The Mayor's draft water strategy - london.gov.uk - Greater London ...

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standard for key elements of design and construction, which affect the sustainability of a new home, and will form the basis for future reviews of the Building Regulations. It sets a minimum standard for water use, together with a system of additional code points, as shown in Table 3.1. The code aims to provide a general incentive for developers to build to greener standards, and Code Level 3 (equal to or less than 105 litres per person per day) will be required for publicly funded developments. Code Level 3 has also been incorporated into the London Plan as a requirement for all new housing in London 3.25 Government also made a commitment in its Housing Green Paper 43 that it would be setting new standards to achieve an improvement of almost 20 per cent on current average usage to support sustainable water use in all new homes across England and Wales. To fulfill this commitment an amended Part G of the Building Regulations, Table 3.1 Code for Sustainable Homes which sets a maximum daily usage standard of 125 litres per person per day, will come into force in October 2009. 3.26 Research undertaken for the Environment Agency, Assessing the cost of compliance with the code for sustainable homes 44 , shows that the cost of meeting the 100-120 litres per person per day standard is just £189- £284 above the cost of providing current fittings and equipment in homes. Similarly saving water in the home, which often reduces the production of hot water, can make savings for householders’ energy bills. 3.27 Cyril Sweett undertook a detailed study of the costs of compliance with the Code of Sustainable Homes 45 looking at six different types of houses: • A traditionally built detached house (116m 2 ) • A traditionally built end of terrace house (101 m 2 ) Issue Measurement criteria Points awarded Internal potable water consumption External potable water consumption* Where predicted water consumption (calculated using the Code water calculator) accords with the following levels: ≤ 120 l/p/d (Mandatory for levels 1& 2) ≤ 110 l/p/d ≤ 105 l/p/d (Mandatory for levels 3 & 4) ≤ 90 l/p/d ≤ 80 l/p/d (Mandatory for levels 5 & 6) For providing a system to collect rain water for use in external irrigation/watering eg water butts One of the following point scores 1.5 3 4.5 6 7.5 *Code excludes a water consumption standard for outside water use. This ranges between 5-10 l/h/d and is proportional to availability and size of garden. Source: Department for Communities and Local Government 42 1.5 47
48 The Mayor’s draft water strategy • A traditionally built (ie non-framed) low rise apartment (59 m 2 net occupied area) • A concrete framed medium/high rise apartment (75 m 2 net occupied area) • Two homes built using modern methods of construction and compliant with the requirements of English Partnerships’ Design for Manufacture (DfM) competition: - An end of terrace house based upon the Weber Haus product - A mid terrace house incorporating a centralised CHP system referred to in the report as the ‘SixtyK House’ based on its estimated construction cost of £60,000. 3.28 They calculated the baseline cost of constructing each type to comply with the 2006 Building Regulations. They then calculated the additional cost of complying with the different levels of each element of the Code. Table 3.2 shows the additional costs of meeting Code levels 3 and 4 and levels 5 and 6 for water. Code levels 1 and 2 could be met at no additional cost. The costs of meeting those Code levels for energy is significantly higher. 3.29 The costs are based on assumptions that certain fixtures and fittings will reduce water consumption in new homes to the levels required. However, we need far more houses and flats built to these standards, and occupied for some time, before we can be assured that the assumptions are correct. There are still very few houses built to the Code level 3 standard, and those built to Code levels 5 and 6 can best be described as ‘prototypes’. Proposal 4 The Mayor believes that, where possible, all new homes should meet the highest level of the Code for Sustainable Homes for water consumption. Water efficiency in existing homes 3.30 Great efforts are being made to achieve higher water efficiency standards within new homes, however the greatest scope for improving water efficiency is through London’s 3.2 million existing homes. Improving water efficiency in existing homes can be achieved through installing more efficient fittings and appliances, plus improving the resident’s water use behaviours. Adapting existing appliances can be inexpensive and relatively simple, such as fitting low flow showerheads, inserting aerators or flow restrictors into taps or installing variable flush devices to existing toilets. With householders likely to move on average every 7-15 years 46 there are opportunities to encourage refurbishment to be water efficient. 3.31 The annual Halifax Home Improvement Survey 47 tells us that homeowners consider that a modern, fitted kitchen adds the most value to a property with almost a third believing that a modern fitted kitchen is the main feature to improve the monetary value of a home. The kitchen and bathroom were also voted the top two rooms that homeowners most wanted to change, at 25 and 16 per cent respectively. This presents a huge opportunity to encourage and deliver water efficiency change, as the kitchen and
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