Pressure mounts for greener, better sourced stone as changes to Part L in April continue move towards zero carbon
Changes to Part L of the Building Regulations come into force in April as the latest move in the Government’s commitment eventually to make buildings carbon neutral and reduce the UK’s CO2 emissions by 80% from a 1990 base level.
That 80% target became legally binding with the passing of the 2008 Climate Change Act. It will be achieved in stages, with the next target a 34% reduction by 2020.
The changes to Part L in April will require a 6% improvement on carbon emissions from housing and 12-13% on commercial buildings, to achieve an overall reduction of carbon emissions from buildings of 9%. And there will be more changes in 2016.
The materials used in construction are becoming increasingly important with every tightening of emissions controls, which means it is going to become ever more important for stone to be able to demonstrate its carbon performance.
That was the message from David Richardson, a Director of BRE and a Past-President of Stone Federation Great Britain, when he spoke at the annual meeting of the Stone Federation on 28 November in Warwick.
To achieve the targets, stone cladding is going to have to explore new methods of fixing to avoid cold bridging inherent in current stainless steel fixings.
Window and door frames, or any masonry that currently bridges the interior and exteriors of a building, will be an issue for stone because the elements will have to be made in two parts with a thermal break. “It’s trying to understand what solutions might be out there to allow traditional appearances to be achieved,” he said.
Stone Federation plans to produce a guide to the changes in Part L for its members and BRE will be holding half-day workshops in February. The first will be on 4 February.
Stone Federation President Iain Kennedy, the Managing Director of quarrying and processing group Realstone in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, said the Federation and its members would have to have some answers for architects. “We can’t leave it to architects to design their way out of trouble. They will need a lot of leading.”