With so much going on in 2020, you would be forgiven for missing this important update to Northern Irelands Part F (Conservation of Fuel and Power). From the 31st Dec 2020, all new buildings in Northern Ireland are now subject to Nearly Zero Energy. This builds on the previous Nearly Zero Energy Building requirement for all new Public Authority Buildings which came into force from 1st January 2019.
While the published release note is short, this is significant. For all new buildings will need to show compliance by meeting the Target Emission Rate, but then undertake ‘an analysis of the technical, environmental and economic feasibility of using high efficiency alternative systems, which include decentralised energy supply systems based on energy from renewable sources, and take this into account as required by regulation 43A.’
As an IESVE engineer be reassured that IESVE complies with all UK and Irish Building Regulations, and you will already have what you need to meet this requirement. Should you have any questions, just contact our team at sales@iesve.com.
This is another example of the current industry trend of pushing beyond compliance through detailed modelling, which is core capability of IESVE. Much focus of the industry is now on detailed modelling, you may have been following approaches such as Design for Performance, Net Zero Carbon and many other variants including Nearly Zero Energy Buildings.
This is another positive example of all corners of the UK pushing forward beyond the minimum EPBD requirements and supports our overall Net Carbon campaign. As an IESVE Engineer this is yet another opportunity to utilise your expertise and the power of dynamic simulation.
As a side note, it’s expected that the update to the Welsh Building Regulations (Part L1 & L2 are to be published later this year, keep an eye out: Wales Part L: Conservation of fuel and power | LABC