Elmhurst Energy, the UK’s leading accreditation scheme for energy assessors, has launched vital software to ensure the housebuilding industry meets updated Building Regulations, taking a major step towards net zero.
Domestic and non-domestic energy assessors using Elmhurst’s Government-approved Design SAP10.2 software — believed to be the first available — and SBEM software can guarantee Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) ratings they attribute to new houses and non-domestic builds comply with updated Building Regulations 2010, in force from the 15th June 2022 in England.
Governing the energy performance of new-builds, the laws are designed to drive significant energy efficiency improvements as part of the 2025 Future Homes and Buildings Standard. They mandate a 31% reduction in carbon emissions in domestic new homes and 27% for non-domestic.
Stuart Fairlie, Managing Director of Elmhurst, commented: “Our new SAP10.2 and SBEM software is the culmination of two years’ work and reflects a new way of assessing energy performance which Elmhurst has been calling for a redesign on for many years.
“This move to broaden the EPC is absolutely vital, providing the necessary impetus for new buildings to be designed, built and fitted out in the right way for a net zero carbon future. The domestic EPC was set up in 2007 as a cost metric and this change to Building Regulations goes some way to broaden its original, narrow scope. Now we will finally start to see EPC ratings reflect the fabric of a building and the way it is constructed, putting lower energy consumption higher up the priority list for developers and owners.
“The revised calculation methodologies use the right metrics and can allow governments to align regulations to the relevant measure. For example, policy initiatives to tackle fuel poverty can focus on cost, while initiatives on reducing energy use could be measured by energy consumption, and climate change regulations could be based on a measurement of carbon emissions.”
Elmhurst’s BRE-approved SAP10.2 software, ‘Design SAP10’, goes beyond traditional energy cost ratings to work out the energy efficiency rating of new build homes. It uses the new methodology from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) calculating the target CO2 emission rate, fabric energy efficiency rate, and primary energy rate, as well as the calculated CO2 emission rate, fabric energy efficiency rate, and primary energy rate.
The new SAP10.2 software for calculating EPC ratings arrives in response to regulations 24 and 25 under the Building Regulations 2010. This covers the conservation of fuel and power (Approved Document L), ventilation (Approved Document F), overheating (Approved Document O) and infrastructure for charging electric vehicles (Approved Document S). All four areas apply to new homes and buildings, with documents F and L also applying to existing dwellings undergoing significant extension or transformation work.
For more information on Elmhurst’s Design SAP10 or SBEM Online software, or its domestic and non-domestic energy assessor training, visit www.elmhurstenergy.co.uk.
