EWS SIX ON SHORTLIST FOR STIRLING PRIZE Six buildings have been shortlisted for the 2019 RIBA Stirling Prize, including Goldsmith Street, a development of 105 Passivhaus social houses in Norwich designed by Mikhail Riches with Cathy Hawley (left). Also shortlisted are: London Bridge Station, Cork House, Nevill Holt Opera, The Weston and The Macallan Distillery (see Spiritual Dome, CIBSE Journal, July 2018). The Passivhaus consultants on the Goldsmith Street project, Warm: Low Energy Building Practice, won a 2019 CIBSE Building Performance Award Consultancy of the Year (under 100 employees). Dads Army in charge of UKs climate response CCC chair insists government cant continue with ramshackle system The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) has accused the government of acting like Dads Army in response to the climate change emergency. It said it had delivered just one of 25 emissions-cutting policies identified as essential to meeting long-term goals and risked embarrassing itself when it hosts next years UN Climate Summit. CCC chair Lord Deben said ministers should face legal action if they fail to act and that emissions-reduction targets for 2025 and 2030 were likely to be missed by an even bigger margin than predicted last year making the new zero carbon goal by 2050 look increasingly remote. The committee also said the number of government officials working on climate change had been cut from several dozen to a handful since 2013, when the first national adaptation plan was published. In its latest annual Progress in preparing for climate change report, the CCC called for a detailed policy that could deliver a 20% improvement in energy efficiency in all buildings by 2030. It also wants a targeted low carbon heat strategy to run alongside plans to phase out fossil fuels from buildings not connected to the gas grid. In addition, the CCC is urging government departments to publish an integrated plan to reduce overheating risk in existing and new homes, to avoid 4,500 potential premature deaths. The government should complete the Future Homes standard by 2022 and take actionto improve indoor air quality, the report said. The committee also wants a much stronger compliance and enforcement culture across the UKs building stock to close energy performance gaps. The whole thing is run by the government like a Dads Army, said Lord Deben. We cant possibly go on with thisramshackle system that doesnt begin to face the issues. It is a real threat to the population. Lord Deben, chair of the Committee on Climate Change Government off track in energy efficiency bid A report from the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) select committee says the government is a long way off the energy efficiency targets it needs to achieve to deliver its low carbon vision. It identifies problems with how current regulations are being enforced and the slow progress in upgrading existing buildings, which mean the journey towards netzero emissions is off track. The committee wants a more coherent national policy package and a plan to deliver energy efficiency across the existing UK building stock. Stronger compliance and enforcement, with people being placed at the heart of policy development, is key, it concluded. The report found that the demise of the Green Deal and a lack of access to funding was holding back efforts to tackle poor performance in the private rented sector. Property owners in England and Wales must achieve a minimum EPC rating of E before letting their properties for new tenancies; this will also apply to existing tenancies from April 2020. Previously, landlords could apply for a no-cost exemption from this where funding was unavailable. However, the government has tightened the rules and, now, only landlords whose required energy efficiency improvements are higher than the 3,500 cap are exempt. The report recommends raising the cost cap to 5,000 per property. CIBSE technical director Hywel Davies said the existing regulations were not being enforced properly, and he highlighted the criticism of the apparent bias in the minimum energy efficiency regulations towards minimising costs to landlords, not tenants. Gavin Dick, of the National Landlords Association, said: A more strategic and longterm plan is needed to help landlords and homeowners achieve the end goal. www.cibsejournal.com August 2019 7 CIBSE Aug19 pp07 News.indd 7 19/07/2019 14:36