The Building Services Research and Information Association (BSRIA) has published a white paper, with contribution from McBains Director of ESG & Sustainability Tassos Kougionis, entitled Refurbishment for Net Zero which focuses on the role of refurbishment and retrofit in the race to net zero.
In the UK, there have been changes to Building Regulations, focusing on reduction of energy and carbon emissions. From June 2022, all new build homes in England must emit 30% less carbon than under the previous regulations. The changes for new builds are welcome but are only part of the story and not enough to ensure the pace of the progress needed to achieve national net zero targets. Changes in the existing building stock need to accelerate too. The size of the problem is enormous. There is a need to retrofit around one million homes per year for the next 27 years.
The BSRIA white paper explores the overall context for retrofit and what the built environment must do to make net zero a reality, with four key themes:
- The case for retrofit, why it is important, where we are now and the drivers for change
- The issue of whole life carbon, describing the topics of operational and embodied carbon and some of the tools available for taking a whole life value approach to refurbishment
- Examples of what is working in terms of both technology and process. This theme covers the opportunities and challenges in practical solutions like heat pumps, as well as the process solutions to deliver them such as performance contracting and soft landings.
- The theme of performance and wellbeing explores how we can use net zero refurbishment as an opportunity to make buildings more fit for purpose with a focus on indoor environmental quality.
To check out the full report please click here.
