Code for Sustainable Homes

greener&leaner

Has anyone here looked at the code for sustainable homes?

Any thoughts, questions, ideas on it?

Would anybody be interested in having someone talk them through it and look at their plans to offer some quick advice?

sydthebeat

The code for sustainable homes is a UK based document.

Ireland does not have a comparable code that takes into account water usage, water run off, material usage, etc etc....

The closest we have is the BER system for energy efficiency.

greener&leaner

Just because it's a UK scheme doesn't mean that it's not relevant to Irish practice.

UK and Irish building standards are fairly comparable, and from knowledge of the differences it is possible to use the CSH manual as an informative document/standard and make a general assessment. The main manual is free to download.

BREEAM which is a sister scheme, can for instance be used without any changes in Ireland, though BRE Ireland are now working on bringing out an Irish specific scheme. For any other country you'd have to use BREEAM International.

The BER is, to be honest, nothing like either the code for sustainable homes/ the BREEAM suite of methodologies or LEED. The BER only looks at energy which is 20-25% of those methods.

So as I was saying, what I was wondering is if anyone has looked at it, whether they've found it useful or whether they'd be interested in having someone talk them through it?

muffler

greener&leaner wrote: »

So as I was saying, what I was wondering is if anyone has looked at it, whether they've found it useful or whether they'd be interested in having someone talk them through it?

Where are you going with this?

Are you offering your services or what?

greener&leaner

No, well possibly in the longer term.

It is an area of general interest to me. In a professional capacity I've done alot of work with it and a few other similar methodologies, mostly in the UK.

The situation in Ireland is quite different to the UK in some ways. Here people regularly build their own houses and hence take a great interest in things like insulation and renewable energy installations. One off housing is much rarer in the UK.

At the moment I mostly just want to find out if people have read it/used it/found it useful. Generally what the general public/irish industry think of it.

If people are in progress with a plan or project I'd be interested in seeing if their plans loosely meet the code. The manual is a bit long and wordy. It's not as bad as BREEAM (never known an organisation like them for killing trees) but generally speaking it's easier to be talked through it and its workings then to read it yourself, hence the offer. Again, if someone has read it and has a few questions, I'd like to think I'm fairly well placed to answer them.

It's an interesting document, as are the rest of the BREEAM methodologies, I can give my thoughts on it, but I'd love to get a few non-practitioner thoughts first.

sydthebeat

from experience i find it hard enough explaining current building regs and the BER methodology to clients and builders without having to explain a concept that has no legal standing...

the first question by most cleints / builders is "well, do i HAVE to do it?"....

some clients are interested in some concepts such as rainwater gharvesting, permeable hardsurfacing etc.... but none have yet to enquire about assessing it in accordance with BREEAM...

at the moment i cannot see it being implemented in ireland on a statutory basis as, if it is to be comparitive with teh BER mess scheme, there will be outrage from the public and homeowners...

ireland does not even have a working building control industry, thats where the starting point should be...

greener&leaner

sydthebeat wrote: »

from experience i find it hard enough explaining current building regs and the BER methodology to clients and builders without having to explain a concept that has no legal standing...

the first question by most cleints / builders is "well, do i HAVE to do it?"....

some clients are interested in some concepts such as rainwater gharvesting, permeable hardsurfacing etc.... but none have yet to enquire about assessing it in accordance with BREEAM...

at the moment i cannot see it being implemented in ireland on a statutory basis as, if it is to be comparitive with teh BER mess scheme, there will be outrage from the public and homeowners...

ireland does not even have a working building control industry, thats where the starting point should be...

Been meaning to get back to this.

I do know that feeling, the trying to explain it to clients/builders and they just don't care.

In the UK, with BREEAM and CSH, it is going the mandatory route. Even where it isn't mandatory, the planners in a desperate attempt to do something "sustainable" would attach a condition to applications that BREEAM Excellent be achieved, usually with little or no clear understanding of what that meant.

I'm not a fan of it being implemented on a statutory basis. It is very prescriptive, and can lead to decisions that actually have a negative impact on a buildings overall sustainability.

What I've always found it excellent for is as a guide to best practice. The process of going through the manual, looking at what you're doing and what it asks for and deciding whether you can do a bit more is very useful. Going through every single piece of design/build information afterwards, not so much.

The manual is actually here for anyone that's interested. You can get any of the BREEAM manuals too if you register at the BREEAM website. Registration is free.

Skipeeee

Greener&leaner: I would be very interested to know if there is an Irish version of CSH? Or are there any codes of practice for sustainable water usage in domestic situations?

Cheers

Mellor

Skipeeee wrote: »

Greener&leaner: I would be very interested to know if there is an Irish version of CSH? Or are there any codes of practice for sustainable water usage in domestic situations?

Cheers

As stated above there is no irish version of CSH

BryanF

Hi, I've done the breeam international assessors course, which covers everything except domestic, but there all pretty similar. in theory BRE have developed a holistic assessment method, which I reckon is better than the yanks LEED, however, it does have its flaws, particularly ****e materials standards, unachievable transport requirements (very relevant in Irish context) and a lack of post occupancy evaluation.

From my studying of CSH the main flaw is the materials section, oh and a ridiculous water standard (developers not putting in baths? etc) I know of several assessors in the UK who are a little disillusioned with the process, but hey its better than our BER process!

check out the 'good homes alliance' critique of the green guide to specification and other docs on their site.

you could argue that some Irish guildlines are already in place but just ignored, like the Quality Housing for Sustainable Communities etc.

ardara1

The Gov't has already given indications that the Code for Sustainable Homes will be phased out over the next few years. It will subsummed into the Building Regulations Part L. At present it is only applicable to social housing, the plan was for it to apply to all housing - but didn't and won't now happen.
Current social standard is code level 3 (Going to 4 next year) Code 3 asks for 25% improvement on Part L (Energy) regs Code 4 44% improved (Similar to new Part L Ireland. BREEAM is applicable to non domestic market and domestic still in Scotland