Developing a suite of zero carbon specifications for refurbishing the council’s current properties and building new ones.
At a glance
Housing Advisers Programme case study
2020/21 cohort
Executive summary
The aim of the project was to develop construction specifications for future refurbishment projects and new build developments, to help drive down carbon emissions throughout the city. A fabric first approach was required with alternative low/zero carbon heating technologies explored where possible.
A project brief was developed, and a mini competition tender process was completed through Sunderland City Council’s professional services framework. The project contract was awarded to BDN Architects to produce the specifications, along with Dewpoint Energy Services Ltd who supported BDN with the SAP calculations.
Two existing Sunderland City Council housing stock dwellings were chosen to survey. These two properties are of typical construction type and style to Sunderland City Council’s housing stock, and were used as baseline specifications, to determine specification requirements to achieve an EPC C rating and zero carbon.
New build specifications were also produced to determine specification requirements to achieve an EPC B rating and zero carbon. Different types of construction were explored for future development, including traditional cavity construction, timber frame and insulated concrete formwork (ICF).
A total of 11 specifications were produced.
The specifications are for guidance only due to all properties being different in construction style, size and type, occupancy level, state of repair and current energy efficiency. All the specifications have been produced to meet the requirements of 2021 Parts L & F of the Building Regulations, and the principles of PAS 2035 have been considered.
What's next?
We will use the specifications as guidance for future new build developments and retrofit projects. We plan to expand on the specifications and provide estimate costs for each specification scenario.
The specifications were revisited in March/April 2022 when the new SAP software was updated, to ensure they still met the Building Regulation requirements through SAP.