Code For Sustainable Homes

The Code for Sustainable Homes sets a single national standard within which the home-building industry can design and construct homes to higher environmental standards. Performance is measured across 9 key sustainable design categories, including energy/CO2, water consumption, materials, ecology, pollution and waste.

Each category is assessed against a set of performance criteria, for which credits are awarded and an overall sustainability score calculated. From the Energy category the Code requires a minimum mandatory improvement in CO2 emissions over and above Part L at each level of the Code:

• Level 1 - 10%
• Level 2 - 18%
• Level 3 - 25%
• Level 4 - 44%
• Level 5 - 100%
• Level 6 - Zero carbon (including appliances)

The Code uses a 1 – 6 star rating system to communicate the overall sustainability of the home, with 1 star being above the standard of current building regulations and 6 stars – the highest rating level, meeting the “zero carbon home” requirement.

The Code In Context

While for the private sector the Code is a voluntary standard (i.e. there is no legal mandatory requirement for specific levels of the Code to be met), it is mandatory for all new homes to be marketed with a Code rating (even if zero). The intention is to encourage the market to drive demand for higher quality homes.

In the public sector, Code level 3 has been adopted as the current “Best Practice” standard and all social housing is required to meet level 3 as a minimum.

Local planning authorities are also adopting the Code (either in full or, as a minimum, the Energy section) as a means to improve building standards regionally. It is increasingly becoming a condition of planning consent for new developments to meet a specified Code level, frequently Code level 3.

The Code indicates the direction for future amendments to Building Regulations Part L, with step changes in maximum permissible CO2 emissions being tied closely to the various Code levels; the forthcoming changes in 2010 are likely to move to the current Code 3 standard (25%), 2013 changes to the Code level 4 standard and Level 6 to be achieved by 2016.

However the significance of public sector housing and regional planning policy needs to be recognised, in that effectively these legislative standards will be accelerated, resulting in 2013 more likely to be the real requirement for zero carbon homes.

The Code For Sustainable Homes Route Map

The right hand menu of this section of the website shows you how to achieve different levels of compliance, using electric heating or heat pumps.