That's the view of Dr Michael Benfield, MD of timber frame leader Benfield ATT, who reacted to the news that the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) has circulated its draft changes to Document L1; Conservation of Fuel and Power in Dwellings.
Increasingly, the industry is turning its attention to the substantial benefits that off-site manufacture of assemblies, components and indeed complete buildings can offer.
In summary, the Proposed Revisions to Document L suggest that
- All new buildings will be measured by the amount of carbon emitted from the occupied building
- SAP ratings will monitor a building’s carbon emissions against a proposed standard
- Minimum acceptable U-values incorporated into designs which currently would not be required to achieve particular U-values
- The design of the building should take into account any particular solar gains to reduce the amount of energy required in Super-E homes or air-conditioned homes
- Each new dwelling should be pre-tested by pre-completion testing or in accordance with Robust Standard Details
“My team consider this tightening-up of Part L - which seems aimed towards aligning the ‘wet’ housebuilders with the higher standards available from the ‘dry’ timberframers, as good news. Because this is too costly for the ‘wet’ builders to do, it provides yet another step towards a Timber Frame future� Dr Benfield commented
"We see these new proposals as far too little, too late. My company is already meeting – and exceeding – these new proposals and are actually so concerned about Carbon Emissions that we have now expanded our specialist Ecological and Energy-Saving Timber Frame design and engineering capacity�
The UK timber frame market is rapidly expanding and - partly due to its ability to keep on top of new proposals such as demonstrated by Benfield ATT - the use of off-site solutions is becoming commonplace. However, the potential of this construction method remains truly massive and the revisions to Part L will certainly help to highlight this.
Dr Benfield continued "Although more and more contractors are partnering with us to make off-site and fast-track construction methods work for them, there can still be a confidence problem. Some still need convincing that fast-track timber frame methods and products do work and, from our point of view, these Part L revisions will give us the chance to win them over."
Notes to Editors:
- A limited number of model designs have been included in the Draft Changes document. Others are likely to be added before the Approved Document is finalised for 1st January 2006.
- The full document is available for review on the ODPM’s website
www.odpm.gov.uk. Or click the logo above.
- Benfield ATT is a privately-owned specialist Timber Frame manufacturing engineers based in South Wales. They undertake the design, engineering, manufacturing and building of timberframe self-builds, developments, flats, schools and healthcare build projects all over the UK and can export
