Industry launches UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard

A pilot version of the UK’s first cross-industry standard for net zero carbon-aligned buildings has been launched today. The UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard is a free-to-access technical standard that will enable the sector to prove that built assets align with the UK’s carbon and energy budgets. Pilot projects including existing and new buildings will shortly be invited to test the process and record feedback. The standard is the result of a collaboration begun in 2021 between groups including the Better Buildings Partnership, RICS, RIBA and UK Green Building Council, with Related Argent chairman David Partridge chairing the initiative’s governance board from 2022. Until now, there has been no single, agreed methodology for defining what “net zero carbon” means for buildings in the UK. Consequently, concern has grown that the area has been rife with spurious claims around the topic. The standard aims to provide a set of consistent rules to create a level playing field around such claims. It is for anyone who wants to fund, procure, design, or specify a net zero carbon building, and for anyone who wishes to definitively demonstrate that their building is net zero carbon-aligned. The group also hopes the standard will be useful to policymakers as it outlines what is needed to support the UK’s net zero carbon transition. It will be applicable to homes, offices, educational institutions, industrial assets, shops, hotels, healthcare real estate and more. It has been developed and agreed through collaboration between organisations and leaders including architects, engineers, carbon assessors and developers. More than 350 experts from across the industry have supported the technical steering group during the standard’s development phase. And more than 700 individuals have fed their views into the process through roundtables and public consultation. The cross-industry group said the standard’s mandatory requirements for building performance and construction quality are ambitious but achievable. They cover topics such as upfront carbon, operational energy use, fossil fuel-free, renewables and refrigerants.  The pilot version contains the technical details on how a building should meet the standard, including what limits and targets it needs to meet, the technical evidence needed to demonstrate this, and how it should be reported. Details on the subsequent verification process will be published separately. The standard’s requirements Katie Clemence-Jackson, chair of the standard’s technical steering group, said: “The standard has been created not just using industry data on what is achievable, but also cross-referencing this with top-down modelling of what is needed to decarbonise our industry in line with 1.5-degree-aligned carbon and energy budgets. It covers all the major building sectors, as well as both new and existing buildings.  “With access to the standard, the built environment industry is equipped to target, design and operate buildings to be net zero carbon-aligned, driving the positive change that we need to meet our climate goals.” Partridge added: “The standard brings together data from thousands of buildings submitted by professionals from across the built environment and will be an important step towards a net zero carbon economy.  “I encourage everyone within the built environment and real estate sector, from investors, funds and lenders, through developers to building designers, managers and contractors, to start to use the pilot version of the standard. We will shortly be launching a pilot testing programme to glean feedback on applying the process on real projects.”  Organisations involved in the standard include:  Better Buildings Partnership Building Research Establishment The Carbon Trust Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers  Institution of Structural Engineers LETI Royal Institute of British Architects Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors UK Green Building Council Photo © FredFroese/iStock David Partridge will be talking about the Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard at EG’s ESG Summit on 5 November. Click here to find out more >>