South West Air Energy

11/02/2016

http://www.aecb.net/cornwall-and-devon-group-attend-airtightness-and-thermal-imaging-demonstration/ #

15/01/2016

Thank you to everyone who came along to our event yesterday.

Also we managed to raise £59.00 for shelterbox from donations received during the evening AECB training event.

Thank you to the AECB members for supporting this great charity.

07/01/2016

We are running an Air leakage demonstration and thermal imaging in buildings demonstration at Par, St Austell Cornwall 14th January 2016

The event will demonstrate to you exactly what air leakage looks and feels like in a building and, includes common leakage pathways we encounter regularly during testing. There will be the opportunity to discuss other examples of build types (other than the test property) and practical methods of achieving better airtightness in buildings.

Air tightness is becoming much more critical in buildings, particularly as the Building Regulations have increased requirements on building efficiency in recent years. This is a valuable training event designed to assist you and your clients, by providing the tools to achieve better air tightness results in buildings.

The event is free to attend, full booking details on the event can be found on the attached flyer or by emailing us for information.

Do let your colleagues/sub-contractors and other interested parties know about this event too.

21/08/2013

The latest Housing Standards review linked to the DCLG press release yesterday highlights certain areas of concern including Energy and Water usage, as well as elements of the Code for Sustainable Homes standards.

This housing standards review is intended to challenge and directly comment on options for significantly rationalising the large number of codes, standards, rules, regulations and guidance that add unnecessary cost and complexity to the house-building process.

Listed below is a couple of excerpts from the review on Energy:

The review states that 'The Government must urgently confirm requirements for 2013 and 2016 Building Regulations to provide
certainty and stimulate the supply chain to respond accordingly'.

Interestingly they also say that 'Local Planning Authorities should not dictate use of low carbon technologies on buildings and developers should be offered options to offset the requirements where evidence demonstrates that it is not technically feasible or commercially viable to meet minimum requirements on-site.'

We will have to wait and see what influence these two and other comments in the publication have on future government policy, full details can be found in the link attached below
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/housing-standards-review-towards-more-sustainable-homes

This report sets out the housing standards review challenge panel’s views on the current system of building regulations and housing standards.

21/08/2013

The Department for Communities and Local Government has announced proposals published yesterday to simplify confusing housing standards.

Although there are no proposed changes to Building Regulations involving safety and Energy Efficiency, it is proposed that additional and often confusing housing standards that councils are free to apply locally (creating a patchwork of different standards) are to be reduced from over 100 to fewer than 10.

Further details can be found on the following press release
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cutting-needless-red-tape-for-house-builders

Communities Minister Don Foster announces proposals to simplify confusing housing standards.

08/08/2013

Well... It's time to crow again we got another truly amazing air leakage test result from the demonstration property near carbis bay on Monday

Well done to the builders Umbazi for this one we got 0.17 m3/(hr*m2) yes really 0.17 !!

So who can beat this with their next build?

08/08/2013

Last week the DCLG issued a press release on the awaited changes to Part L full details are not yet available but are due to come into force next April 2014.

It has been suggested that the new measures will include better fabric insulation and more efficient heating and lighting requirements.

Essentially the regulations are looking at a 9% cut in carbon emissions over current standards.

More details can be found here
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/energy-measures-to-save-200-in-fuel-bills-for-a-new-home

New energy standards to cut £200 on typical new homes’ fuel bills and large businesses over £60k, compared to build standards before 2010.

05/08/2013

Looking forward to our air leakage test demonstration at edge o cliff later today for AECB members should be a good afternoon for everyone

09/05/2013

Well its time to crow a little we think...

Truly fantastic air leakage result achieved last week, the best yet. We have just successfully completed a full Passivhaus air leakage test on a dwelling in Coverack with a final fantastic ACH result of 0.3778 !! The Building Regulation Q50 results are equally stunning at 0.34 m3/(h*m2) at 50 Pa

The pre-test results last year came back with 0.53 ACH so an even better result has now been achieved.

Well done to Charles and Pete at Charles Green Design, Hugh, Elliott and Adam Martin for your tireless work and attention to building detail. You challenged us in finding leakage points in the dwelling and we really had to search for those final elusive leakage points in the pre-test last year. It has been really amazing and a pleasure to work with you guys on this project.

For those who attended the AECB site visit last year in Coverack, this is the property that Charles Green Design and the property owner kindly let us visit.

11/04/2013

DCLG has just issued a statement on the latest news regarding the Housing Standards review for Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH)

It looks like they will be rationalising several standards including the CSH and a consultation document is promised for May before the summer recess.

The Local Housing Delivery Group (LHDG) have assessed the CSH amongst other standards and their broad conclusion was that there is significant scope for simplification of the standards regime. At SWAE we welcome this move towards simplification of the process for our clients.

One of the key recommendations from the LHDG has been for an urgent Government-backed review and consolidation of existing local housing standards including the Code to ensure they meet the aspirations of local communities without undermining viability.

We will continue to provide CSH services to clients on existing developments/projects due to be commenced and have been advised that both BRE and DCLG expect there will be a need for the CSH services to be maintained for a period to manage current assessments, for existing planning permissions and where funding is in place for CSH assessments.

02/11/2012

Check out the latest offering from CSBT including Green Build Hub news

02/11/2012

This has to be the remotest air test we have done so far, as far South West as you can get in the UK - St Agnes, Isles of Scilly

We can literally undertake air testing anywhere!