Improving Energy Efficiency

How we are addressing this issue:

Energy efficiency is fundamental in the delivery of sustainable homes and, given the legislative environment and energy market in Britain, is set to become increasingly important. At Berkeley, we are committed to delivering energy-efficient homes and see this as a priority both in terms of lowering their environmental impact and saving our customers money through reduced heating and electricity bills.

To deliver energy-efficient homes we adopt a fabric-first approach that focuses on reducing heat losses through walls, floors, windows and the roof. There is generally a point at which it becomes uneconomical to enhance the building fabric any further and this is the point at which we introduce low carbon or renewable technology. On many developments, planning conditions also require us to provide a proportion of a development's energy demand through low carbon or renewable technology. The combination of these factors mean that increasingly more and more of our homes have this technology installed. Across our sites a variety of technologies are in place from solar thermal panels at Forest Hill, Worcester Park and Knowle Village to air source heat pumps at Silvermill and Orchard Grove.

Our performance:

In 2010/11:

• The average improvement in carbon performance of our completed units over Part L1A of the 2006 Building Regulations was 20%. 
• 100% of our homes submitted for planning will achieve at least a 25% improvement in energy performance compared to 2006 Building Regulations when constructed.
• 50% of our completed units incorporated low carbon or renewable technology and a further 62% of sites submitted for planning specified their inclusion.

Our Vision2020 commitments and ambitions:

As part of delivering Vision2020 we have set specific objectives for continuing to increase the energy efficiency of the homes we build.

Our commitment from May 2011: 

• Design all new homes to achieve at least a 25% improvement in energy performance compared to 2006 Building Regulations

Our ambitions from May 2012:

• Design all new homes to achieve at least a 25% improvement in energy performance compared to 2010 Building Regulations
• Ensure over 75% of completed units are supplied with energy from renewable or low carbon technologies

Case studies:

Solar thermal panels at Kidbrooke Village, London

Upon completion of Phase 1 of our landmark Kidbrooke Village development in Greenwich, each of the 80 houses will have nearly 5m2 of solar thermal panels installed on their roofs. These have the potential to provide a 10-15% reduction in carbon emissions through the generation of hot water that can be used for heating. Furthermore, the apartments within the same phase of the development are linked to a district heating system which draws upon energy from central gas and biomass boilers to provide an efficient and renewable source of heating. The biomass boilers alone reduce the carbon emissions of each of the 368 flats by at least 15%.

District heating at The Armouries, London

Our Armouries development in Woolwich, London has been designed to minimise resident's energy requirements, and is one of the first UK developments to provide a residential district heating system supplied by Combined Heat and Power (CHP). We are delighted that the site was shortlisted for a HCA Academy Award in the Zero Carbon Development category for its achievements.

Based on initial assessments, units at the Armouries are likely to be awarded maximum credits under the Building Fabric category of the Code for Sustainable Homes. The building fabric is designed with 20% improvement on Part L 2006 Building Regulations minimum standards. SAP calculations undertaken for the first of the blocks of the Armouries to be constructed show an average improvement of 62.57% over a Building Regulation Part L 2006-compliant dwelling. This is 18.57% above the target rate of Level 4 of the Code for Sustainable Homes. The average EPC rating for the first 150 units in The Armouries is 86.86, which is equal to an energy efficiency rating of A.

To deliver heat and power to the residential and commercial units within the Armouries, we have set up an Energy Services Company (ESCo) with Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE). Heat, power and hot water will be produced on-site in a purpose built energy centre. The energy centre houses a gas fired CHP plant and gas fired boilers. Heat is then distributed to each dwelling via buried pipes, eliminating the need for individual boilers or immersion heaters. State of the art metering technology will allow residents to view bills on line, and compare their energy consumption relative to UK benchmarks.

Residents first moved in to the Armouries at the end of April 2009, so we are still waiting for feed back on the scheme's use. We have, however, found the costs of setting up the ESCo higher than expected, and are concerned over the inflexibility of the CHP solution and the efficiency of the kit. There is widespread regulatory uncertainty around Combined Heat and Power so we are continuing to engage with Government on this issue. We will be monitoring this closely, sharing any lesions learned throughout the Group and the wider industry to ensure we are able to deliver the right energy solutions on our developments.