neWs All the latest news from around the building industry government scraps zero carbon targets Osborne cancels policy and loosens planning laws The Chancellor, George Osborne, has cancelled the UKs zero carbon buildings policy and loosened the planning laws in a bid to speed up housebuilding. In a green policy shake up, the government also announced that there will be no further funding to the Green Deal Finance Company. Energy and Climate Change Secretary Amber Rudd announced the axing of the Green Deal in a move to protect taxpayers. She said the government will work with the building industry and consumer groups on a new value-formoney approach. In his Fixing the Foundations: Creating a more prosperous nation report which is intended to tackle the UKs long-term government has to do now is work out how, he said. However, the UK Green Building Council denounced the changes as the death knell for zero carbon homes, with chief executive, Julie Hirigoyen, describing the Chancellors strategy as short-sighted, unnecessary, retrograde and damaging to the industry. She acknowledged the need to build more homes, but said they should not be saddled with a legacy of high energy bills. productivity slump Osborne (pictured) said the government did not intend to proceed with the zero carbon Allowable Solutions carbon offsetting scheme, or the proposed 2016 increase in on-site energy efficiency standards. The report added that energy efficiency standards would remain under review, recognising that existing measures to increase energy efficiency of new buildings should be allowed time to become established. However, the main planks of a policy first set out in 2007 have been abolished, including: the 2016 zero carbon target for new homes; the 2019 target for non-domestic buildings; and next years revisions of Part L of the Building Regulations. Rudd told the Energy and Climate Change Committee that the decision had been to postpone zero carbon policy rather than abandon it. She said: Although we are not having new zero carbon homes for now, we are working together [with the Department for Communities and Local Government] on seeing what we can do for existing housing stock. CIBSE technical director, Hywel Davies, said the zero carbon and Green Deal announcements were not a huge surprise, adding that getting the changes to Part L that zero carbon needed was already looking challenging. He added that it had been clear for some time that the offsetting elements of the Allowable Solutions scheme did not fulfil the requirements of the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, under which the UK has to deliver nearly zero energy buildings from 2021 [2019 in the public sector]. Davies welcomed the fact that the industry now had clarity, and said the next challenge was to deliver nearly zero energy buildings for the public sector by 1 January 2019. All that the Business leaders hit back over policy U-turn A total of 246 senior business figures have put their names to a letter urging the Chancellor to reverse his decision to drop zero carbon building targets. Directors of energy and property organisations including E.ON, Whitbread, Saint-Gobain and the British Property Federation said George Osbornes U-turn on carbon policy has undermined industry confidence and could damage investment in technological innovation. The weakening of standards will mean our future homes, offices, schools and factories will be more costly to run, locking future residents and building users into higher energy bills, the letter read. It also runs counter to advice from the Committee on Climate Change, impeding our ability to meet our statutory carbon targets cost-effectively, at a time when we should be showing international leadership on this issue. Rating scheme threat to efficiency The new European Energy Labelling regulation, which came into force in July, could inadvertently reduce the uptake of energy efficient appliances, according to a number of manufacturers trade bodies. They fear certain heating and lighting products, despite being highly energy efficient, will be downgraded from A to E on the new labels, so putting off potential buyers. In a joint statement, the organisations said the reclassification of some products, coupled with the complexity of the revision process, would create confusion and make Europe waste precious time in its quest to reduce energy consumption by 2030. They say changes, resulting from a review of the Energy Labelling Directive, were intended to solve a problem that exists only for some product categories, such as washing machines or refrigerators, where the top-rating classes had become saturated due to technological development and innovation. However, a problem for one or two products should not prevent a well-designed system from unleashing its potential for energy efficiency. Current framework legislation already offers a solution for that: changing the product specific regulations, a statement said. Andrea Voigt, director general of the European Partnership for Energy and the Environment, said the review could be counter-productive, confusing consumers and creating more red tape. WsP PARsons BRinckeRhoff tAkes stARRing RoLe in stuDio ReMAke WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff has been appointed as building services engineer on the highrise towers replacing the Manchester TV studios where Coronation Street was filmed for more than 50 years. The consultant is working with architect Child Graddon Lewis on a planning application being submitted this month by developer Allied London. The proposed first phase includes interconnecting towers of 35 and 50 storeys. It will eventually feature six towers across two sites, incorporating 1,200 homes, retail units, restaurants, education facilities and office space. The global engineer is currently providing services at 22 Bishopsgate as reported in Julys Journal. government scraps leadership council and chief adviser new business-focused group to replace CLC The government has scrapped the 30-strong Construction Leadership Council (CLC) and replaced it with a slimmeddown panel of 12 individuals. It will also abolish the post of chief construction adviser in November when the incumbent, Peter Hansford, steps down. The council was created in 2013 to work between industry and government to identify and deliver actions to improve efficiency, skills and growth in UK construction, but skills minister Nick Boles who co-chairs the council said the move was in response to calls from the sector to make it more effective and businessfocused. The new members have been drawn from large Peter Hansford construction firms, such as Laing ORourke, Bouygues UK, Skanska and includes Crossrail boss Andrew Wolstenholme. They will be joined by a major house builder. The UKs construction sector is growing and leading the way in many fields, but productivity and skills are big issues we need to address and I look forward to working with my colleagues on the council to achieve this, saidBouygues UK chairman Madani Sow. But SMEs will be nervous about the changes, according to the Building and Engineering Services Association (B&ES). It would be rash to leave everything to market forces there has to be close liaison between industry and the government to ensure the supplychain functions well and quality standards are enforced, said Rob Driscoll, the associations head of commercial and legal affairs. CIC chief executive Graham Watts said he could not see any circumstances that have changed to negate the need for the role [of a chief construction advisor]. MADe in cheLseA Consultant Hurley Palmer Flatt has completed the upgrade of a 1,200m2 Grade II-listed building in the Cheyne conservation area of Chelsea. The project, for Martins Properties, includes ground-floor and basement retail units with a large garden, and six luxury, one-bedroom apartments, situated on the Kings Road, which was once used as a private access route for Charles II. Originally licensed in 1810 to the Six Bells green groups savage osborne over levy The Chancellor George Osborne has come under fire for his decision to make renewable energy subject to the Climate Change Levy (CCL). His removal of the CCL exemption for renewables and scrapping of subsidies for onshore wind production were condemned as examples of this governments unfair, illogical and obsessive attacks on renewables, by Gordon Edge, director of policy at RenewableUK. He accused the government of moving the goalposts [and] pushing some marginal projects from profit into loss. Osborne countered that the CCL exemption had meant overseas electricity generation had been benefiting from UK taxpayer subsidies, but he was labelled a man out of step with the times by Greenpeace policy director Doug Parr. Osborne is now taxing clean power as if it were a fossil fuel, which will make it more expensive for businesses to buy electricity from renewable power, he said. Lords question planning chiefs public house, the basement and groundfloor retail spaces are now home to The Ivy Chelsea Garden restaurant. The apartments have been retrofitted with high-efficiency heating and cooling from air source heat pumps; mechanical ventilation units with heat recovery systems; and metered cold-water supplies via a boosted cold-water tank and pump in the basement. Hot-water supplies are provided by unvented electric storage cylinders. The House of Lords Committee on the Built Environment held some of the countrys leading built environment officials to account over failures to hit housebuilding targets and the impact of reforms to planning laws. Steve Quartermain, chief planner at the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), Gill Graham, head of heritage at the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) and Ruth Stanier, director of planning at DCLG, faced the committee. They answered questions on: government proposals for prioritising the development of brownfield land; plans for additional floors to be added to buildings in London without planning; and why responsibility for architecture and design was moved to DCLG from DCMS. The Lords asked if the officials believed new developments were sufficiently sustainable, resilient and long-lasting.