We are approaching some very critical dates regarding the Building Regulations and particularly Part L (Conservation of Fuel & Energy); so this post explains what this means and what you need to be doing:

What is nZEB?

‘Nearly Zero Energy Buildings’ (or an nZEB building) means a building that has a very high energy performance. The nearly zero or very low amount of energy required should be covered to a very significant extent by energy from renewable sources, including energy from renewable sources produced on-site or nearby.

The NZEB standard will apply to all new buildings occupied after the 31st December 2020. For Public Sector bodies, the standard will apply to all new buildings owned and occupied by the 31st December 2018. So as you can see this last date has already passed and we’re rapidly approaching another critical date – the 31st October 2019 (we won’t mention what else could be happening on this date !)

New Houses

What this generally means for a new house is that:

• It will be an A2 BER rating
• Primary energy consumption at 45 kwh/m2/yrs
• The MPEPC will be 0.3 & the MPCPC = 0.35 I wrote THIS POST in 2012 explaining these acronyms and how to ensure compliance (obviously updated now)

These effectively are a 60% improvement in energy performance on the 2008 Building Regulations.

But have a look at the dates;

I know that you should be undertaking an nZEB house anyway but if you are on a budget and want to avoid the additional expense of possibly additional PV panels etc… then it’s imperative to get your planning application in before the end of next month (you can worry about getting it up to wall plate by the 31st October 2020 a bit later).

Therefore if you’re thinking of designing a house, then why not CONTACT US…

nb the nZEB regulations do not apply to protected structures or national monuments

Major Renovations

Now, this is a big jump in the regulations! If you’re undertaking major renovations where “more than 25% of the surface area of the building envelope undergoes renovation” – This will require that the building is brought up to cost-optimal level.

What this means, in reality, is that the BER rating of any typical house refurbishment where external insulation is applied to the whole house (this would be normal and is therefore >25%) – you will need to bring the BER rating for the house up to approximately a B2 BER rating. This will be a big jump if your house is of typical Irish building stock that could be as low as an F or a G.

We also have extensive experience refurbishing properties to this standard and if you are thinking of undertaking a renovation of this type then why not also CONTACT US…

These are the nZEB basics, I’ll be posting more on this as we go…