Issue 12, Vol 5 Out Now
The first issue of Passive House Plus is out now and available now from Easons and all good newsagents
nationwide. Click here to subscribe online and have the first issue of Passive House Plus delivered to your doorstep
Featured Article
| Part L Revealed |
Since the announcement last September by the Minister for the Environment of substantial improvements to be made under Part L of the Building Regulations, speculation has been rife in the construction industry about what the details of the updated regulations would entail. Jeff Colley examines some of the key parts of a regulatory improvement that will help the Irish construction industry to modernise and meet the demands of a rapidly changing world.
|
|
Read More >>
|
Latest Blog Comments
Official magazine of Easca  |
|
Part L Revealed |
|
|
Page 1 of 4
Since the announcement last September by the Minister for the
Environment of substantial improvements to be made under Part L of the
Building Regulations, speculation has been rife in the construction
industry about what the details of the updated regulations would
entail. Jeff Colley
examines some of the key parts of a regulatory improvement that will
help the Irish construction industry to modernise and meet the demands
of a rapidly changing world.
While the announcement last September of substantial improvements to Part L of the Building Regulations was met with an outburst of objection from some of the more entrenched lobby groups in the construction industry, those vested interest groups can surely not claim surprise at the revisions. As regular readers of Construct Ireland will know, the greening of Part L has roots that can be traced back to 2005, when Fingal County Council had the remarkable foresight to bypass national building regulations and take matters into their own hands.
Fingal set the precedent, demanding mandatory 60% reductions in heat energy demand and associated carbon dioxide emissions, along with a substantial renewable energy requirement, and other local authorities picked up the ball and ran with it, leading to the introduction of similar requirements in Wicklow, Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, Wexford, and Dublin City Council amongst others.
According to David Healy, Special Advisor to the Minister for the Environment, the role of the local authority initiatives in facilitating national change is obvious: “You could call them pilot schemes. They demonstrated what was possible. It’s one thing to bring in a requirement into a local area plan or a county development plan but it’s another thing bringing it in for every new house in the country.”
The new regulation will apply for all new homes and extensions to existing homes where planning is sought on or after July 1 2008. Additionally, even projects that already have planning approval but are not substantially complete – in other words, that do not have external walls fully erected – by July 1 2009 must meet the new requirements.
Such a swift transition from the announcement in September 2007 of the new regulations to their coming into effect in July 2008, is in itself remarkable in the context of previous changes to Part L. When the regulation was updated in 2002 to include relatively progressive improvements in building fabric insulation, it was stipulated that, where planning was applied for prior to the new regulation being introduced, builders would have up to three years to complete the building before the new requirements kicked in. Similarly, when Part L was updated again in 2005 – this time with little improvement – an 18 month period was afforded to the industry to build to the old requirements.
The principal requirement of the new Part L is for a 40% reduction in energy demand and carbon dioxide emissions associated with heating, domestic hot water and lighting. Designers will calculate compliance using DEAP, the Dwelling Energy Assessment Procedure software package created as a result of Ireland’s obligations under the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive.
U-values
As with current Part L, the technical guidance documents include a reference house setting out U-values for each main element of the building – roofs, walls, windows and floors. The elemental U-values and living area fraction of the reference house have been kept at the same level as current, although an additional U-value of 0.15w/m2K has been introduced for floors where underfloor heating is used.
<< Start < Prev 1 2 3 4 Next > End >>
|
|
Building or upgrading?
If you’re pricing, designing or constructing a building – whether
it's an energy upgrade of a small house, or a sustainable new
build home, office or multi unit scheme – we can help.
Click here to get in contact with the companies you need, and receive a copy of the first issue of Passive House Plus for free!
Twitter feed
|