) which will demonstrate the potential SAP rating for every property. In addition to this, M-Four can also demonstrate the level of carbon reduction on applying these measures, and apply costs to these element improvements, to provide accurate costs for the level of investment required over a 12-year period for approval by their Board of Management.

t: 01455 883 250 • www.elmhurstenergy.co.uk

Once all the EPCs have been analysed, the data is loaded into a bespoke EESSH2 dashboard with full operational and analytical capability for their stock portfolio, allowing for interactive engagement with the collated data and simplifying the ability to view changes that are required. This allows the Association to view the overall level of investment on their stock, the effect this investment will have on the average rating of their properties and the total amount of carbon emission reduction which could potentially be achieved.

The data can be filtered and drilled into to allow individual property, street, postcode and town assessment, which would be suitable for any option appraisals or exemptions which may apply.

The final report includes a summary, including the potential cost per property, and an overall investment plan for the stock

portfolio, to enable recommendations to be implemented and compliance reached. Overall, this service utilises and analyses existing information to provide a projected view of how clients can better address underperforming properties, the costs associated with this work and the net carbon reduction effect. This inevitably leads to understanding how best to eradicate the effects of fuel poverty for their customers.

This thorough service enables clients to better understand the impact of EESSH2 on their forthcoming investment plans and take practical steps towards future sustainability.

EESSH2 compliance post-2032 and the Journey to Net Zero.

In 2021, they are looking forward to investing in and expanding their services to include retrofit assessments for domestic properties and a retrofit coordination service to enable project compliance with PAS 2035.

M-Four will continue to work in close partnership with Elmhurst Energy, to ensure that clients receive the best quality of service, and that future-proof housing stock strategies are created.

Looking to the Future The M-Four team pride themselves on being at the cutting edge of innovation, as they endeavour to keep their clients abreast of sector developments in pursuit of

Get In Touch If you would like to know more about M-Four’s services, please get in touch at endfuelpoverty@m-four.org

Follow M-Four: @momentumfour @momentumfour

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Energy Matters | Issue 6 | 2021

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Market data

Existing Dwellings Volume of EPC lodgements and residential house sales on a rolling 12 month basis (by quarter).

Martyn Reed, Managing Director

n

Volume of EPC lodgements on a 12 month rolling basis

n

Volume of Residential housesales on a 12 month rolling basis

Commentary

Here at Elmhurst we collect and analyse data from many sources in the belief that it helps us make better business decisions. Turning this data into a digestible form takes time and requires a detailed understanding of context.

In each edition of Energy Matters we will provide you with a snapshot of this data, with a brief commentary, which we hope you find of interest, and maybe help you prepare for the future.

COVID-19 has obviously had a major impact on the construction, housing and energy assessment markets which is reflected in each of the charts. Some of the data related to new build homes within the devolved authorities has not been updated since March 2020 and estimates have been used.

House sales spiked in March 2016 on the back of changes to stamp duty and then quickly fell back to a run rate of under 1.16 million. Until March 2020 the volume had been relatively constant and then the market feel away in March, recovered by July and has continued to grow ever since, probably helped by the short term reduction in stamp duty/LBTT. The volume of EPCs peaked in the 12 months to May 2014, driven in a large part by ECO. This fell back sharply to a low of 1.2 Million in March 2018. Two years of recovery peaked again in February 2020 with year on year growth of 11%, largely due to minimum energy efficiency standards in the private rental sector. In March and April 2020 the volume dropped drastically, it then tracked the residential sales market until Christmas and then fell away quickly again as stamp duty cliff edge approached, and perhaps an incorrect public perception that “lockdown 3” meant the housing market was closed.

Outlook With the stamp duty discount being extended into the summer (England and Wales) the market is likely to remain buoyant. As lockdown restrictions are eased other reasons to do an EPC, such as those for social housing, will boost the demand further. Government initiatives, such as MEES and parts of the Green Homes Grant, should also keep demand high.

t: 01455 883 250 • www.elmhurstenergy.co.uk

New Build / On Construction

Outlook

Volume of residential house starts and completions on a rolling 12 month basis (by quarter)

It is worrying that house starts are so far behind completions suggesting that we running at nearly half the government target of 300,000 per annum.

With completions now significantly ahead of starts “work in progress” will continue to fall and this is bound to impact completions in the medium term.

Non-Domestic / Commercial buildings Non-residential (commercial) property sales in the UK on a 12 month rolling basis Volume of Commercial property EPCs in the UK on a rolling 12 month basis. n

Volume of residential house starts on a rolling 12 month basis

n

Volume of residential house completion on a rolling 12 month basis

Recent data for Scotland and Wales is estimated since April 2020.

Volume of On Construction (new build residential) EPCs in the UK issued on a rolling 12 month basis

n n

Volume of Commercial property EPCs in the UK on a rolling 12 month basis Non residential (commercial) property sales in the UK on a 12 month rolling basis

Commentary n

Volume of on-construction (new build residential) EPCs in the UK issued on a rolling 12 month basis

Commentary House completions peaked at 214,000 in December 2019 but have been significantly impacted by Covid-19.

Starting before COVID-19, house starts have fallen back dramatically from their 204,000 peak in December 2018 to a six year low of 153,000 in September 2020. Fortunately since then starts have enjoyed a quarter of growth and now stand at 159,000.

The volume of EPCs in the last twelve months fell to 246,000 from its peak of 300,000, but the market has now flattened.

A sorry set of graphs. Commercial property transactions have continued to fall since October 2017 and are now at just 97,000, 25% down in the last year.

The impact on EPCs has been similarly dramatic and, despite the recent very small uplift in sales, the volume of EPCs continues to fall and is now also down 25% year on year.

Outlook With great uncertainty in the business community it is difficult to imagine that there will be any major improvements in the commercial property sector.

The impact of COVID-19 on the retail and office sectors may reduce demand for such properties but as an EPC is required whenever there is change of owner or change in tenant this may be some small piece of good news for Energy Assessors.

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For further information about the services that Elmhurst Energy provides please visit:

www.elmhurstenergy.co.uk or call:

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