Code for Sustainable Homes
What is the Code for Sustainable Homes?
It’s an environmental assessment for the design and construction process of new homes, including both apartments and houses. It looks at a range of issues, split into the following categories: energy, water, materials, surface water run off, waste, pollution, health & wellbeing, management and land use & ecology. Credits are awarded for meeting the criteria of each issue and the total credit score is translated to an overall percentage. Depending on the percentage achieved, a rating is achieved, ranging from Code for Sustainable Homes levels 1 to 6. Though be warned that there are mandatory requirements that must be met to achieve each level of the Code.
What’s the timeline for making the Code mandatory?
For affordable housing: It’s been mandatory to achieve Code level 3 since 2007. Currently it is as yet unsure whether Code 4 will become mandatory as part of the next funding round.
For private housing: A minimum ‘nil’ rating has been required since last year. From next year this is scheduled to be Code level 3, level 4 from 2013 and level 6 from 2016.
At Cheltenham Construction Management, we can help in the design and management stages of new developments to ensure a suitable framework is adapted to comply with the code, collate information and liase with a specialist Code Accessor.