Environmental Services
WSD Environmental
Our specialist Energy and Sustainability department carry out a full range of environmental services to assist in the challenges our clients face when delivering high quality developments.
Waterstone Design provide expertise in the sustainable development field, offering a professional and bespoke consultancy service in all disciplines of the construction industry, ranging from single builds to large, mixed use residential and commercial developments.
In an industry full of complex regulations and restrictive constraints, we aim to provide a solution and produce the services to provide project success.
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Part L2: SBEM Calculations & Energy Performance Certificates
The Simplified Building Energy Model (SBEM) calculation methodology as developed by BRE is the adopted methodology for calculating the energy performance for non-domestic buildings.
New Build
It is a requirement of UK Building Regulations that all newly construction non-domestic buildings (which consume energy) have an SBEM calculation carried out to:
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Demonstrate compliance with Approved Document L2A of the Building Regulations
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generate an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)
Typically, SBEM calculations are undertaken at “Design” stage to ensure that the proposed building complies with current building regulations and achieves any related planning conditions. This specification should then be incorporated throughout construction.
These calculations are then updated upon completion of the building to reflect the “As Built” performance of the building. At which stage an EPC will be produced.
Waterstone Design have assisted in providing SBEM calculations for a variety of non-domestic building types from schools to restaurants.
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Life Cycle Costing (LCC)
& Life Cycle Analysis (LCA)
Life Cycle Costing (LCC) Elemental and Component
LCC Elemental & Component
Life Cycle Costing (LCC) LCC is a tool to assist in assessing the cost performance of construction work, aimed at facilitating choices where there are alternative means of achieving the client’s objectives and where those alternatives differ, not only in their initial costs but also in their subsequent operational costs. It allows these alternatives to be compared on the same basis.
There are three credits awarded under BREEAM (Man 02); two under Elemental LCC and further one if Component level LCC is undertaken. Elemental level LCC is commonly used for developing solutions of project level during option appraisals. Costs are normally at building elemental level on the entire asset. Furthermore the component level LCC plan is commonly used for cost planning specification choices of system or component levels during the design and development.
We will collect design data from design team members either traditionally to excel based entry form or alternatively we can use Energy Model (gbXML), and Native Autodesk Revit plugin to input the information. We then use comprehensive data base to generate PD 156865:2008 compliant LCC report.
Part L1: SAP Calculations & Energy Performance Certificates
The standard assessment procedure (SAP) as developed by BRE is the adopted methodology for calculating the energy performance of newly constructed and converted dwellings.
New Dwellings
It is required that all new dwellings have a SAP calculation carried out to:
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Demonstrate compliance with Approved Document L1A of the Building Regulations
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generate an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)
Typically, SAP calculations are undertaken at “Design” stage to ensure that the proposed building complies with current building regulations and achieves any related planning conditions. This specification should then be incorporated throughout construction.
These calculations are then updated upon completion of the building to reflect the “As Built” performance of the building.
Waterstone’s team of energy assessors have many years experience in carrying out these assessment for developments ranging from a single house to large multi-residential mixed use schemes in excess of 300 dwellings.
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LCA &
Embodied Carbon
As Building Regulations and Local plans like London Plan reduce operational emissions towards zero, the “embodied” CO2 emissions associated with supplying materials can be as much as 50% of total emissions over a building’s lifetime. If you reduce embodied carbon, you can benefit financially from: reductions in materials use and waste; less reliance on energy-intensive manufacturing; and a reputation for good environmental management.
In the building life cycle embodied carbon is the carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) or greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with the non-operational phase of the project. This includes emissions cause by extraction, manufacture, transportation, assembly, maintenance, replacement, deconstruction, disposal and end of life aspects of the materials and systems that make up a building.
The whole life carbon of the building is both the embodied carbon and the carbon associated with operation (heating, cooling, powering, providing water etc). Understanding the relationships between ‘embodied’ carbon and ‘operational’ carbon can assist in determining the overall optimum carbon reductions.
Using less material in construction and using alternative materials with low embodied carbon can be combined into an effective design strategy for carbon reduction. Clients, designers and contractors need to consider this from the earliest stages. We can help to undertake Embodied Carbon Minimisation Proposals at early stages.
It is also requirement of BREEAM Man 01 that LCA is undertaken to recognise and encourage the use of construction materials with a low environmental impact (including embodied carbon) over the full life cycle of the building. This can be done by using BREEAM Green Guide Ratings or other LCA model.
Where IMPACT compliant software tool is used to calculate the LCA under BREEAM (Man 01) exemplary credits can be awarded. We create the IMPACT LCA and report for you to ensure this. We will collect the projects bill of materials or alternatively the process can be automated with Building Information Model (BIM), or other materials data sources.
