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MacConvilles are licensed EcoHomes and Code for Sustainable Homes assessors.
Our registered assessor is David Barker who can be contacted by telephone on 01273 692611 or by email on david.barker@macconvilles.com for advice on how MacConvilles can best assist you on your sustainability issues.
You may be a developer or a house owner seeking to satisfy a condition to your Planning Approval, a Registered Social Landlord or Housing Association needing to comply with a funding requirement or even someone who is concerned with Ecology and Green Issues wishing to build or refurbish your property using Sustainable Resources and maximising Energy Conservation.
Whichever you are, MacConvilles can provide you with invaluable guidance at design stage on how to meet your target rating and our Quantity Surveying and Building Surveying background will ensure that the guidance is based on cost effectiveness and practicality.
MacConvilles can then provide you, depending on your needs, with a report that is accepted by Planning Departments in discharge of the relevant planning condition or full assessments that are submitted to the BRE for certification.
So, what are EcoHomes and the Code for Sustainable Homes?
Both are similar schemes, the first implemented by the Building Research Establishment (BRE) and the second by the Department for Communities and Local Government.
Both are intended to ensure that designs are developed beyond the requirements of the Building Regulations in areas affecting the Environment, Sustainability and Energy use.
EcoHomes used to apply to all residential developments, but since April 2007, the Code for Sustainable Homes supersedes it for new build developments in England.
Areas that are assessed include:
- Water use/conservation
- Resourcing sustainable building materials
- Recycling of waste
- Pollution created in manufacturing of building materials
- Extent of car use required due to location
- Energy efficiency of services such as heating and lighting
- Risk of flooding
- Health and wellbeing of occupiers
These are assessed in various ways, from a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ on whether something such a water butt is to be provided, to the calculation of the percentage of timber used in the development that is to be obtained from certified sustainable resources.
From these assessments, a weighted value is calculated which will then be set against banded values to assess its rating or code achieved.
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