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New London guidance on preparing planning energy assessments released

Posted on September 5, 2013 by Admin

September 2013: In line with Policy 5.2 of the London Plan, all major new developments submitted for planning in London are required to provide a detailed energy assessment as part of their planning application. The GLA has provided developers with additional guidance setting out in detail on how these assessments should be undertaken and, as a result of new planning energy targets being proposed by the Mayor (see below), a revised energy assessment guidance document has just been released.

The guidance has been updated to align with the Mayor’s recent proposals, set out in a draft Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) document on sustainable design and construction, that states that from 1st of October 2013, the Mayor will apply the 40% carbon reduction target (beyond Part L 2010) to all planning applications. This target has been set to work to the Government’s long-standing commitment for all new homes to be zero carbon by 2016.

Things have however become more complicated in the past few weeks… The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has recently announced a step-back in carbon requirements in their new building regulations standards for England, which will now come into operation with a delayed start-date of April 2014. At the same time however, the Government has continued to state their continued commitment to the 2016 zero carbon target. The GLA’s guidance document attempts to address this with the following statement:

“At this stage the target will remain 40% beyond 2010 Building Regulations. Following the announcement regarding the proposed changes to Part L of the Building Regulations by the Department of Communities and Local Government on the 30th July 2013 along with any new modelling considerations the Mayor is reviewing the implications for new developments. A further update of this guidance will be issued, if necessary, to reflect the changes to Part L of the Building Regulations coming into effect on the 6 April 2014 and the conclusions of the Housing Standards Review. This update will also reflect any changes to the Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) on Sustainable Design and Construction arising following consultation.”

The recently released GLA monitoring report on the implementation of the London Plan’s energy policies  clearly shows that the development industry can respond to challenging planning energy targets, and London is now seeing significant growth in climate-friendly buildings which are both highly energy efficient, and are also generating a proportion of their own heat and power needs through onsite decentralised energy generation technologies. At the same time, Government appears to be ignoring such evidence and is going backwards in its commitments on the development of low carbon buildings.

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London Energy & Climate Priorities for the year

Posted on June 12, 2013 by Admin

June 2013:  The GLA’s Environment Programme budget for 2013-14 has recently been approved by the Mayor, setting out a total spend of £946,000 to support the delivery of the GLA’s environment policy and programmes. The approval form sets out in detail priorities being focussed on across the environment programme,  but listed below are those actions specifically related to energy and climate:

  • £100,000 to fund consultancy support for Energy Assessments: The London Plan sets out a requirement for developers to submit an energy assessment as part of their planning application.The Environment Team appraises at least 300 applications per year and requires part time expert consultancy support to assist on some highly technical issues. More on this  here.
  • £125,000  for the preparation of the London Energy & Greenhouse Gases Inventory (LEGGI) and London Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (LAEI) which provide baseline information on London energy use, greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions.
  • £30,000 for a CHP in social housing study. This research will help demonstrate the commercial viability of Combined Heat and Power schemes in social housing over the installation of individual boilers and support the application of the energy hierarchy in the London Plan.
  • Guidance for developers on revised Building Regulations. The review of Part L of Buildings Regulations will lead to revised standards for new buildings coming into effect in October 2013. This study will recalibrate the standards in the London Plan (Policy 5.2 – see page 141) and provide guidance to the London Plan team and developers.
  • £30,000 to London Climate Change Partnership (LCCP) to undertake 3 projects: a) working with commercial landlords to reduce climate risks to the premises and tenants, b) working with social housing landlords in 4 boroughs to reduce overheating risks, c) undertaking a scoping study to define and increase the ‘adaptation economy’.
  • £30,000 for Hydrogen London – The Hydrogen London 2013-2014 programme will deliver the Mayor’s vision of London as a global centre of hydrogen and fuel cell activity, services and early adopter of these technologies.
  • £10,000 to review London’s CO2 emissions from waste – including to monitoring CO2 emissions from municipal waste management and reviewing CO2 metrics for waste (for previous work on this issue by the GLA see the following links here and here)
  • £160,000 to retrofitting London –  £110k will support the development of interventions with London Councils and the boroughs to remove barriers to delivery of energy efficiency. These include guidance for conservation areas and areas with a high density of listed buildings; procurement and analysis of energy performance certificate (EPC) data to enable the targeted identification of properties, quantification of the impact of emerging energy legislation and build the investment case for increasing the ‘success rate’ for delivery of measures. £50k will support the development of delivery models to maximise engagement to increase uptake in the private rented and owner occupied sectors (70 per cent of London’s housing stock).
  • £66,000 to delivering decentralised energy – Funding the London Heat Map (£16k in 2013/14 and £9k per year thereafter) – which identifies opportunities for local energy supply projects. The costs involve the GLA maintaining the current site hosted by RADE includes cost of ArcGIS server licence (a one off fee), hosting and admin costs for the site. LWaRB have agreed to pay 50 per cent towards the licence and hosting services.
  • £30,000 for Energy master plans (EMPs) – these provide the strategic planning function that underpins the delivery of strategic DE projects. The EMP provides a high-level feasibility and viability assessment and puts forward a ‘preferred solution’ for the energy infrastructure of that area. Funding will support three EMPs . EMP costs around £50k to produce. GLA will make £~10k contributions, developers and boroughs will contribute the remaining required budget. Recent energy masterplans undertaken include major regeneration sites in Croydon, Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea, White City and London Riverside.
  • £20,000 in 2013/14 and £50,000 in 2014/15 to Licence Lite – following our recent application to become a supplier we will need to work with Ofgem and the electricity supply market to develop business model and submit for Mayoral approval. We will work with market advisors on completing matrix of services needed and completion of formal legal agreements for services. (see here and here for further detail).
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The Future of Heating in London

Posted on March 27, 2013 by Admin

March 2013: The Government’s Future of Heating policy paper released yesterday gives prominent coverage to activities underway in London to promote the use of decentralised energy systems through the use of district heating and high efficiency Combined Heat and Power (CHP) systems. The paper includes the following:

  • A case study of The Shard CHP heat network [p41]
  • How Islington Council, the GLA  and UK Power Networks are working together on “a proposed extension of the existing Bunhill heat network that will capture and use identified sources of waste heat produced within the area, such as from a nearby electricity sub-station. This project will help London and its boroughs to identify, capture and make use of urban sources of waste heat and play an important part in developing their lower carbon, lower temperature heat networks ofthe future” [p43] Continue reading…
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DE plans for Croydon Town Centre

Posted on February 26, 2013 by Admin

February 2013: Following a consultation last Summer, a Croydon Town Centre Opportunity Area Planning Framework (OAPF) has just been adopted by the Mayor,  Croydon Council and TfL. OAPFs  set out planning, regeneration and design guidance for major growth centres in London, called Opportunity Areas. The London Plan identifies 33 Opportunity Areas one of which is the Croydon Metropolitan Centre and its environs.

Included within the  OAPF are considerations of future energy requirements within the area. Chapter 4 of the document sets out the following:

“4.68 Delivery of a Croydon Central Area Heat and Power Scheme is an objective of the Croydon Council climate change strategy. In order to achieve a major reduction in the Borough’s carbon footprint, and meet the Mayor’s decentralised energy target, the Core Strategy (Policy CS6) expects that larger  developments and refurbishments should be enabled to connect to district energy networks based on centralised combined heat and power plants (CHP), particularly in the COA and other district centres within the borough.

4.69 Croydon Council has undertaken a detailed study on the viability of delivering a district heating network to support the regeneration of the COA. The scheme would provide low carbon heat to new developments which would enable them to meet the energy performance standards required by planning policy and national Building Regulations. Existing buildings would also be able to connect to the scheme to benefit from the lower carbon heat. Some key features are:

• A centralised “energy centre” fuelled by gas fired Combined Heat & Power plant

• This heat is distributed across the COA as hotwater in a network of buried pipes

• The electricity generated could be sold for use in near by buildings with the excess being exported to the public supply grid

• The scheme would be financed, designed, builtand operated by a commercial partner

• Cost of connecting to the scheme would be lower than making on-site heat provision

• Cost of heat to building users will be less than alternative on-site provision of heat (e.g. having own boiler system and paying for heat)

• Wandle Road car park has been identified asa potential location for the energy centre butfurther feasibility work is required to assess thisoption in more detail

4.70 It is envisaged that the first phase of the scheme would connect to new developments in mid Croydon and East Croydon, along with a core of existing public buildings. The full potential would expand to buildings across the wider COA area. The council will be working with the GLA “Decentralised Energy Project Delivery Unit” to configure the scheme so that it would be commercially attractive to the energy services market. This work is currently ongoing. As and when new development comes forward it will be expected to help deliver and connect into such a district heating system, if feasible.”

Other OAPF energy studies undertaken include Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea, London Riverside and White City amongst others.

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Energy and Climate Questions to the Mayor

Posted on November 27, 2012 by Admin

November 2012: This month the Mayor has been asked questions in relation to: the way the supplier obligation support for energy efficiency works and its shortfalls in terms of London;  promotion of anaerobic digestion plants through the London Plan;  how the GLA’s asset strategy can promote the low carbon economy; compensating for unavoidable carbon emissions during the Olympic Games; the Mayor’s view on the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EUETS) and the international response to aviation being included in the EUETS.

Previous questions to the Mayor can be found here.

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Merton Rule comes in for criticism

Posted on July 10, 2012 by Admin

July 2012: Established by Housing Minister Grant Schapps, the Local Housing Delivery Group recently published its review of planning and also local standards in new housing development. The news release sets out that “With the reduction in central planning guidance and the forthcoming abolition of regional housing targets, the role of local authorities in planning for new homes becomes even more critical and the new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) poses a challenge for them to develop Local Plans which are both sustainable and viable.”

The Group has produced an interim report: A Review of Local Standards for the Delivery of New Homes. It concludes that there is “significant scope for simplification of the standards regime and recommends an urgent Government-backed review and consolidation of existing local housing standards to ensure they meet the aspirations of local communities without undermining viability.”

As such, the report looks at four key areas of standards that apply to new housing, and have included in their consideration requirements related to energy. The Group have come out critical to the ‘Merton Rule’ and similar mechanisms established by local authorities to drive the use of renewable energy through planning, stating:

“The Merton Rule was the first local planning policy to set a requirement on renewable energy for certain types of new development. It was named after the London borough that established it in 2003.

The rule required any new residential development of more than 10 units, or any commercial building over 1,000 square metres, to generate at least 10% of its energy needs from on-site renewable energy equipment in order to reduce its reliance on the National Grid and to reduce its CO2 emissions. Compliance with the policy was required as a condition of planning consent.

About half of the UK’s local authorities introduced a Merton-type rule. It also became part of national planning guidance through PPS 22.  However, the variations on the Rule have now become confusing:

  • Sometimes the targets are expressed as a percentage of energy generated (measured in kW hours).
  • Sometimes the targets are around a decrease in CO2 instead (measured in tonnes of CO2e). Some local planning authorities “expect” a developer to achieve a 10% reduction through use of micro-renewables, others “require” 20%reductions or more.
  • There are frequently different thresholds for when the policy is required – often 1,000 square metres or 10 units, but sometimes no threshold.
  • About half of all planning authorities have no policy on this issue at all.”

The 2004 London Plan (the Mayor’s spatial planning strategy for London) also had a similar type of renewable energy requirement for new development, but this has been amended over time to set instead carbon reduction targets for new development in line with the Government’s  zero carbon target for new homes by 2016. Go to the www.zerocarbonhub.org for more information on the 2016 target and read an earlier post for details on the Mayor’s current planning and energy requirements. Further information on the London Plan, including links to earlier version of the Plan, can be found on its wikipedia page here.

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Mayor to encourage community energy projects

Posted on June 13, 2012 by Admin

June 2012: The Mayor has published revised ‘early minor alterations to the London Plan’ aimed at ensuring that the London Plan is fully consistent with the Government’s National Planning Policy Framework (published March 2012).

Page 30 of the ‘Early Minor Alterations’ document sets out a proposed revision to Chapter 5 of the London Plan – which addresses planning and climate change – to support community-led initiatives renewable and low carbon projects through neighbourhood planning. The exact amended text (in bold) follows below:

5.41 The Mayor’s supplementary planning guidance will set out broad guidelines to assist boroughs and, where appropriate,neighbourhoods, to define locations where stand-alone renewable energy schemes would be appropriate. The increased use of renewable heat will also significantly depend on the growth of heat networks. The Mayor and Boroughs will also encourage community-led initiatives for renewables and low carbon energy and examine how they can be supported through neighbourhood planning.” [page 30]

The supplementary planning guidance referred to is on renewable energy (which is also referred to in para 5.40 of Chapter 5 – see link above) and has, as yet, not been published by the Mayor. A major renewable energy study for London has however been completed and was issued in January 2012.

Further information to the background on new neighbourhood plans can be viewed here.

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Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea Energy Strategy

Posted on April 4, 2012 by Admin

April 2012: A planning framework for the Vauxhall / Nine Elms / Battersea Opportunity Area has  been finalised and is being adopted as  Supplementary Planning Guidance to the London Plan. The OAPF  has been produced by the GLA in collaboration with Lambeth and Wandsworth councils, as well as TfL and English Heritage and followed a public consultation process that took place in the winter of 2009/10.
The framework sets out an ambition for around 16,000 new homes and a range of 20,000 – 25,0000 jobs and includes the creation of a Combined Cooling and Heat Power network. The technical appendices to the planning framework includes a Energy Strategy Masterplan (TA5) which states that “this report finds that the density and diversity of development in the Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea (VNEB) Opportunity Area (OA) supports a strong case for the development of a low carbon district heating network (DHN). The scheme would supply low carbon heat to developments in the heart of Nine Elms, Battersea Power Station (BPS) and the New Covent Garden Market (NCGM) initially, with the potential to expand north into Albert Embankment and to the more industrial areas of the OA to the west in the future. It is estimated that such a scheme could save in the order of 18,000 tonnes CO2 per annum, with heat being derived from a combination of low/zero carbon sources,including combined heat and power (CHP) plant burning a blend of natural and renewable biogas and heat from a biomass hot water boiler.” Further detail and download energy appendix here.

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Climate Change Advice to Planners

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Admin

March 2012: The UK-GBC Green Building Guidance Task Group has created a number of documents to help Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) and the new neighbourhood forums to “understand sustainability issues, to ensure they achieve a balance between requiring robust sustainability standards but also ensuring development remains viable.” Notes produced cover issues on climate change adaptation, climate change mitigation and energy. Download notes from UKGBC website here.

Other useful resources for planners include:

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London’s Renewable Energy – Annual Monitoring

Posted on March 17, 2012 by Admin

March 2012: The Mayor has just published the latest London Plan Annual Monitoring Report (AMR), which monitors a number of key performance indicators (KPIs) set in London’s spatial strategy, the London Plan. This is the first AMR to be published since the new London Plan was published in July 2011.

Two KPIs are of particular interest are:
KPI 20 Reduce carbon dioxide emissions through new development
KPI 21 Increase in energy generated from renewable sources

In terms of KPI 21, London has recently set a revised target for renewable energy which is for 8,550 GWh of energy from renewable sources by 2026 (London’s current total non-transport energy use is approximately 115,000 GWh – see London’s 2011 energy strategy for further information). The target was an output of a significant  piece of analysis undertaken in 2011, and published earlier this year – the London Decentralised Energy Capacity Study. The AMR reproduces a table from that study setting out an estimate of renewable energy capacity and output in London in 2010:

The total output for 2010 of 858 GWh highlights that London has considerable way to go – a ten-fold increase – to achieve the 2026 target. DECC also produce regional renewable energy statistics – but only report on renewable electricity output (which is hard to compare to that reported above, as the largest GWh component in the table – for biomass  – has added the heat and power output components together).
Additional monitoring of the London Plan’s carbon and energy policies are reported here.

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Planning and London’s energy infrastructure

Posted on March 1, 2012 by Admin

March 2012: The GLA have just issued for consultation the London Plan Implementation Plan which appears to be a new initiative seeking to “set out how the policies of the London Plan will be translated into practical action.” The effectiveness of the London Plan’s climate and energy policies are reviewed in regular monitoring reports, the latest of which was published in January 2012. This report contains a specific section (page 34 onwards) considering some key challenges of London’s energy infrastructure, with a focus on London’s gas and electricity distribution networks, over the coming years and the role that decentralised energy has to play.

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Upper Lee Valley Low Carbon Economy

Posted on November 22, 2011 by Admin

November 2011: The North London Strategic Alliance – made up of the Enfield, Haringey, Waltham Forest – have together with the GLA commissioned a study looking at the Upper Lee Valley – identified in the London Plan as the capital’s largest Opportunity Area – to “understand the current low carbon economy and potential for green growth, together with clear, strategic actions to support that economic expansion.” The report ‘Upper Lee Valley Low Carbon Economy: Opportunities, Barriers & Interventions’, produced by GVA Grimley, was published earlier this year and is downloadable here.

Some further information on proposals for a North London Decentralised Energy Network is posted here.

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