Glasgow City Council is set to lead the way in terms of energy efficiency standards for new-build domestic developments, with a significant improvement of +27% against the Target Emissions Rate (TER) over the 2015 Building Regulations, required for all new-build applications.

From the 1st September 2018, all domestic planning applications submitted to Glasgow City Council will be required to demonstrate a minimum 27% reduction in carbon emissions (Gold Level Aspect 1), over current standards plus a minimum 20% carbon reduction abatement through the use of renewable technologies (LZCGT). This will continue to fulfil The Council’s statutory requirement of delivering lower carbon development.

For domestic developments, there are 3 options for achieving Gold level compliance to the satisfaction of the aims of CDP 5: Resource Management (below). All of the options require the development to meet Gold Aspect 1 as a minimum which relates to Carbon Dioxide Emissions: an improvement of 27% against the Target Emissions Rate (TER) required by the 2015 Building Regulations. These options will be required to be certified by an Independent Approved Certifier of Design. A Statement of Energy, utilising the template provided in SG5, will be required for the planning application, however, overall compliance will be dealt with as a suspensive planning condition which is then verified by Building Control at the Building Warrant stage.

Within options 1 and 3, is the requirement for Silver Level Aspect 3: In Scotland, Aspect Silver Level 3 (Energy for Water Heating) under Section 7 (Sustainability) of the Scottish Building Regulations, requires at least 5% of a dwelling’s annual energy demand for water heating to be from heat recovery and/or renewable sources with little or no associated fuel costs.

Dr. Ellis Maginn, of Recoup commented: “Waste Water Heat recovery Systems (WWHRS) for showers are a very cost-effective and efficient means of achieving compliance with this regulation due to its low cost, ease of installation and high efficiency. In SAP 2012, WWHRS such as Recoup’s Pipe+ HE, can achieve a carbon reduction of up to 11% for a typical 3 Bed dwelling, which is significant; especially as WWHRS has the added benefit of being a passive system, requiring no day-to-day interaction from the home owner and requires no planned maintenance. Ultimately this means that WWHRS will not only help to meet the Silver Level Aspect 3 requirements in most cases, but also contribute significantly towards the overall Gold level Aspect 1 requirement AND the Minimum 20% via LZCGT”.

Recoup WWHRS is used by many social housing providers to help achieve the Silver Aspect Level 3 standard that is widely adopted as a standard by many Scottish Councils and Social Housing providers. City of Edinburgh Council has recently adopted Silver Standard as its new specification for all new housing developments. Recoup WWHRS is providing 75 of their new Easyfit+ to the first of these new developments: Greendykes Phase G, which is currently being installed by CCG.

If you are a housebuilder, specifier or SAP assessor and would like help or advice on how to design-in WWHRS to help meet these new, enhanced sustainability standards, then please contact Recoup today.