A pilot version of the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard is now live and a testing programme will begin soon.
The UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard, developed by key industry associations and institutions, is a free-to-access technical standard that will enable the built environment to prove that built assets align with the UK’s carbon and energy budgets.
The standard is for anyone who wants to fund, procure, design or specify a net-zero carbon building, and anyone wishing to definitively demonstrate that their building is net-zero carbon aligned.
The standard’s mandatory requirements for building performance and construction quality are ambitious, but achievable, according to its developers. They cover a range of topics including: upfront carbon; operational energy use; avoidance of fossil fuel use onsite; renewables; and refrigerants. The standard includes limits, targets and reporting requirements, and covers both construction and operation phases.
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.
More than 350 experts from across the industry have supported the standard’s technical steering group during the development phase.
The founding members of the standard are the Better Buildings Partnership, the Building Research Establishment, the Carbon Trust, the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers, the Institution of Structural Engineers, the Royal Institute of British Architects, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, the UK Green Building Council and the LETI network.
What is achievable, what is needed
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 deg C-aligned carbon and energy budgets. It covers all the major building sectors [infrastructure being a clear exception], 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 we need to meet our climate goals.”
Interested parties can register to take part in the pilot testing phase. The testing is expected to take place in early 2025. The subsequent learnings will be incorporated into a version 1 of the standard expected to go live in late 2025.
The standard’s developers will investigate whether equivalence can be achieved with existing carbon and sustainability schemes.
The standard will be updated periodically to keep in line with the UK’s real-time carbon emissions and remaining budgets.
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