The UK construction industry is in trouble. On one hand the government has established the ambitious target of net-zero carbon homes by 2016. On the other it is struggling to ensure that buildings perform to current standards. So, how can the construction industry start producing buildings that actually perform?
A recent report by Leeds Metropolitan University presented a damning indictment of the UK construction industry. The report ‘Lessons from Stamford Brook’ highlighted the fact that there is a huge shortage of skills and knowledge within the industry.
Whilst this news may not come as a surprise, the importance of these findings should not be overlooked – they underpin the UK’s contribution (or failure) to addressing global climate change.
It is widely acknowledged that buildings are responsible for 50 percent of UK carbon emissions.
The Leeds Met report highlights that, in a 700 home pilot project in Stamford Brook, which sought to develop energy standards of 2010, in the UK we are unable to build homes that ‘perform to standard.’
In some cases the heat loss in homes was 100 percent greater than expected. Due to the close relationship between energy and carbon these findings have significant ramifications for tackling climate change.
For the construction industry in the UK, these findings are worrying. But there are solutions – and they’re just beyond our borders.
PassivHaus
The PassivHaus standard, pioneered in Germany, is the world leading low energy, low carbon design which has led to over 10,000 houses, schools, offices and buildings designed, built and performing to standard. These buildings consume 90 percent less space heating energy than average building stock and about 75 percent less energy than current UK building regulations. (The Stamford Brook study sought a 25 percent-30 percent improvement on current UK building regulations.)
So with the knowledge that buildings can actually perform to standard, what is the UK to do? The technology exists, and has done for in excess of 15-30 years, but broadly speaking, in the UK, the construction skills do not.
As one of only two British representatives that presented work at the international PassivHaus Conference, I feel a strange mix of hope and anxiety about the abilities of the UK construction industry.
On one hand European experience, backed up with numerous studies and research documents, suggest that the PassivHaus standard is arguably the most cost effective means of economically achieving the UK government target of net-zero carbon construction. On the other the UK is struggling to make its buildings perform as planned.
Finding a solution
As I see it there are arguably three potential solutions.
• One is to rely upon bolt-on technologies such as wind turbines and photovoltaics to make up for the short fall in the abilities of the construction industry, thus displacing carbon emissions.
• The second is to allow the industry to gradually raise its skill set.
• The third is to develop a programme to train the construction industry in the art of building low energy developments.
As far back as 1979, Canada concluded that energy conservation is far cheaper than energy generation, cheaper even than energy generation using fossil fuels, notwithstanding that renewable technologies remain costly.
Energy conservation remains the cheapest option for the future, a conclusion backed by many studies undertaken examining the PassivHaus standard.
So should the UK government adopt a process of gradual incremental change or should it be more proactive?
Since the 1970s its sustainable construction agenda has changed little. The policy has been, in theory, to undertake gradual incremental change. The Stamford Brook study suggests that this programme has broadly failed.
Further research suggests that the only UK successes are down to a few innovators that have had the drive to undertake research and the desire to develop truly low energy buildings.
In order to achieve an industry wide step change something more radical is needed.
The Canadian government realised this in 1984 and developed the R2000 construction programme, spending over $30 million (at 1984 prices) to re-tool its construction industry with the skills and knowledge. It is arguably about time that the UK government did the same.
NOTE: This article was originally written when author worked at DEWJO’C Architects (which latterly became Devereux Architects). In 2011 Mark set up his own practice so that he could continue to pursue his interests in developing sustainable, low energy architecture.
About the author:
Mark Siddall, principle at low energy architectural practice LEAP, is an architect and energy consultant specialising in low energy and PassivHaus design. He was project architect for the Racecourse Passivhaus scheme and has a keen interest building performance. In addition to architectural services his practice provides project enabling and education for clients, design teams and constructors.
LEAP website: www.leap4.it