WIREDGOV

The report of an expert panel appointed to look at ways to make homes and buildings more energy efficient was published yesterday.

Among the 56 recommendations to Ministers are:

• Staged increases in energy standards for new buildings every three years to substantially reduce emissions
• The aim of net zero carbon emissions for space heating, hot water, lighting and ventilation within the next ten years, if practical
• The ambition of total-life zero-carbon buildings by 2030
• Consideration of zero fees for building warrant applications where new buildings are to be significantly above the current energy standards

Climate Change Minister Stewart Stevenson said:

"The expert panel has developed a coherent strategy that points the way to zero-carbon buildings. I want to thank the panel members for their input, and in particular Lynne Sullivan for chairing the panel and those experts who attended from Norway, Denmark and Austria.

"Scotland already leads the UK in building energy standards and planning policy stipulating low and zero carbon equipment in new developments. The panel's recommended standards are even more demanding. If implemented, they would make a significant contribution to our proposed 80 per cent reduction in emissions by 2050.

"The first task ahead is to assess whether the standards and the recommendations on existing buildings can be implemented. We also have to examine the costs and benefits, in partnership with the development and construction industry. It is essential that the we are fully aware of the cost implications for future strategic infrastructure investment and affordable housing programmes budgets."

The panel met in September 2007 and brought together experts in construction and energy, along with experts from Norway, Denmark and Austria who have experience of the strict energy standards in their home countries.

Lynne Sullivan, chair of the panel said:

"We have taken a pragmatic approach to permit effective implementation, whilst detailed definitions, targets and specific measures will have to be further developed for the strategy to be meaningful and have impact."

"We have used our collective experience to produce a challenge that is both demanding and realistic, within a time frame which we consider to be both essential and achievable."

Chair
Lynne Sullivan, Sustainability Director, Broadway Malyan Architects

Members
Richard Amos*, Building Surveyor, Richard Amos Ltd
Olav Berge, Director General, National Office of Technology & Administration, Norway
Sue Bush*, Building Standards Manager, Inverclyde Council
Jonathan Fair, Chief Executive, Homes for Scotland
Stephen Garvin, Building Research Director, Building Research Establishment Scotland
Michael Levack, Chief Executive, Scottish Building Federation
Malcolm Macleod, Director, National House Building Council (NHBC), Scotland Rainer Mikulits, Managing Director Austrian Institute of Construction & Engineering, Austria
Jan Kurt Rendboe, Chairman, Institute of Danish Building Control, Denmark
Kenneth Ross, Vice-Chairman, Scottish Property Federation
Sebastian Tombs, Chief Executive, Architecture & Design Scotland
Mike Thornton, Director, Scotland Energy Saving Trust
Paul Tuohy, Research Fellow, Energy Systems Research Unit, University of Strathclyde
Dr David Vincent, Director of Technology, Carbon Trust
David Wedderburn, Chair Building Standards Adisory Committee. Bryan Woodley*
Chief Executive, UK Timber Frame Association

*denotes membership of Building Standards Advisory Committee

Related Information

http://www.sbsa.gov.uk/sullivanreport.htm