LETI says Building Regulations are hampering low carbon London goals
The London Energy Transformation Initiative (LETI) has responded to the London Plan consultation, stating that it believes the current energy policy relating to carbon emissions in London buildings will not deliver net zero carbon by 2050.
LETI is a voluntary network of over 150 built environment professionals, including engineers, contractors, architects and FMs. The group is coordinated by Elementa Consulting and was established to work collaboratively to put together evidence-based recommendations for the London Plan and the London Environment Policy.
LETI says that the Plan is unlikely to meet its key target for a number of reasons, including the fact that low energy solutions “are being positively hindered by Building Regulations Part L calculation methodology”. LETI claims that outdated carbon intensities are driving unintended “lock-in” to fossil fuel and combustion air pollution.
The group also believes that current planning targets, based on using Part L tools and the ‘notional building’ encourage a culture of false reporting. This does not lead to best practice design and performance.
Another reason for failure to meet targets is that new buildings “are not performing as calculated on their claimed carbon reductions by a significant margin”.
LETI fully supports the goal of achieving a fully Zero Carbon London by 2050, stating: “We believe that this target is not only possible, practical and achievable, but it will also further support London’s prosperity and skills growth.”
But in order to achieve the objective, LETI says that a key milestone should be to ensure that all new buildings operate with zero emissions by 2030. The benefit will be that the changes required to achieve zero carbon new builds will offer a learning opportunity that can be applied to existing buildings – and so that new buildings do not add to London’s carbon burden.
The full report can be downloaded from the link below.
