The long awaited revision of the Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH) promotes a ‘fabric first’ approach, but stops short of reducing the carbon compliance requirements to achieve levels 5 and 6 this time round.
The CSH, which is just published, also gives exemption from Lifetime Homes requirements on sloping sites, and removes the mandatory requirement for Site Waste Management Programmes.
The code has been updated after an extensive consultation with industry. The CSH was introduced in April 2007 as a standard to improve the overall sustainability of new homes, scoring a dwelling against criteria such as energy use, waste, materials and water to produce a level 1-6 rating. In the first three years, nearly 8,000 homes have been completed to code level standards, but government believes this figure is too low, partly because the current code is too complicated and bureaucratic.
Housing minister Grant Shapps said: “Good building standards can only be effective if they are easy to understand, and only applied where they are appropriate. That’s why the code has been updated to iron out problems that have arisen over time, and streamlined so building standards can be used in a sensible way that suits the local situation.” On Twitter, Shapps summed up the update within the social medium’s 140 character limit with the words: ‘Code for Sustainable Homes to be merged into building regs’.
The code and technical guide are on the Communities and Local Government website and are downloadable at LINK
Building 4 Change: LINK
