Expert welcomes Government's Allowable Solutions consultation

The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) launched a consultation last week, which sets out proposals for the delivery of 'Allowable Solutions'; that is off-site projects or measures that reduce carbon emissions which developers can use to deliver zero new carbon homes.

The zero carbon new homes target, which the Government aims to implement from 2016, will require house builders to minimise carbon emissions from energy arising from fixed heating and lighting, hot water and other fixed building services in new homes, i.e. 'regulated' emissions. It does not include carbon emissions from appliances or ‘white goods’.

The DCLG said it recognises that it will not always be cost-effective to reduce all carbon emissions through on-site measures. The consultation sets out proposals for alternative methods to reduce emissions, including meeting parts of carbon abatement off-site or contracting with a third party private sector provider or local authority to deliver the carbon abatement.

"At last developers can comment on how the top area in the familiar Zero Carbon Homes Policy hierarchy triangle may work, including what projects will be regarded as 'Allowable Solutions', how far off site such a solution can be located, how the carbon reductions will be verified and certified and whether there is flexibility in funding such solutions", said environmental law expert Linda Fletcher of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com. 

"The Zero Carbon Hub has been debating this question for a considerable time and local planning authorities have been waiting for guidance to know what they should be including in their local plans so as to meet the Government target of zero carbon new homes from 2016 and in particular the use of section 106 agreements versus community infrastructure levy as a collection mechanism for its Allowable Solutions policy to retain funds locally." 

Fletcher said that the consultation states that the Government believes there should be a national policy framework for Allowable Solutions. She warned that the cost of implementing such solutions will be of great importance to house builders and needs to be built into a viability assessment at the start of any housing development project. 

"Zero carbon is now widely accepted to mean zero carbon regulated emissions, i.e. those energy elements governed by the Building Regulations. We have also seen, albeit much later than was promised, the changes to Part L of the Building Regulations, which were announced on 30 July 2013. However, these will not come into force until April 2014 rather than October 2013," Fletcher said. 

"So there is still a question mark over how the zero carbon targets for new homes from 2016 will be achieved.  The changes to Part L only require new built homes to be 6% more energy efficient than under the current 2010 Building Regulations. This falls short of the original proposals to tighten energy efficiency standards by 8%,” she added.

The consultation will be open for comments until 15 October 2013.