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Best practice
scheme for Wales
Creators of innovative and exemplary building projects in
Wales are being invited to join a scheme that will promote
best practice.
The Exemplar Programme was launched by Jane
Davidson, the Welsh Assembly minister for the
environment, sustainability and housing.
With funding from the Modern Built Environment
Knowledge Transfer Network and the Wales Low/
Non-domestic premises like these will need a Display Energy Certificate
Zero Carbon Hub, the Exemplar Programme is
being conducted by a partnership of BRE Wales and
Constructing Excellence Wales.
‘An exemplar is defined as something worthy of being
copied that goes beyond normal industry practice,’ said
Caroline Weeks of BRE Wales.
‘The idea of this initiative is to identify, in a standardised
and quantifiable way, the reasons why certain projects are
successful, and then share these with the whole industry.’ l Commercial buildings will
While the programme is being rolled out in Wales,
have to obtain certificate
projects are being sought from across the UK. The focus
is on three key areas of sustainability – environmental,
Ministers have confirmed their
economic and social.
commitment to extending mandatory
Display Energy Certificates (DECs) to
For more information visit:
the commercial building sector.
www.exemplar.org.uk
Unveiling its Carbon Plan, the
government laid out a series of
timetabled proposals aimed at meeting
warning on school design ‘cuts’ Britain’s targets for cutting CO2
emissions.
The concept of embodied carbon is still being ignored by the
These include a requirement for
majority of players in the construction industry, according to
non-domestic commercial buildings to
analysts.
display their actual energy performance
A survey of global senior figures by Faithful+Gould found
in the form of a DEC, from October
that 80% believe embodied carbon – that is, carbon created by 2012. This requirement currently covers
the construction process – is dismissed because reducing it is only certain public sector properties.
either unimportant or too expensive.
In addition to rolling out DECs to
In all, 166 leaders were surveyed, with 53% saying embodied the non-domestic sector, ministers
carbon had no value. By way of contrast, reducing operational also propose improvements to the
energy was a priority because cost-savings were obvious and
‘content, format and quality’ of Energy
enhanced a building’s ‘green credentials’.
Performance Certificates (EPCs) from
But according to Faithful+Gould, embodied carbon mitigation April 2012, according to the draft
would save far more energy than operational savings alone.
Carbon Plan.
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Key aims underpinning the Plan include:
l A dramatic shift away from fossil fuels
and towards low carbon alternatives
such as renewable energy, new
nuclear resources, and fossil fuel
power stations capable of carbon
capture and storage.
l A massive improvement in the
insulation of buildings and a move
away from gas boilers to low carbon
alternatives such as heat pumps.
l More use of public transport and
an effort to reduce the number of
journeys, as well as a move towards
alternative technologies such as
electric vehicles.
As part of the initiative, the
government is to require every public
sector body to reduce its emissions
by 25 per cent over the course of the
current parliament.
A final version of the Plan – which
brings together many carbon-cutting
proposals already announced – will
be published this autumn, and then
updated annually.
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CIBSE Journal April 2011 www.cibsejournal.com