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2 C O P Y R I G H T © 2 0 1 3 S E F A I R A LT D . A D A P T I N G T O R E G U L AT I O N C H A N G E S The UK's Part L building regulation focuses on the conservation of fuel & power with an aim to improve energy efficiency and cut greenhouse gas emissions from new and existing buildings. It achieves this by specifying the minimum efficiency and performance of the building fabric and heating and cooling systems, in order to ensure thermal standards. This paper reviews how architects currently meet this regulation, proposes a radical but necessary change in approach and illustrates how it can be effectively achieved using two example projects. The Part L regulation is directly aligned with the European Union's Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD). First published in 2002 to reduce energy consumption and waste, the EPBD requires enhanced building regulations and energy certification schemes across all EU countries. The recent changes to the Part L building regulations will come into effect on April 6th, 2014 with the overarching goal of reaching Zero Energy for homes by 2016 and Nearly Zero- Energy for non-domestic buildings by 2020. The scope of Part L does not change but the performance requirements for compliance become much tougher as the government strives to reach its 2020 goals. The changes raise the threshold requirements for high performance and efficient building systems within new homes and non-domestic : they are to achieve a 6% & 9% reduction in carbon emissions over 2010 levels respectively. The new Part L also introduces a minimum Fabric Energy Efficiency (FEE.) The 2013 changes mark the fifth amendment to Part L since the year 2000. With targets set for Nearly Zero Energy buildings by 2020 and the larger goal of Zero Energy Buildings soon after, it is safe to assume that the government will have to implement more rigorous changes soon. Considering that the latest ammendments will not be as stringent as initially proposed (they overlook retrofit projects which account for a large percentage of the UK's building stock), further revisions will be inevitable if the government is to make a significant dent in the UK's CO 2 Emissions. In order to meet these requirements, architects will need to integrate performance based design much earlier in the design process than they currently do. In the next two pages, we illustrate how architects currently work and how performance based design can help improve the process. Why Architects Need Performance Based Design to Achieve Regulatory Requirements

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