Scottish Building Regulations Consultation

23rd Jul 2021

The Scottish government has released a consultation on proposed changes to Energy Standards, including ventilation, overheating and electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

Minimum standards are set by Scottish building regulations for new buildings as well as refurbishment work to existing buildings.

The Scottish government set out their vision for decarbonising heat in buildings and reducing energy demand in a recent Heat in Buildings Strategy. This is to help the green recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

In-line with the Scottish government’s wider ambitions to achieve net-zero emissions, they have published a series of proposals from 2007 to 2015 which seek to deliver improvements to energy efficiency in new buildings. The latest proposal is now live on the Scottish government's website.

The Scottish government have stated that they: “Seek your views and evidence of the challenges and opportunities that are likely to be experienced as we look to reflect current good practice in the setting of minimum standards for new building work and introduce further changes which will support the broader intent to introduce a 2024 New Build Heat Standard.”

Stroma Certification encourages members and assessors to respond to this consultation at their earliest convenience.

The key elements within this consultation include:

• Two options for improvement to new buildings, reducing emissions in new homes by an aggregate of 32% or 57% and new non-domestic buildings by an aggregate of 16% or 25% (section 2).
• The introduction of a new energy target for new buildings and seeks views on the form this should take (section 2).
• An amended approach to the setting of standards where new buildings include on-site generation of power and where they are to be connected to a District Heating network (section 2).
• A focus on improved fabric insulation in new homes, to reduce overall space heating demand (section 3).
• Proposed changes to ventilation standards to reflect the expectation that new homes will have improved levels of insulation, resulting in reduced air leakage/infiltration (section 4).
• Similarly, proposals to assess summer overheating risk in new homes and residential buildings are put forward, reflecting projected increases in temperature over the coming decades (section 5).
• Action to improve energy performance through improved compliance with standards set out in the context of our broader review of compliance with building regulations (section 6).
• Proposals for EV charging points and infrastructure in new buildings and those subject to ‘major renovation’ (section 7).

You can read the full consultation paper here and submit your responses here.