The Sustainable Buildings Code is intended to set an exemplar standard for buildings that go considerably further than the minimum requirements of the regulations.

On the assumption that the Code will be a requirement for all buildings forming part of the Sustainable Communities Plan, we believe that the Code is a key opportunity to create substantial, but realistic early year levels of demand for the microgeneration industry.

The Code should require that any building conforming to the Code requires a proportion of its energy needs to be met by building integrated or community renewables or CHP. This would have two significant advantages for the microgeneration industry:

• It would create “bulky” orders. Through the Sustainable Communities Plan, residential accommodation is likely to be built in clusters, to broadly similar designs. As a means of rolling out a microgeneration company’s organisational capacity, fixed bulk orders of this nature significantly reduce the risks associated with production runs, and setting up the organisational infrastructure, training and servicing requirements for a new area. This has significant attractions if the builder chooses to integrate a similar microgeneration technology into a significant number of residential units. It provides considerable certainty against which to run up production lines, but also to put in place the necessary training and infrastructure needed for installation and servicing. In other words, it is a considerably less challenging decision to scale up capacity against a sizeable and concentrated bulk order.
• It provides a clear signal to the construction industry as to the likely future direction of Building Regulations. Whilst the exemplar standard may exist for the time being for a relatively small proportion of constructed buildings, the industry is forewarned in sufficient time of likely improvements in standards, giving it adequate time to prepare properly.