ABSTRACT
England’s Building Regulations provide an insight into how building design is evolving over time, the key challenges and preoccupations at a given moment. As a template for what a safe, healthy building should be, they are also an important indicator of the direction of travel the government wants building design and the wider construction industry to move in. The CO2 emissions and primary energy of the proposed building should be equal to or lower than that of the notional building, which has the same size and shape as the proposed building, but built to a standard recipe of U-values and building service efficiencies. One part of a design solution can be to cover a building’s roof in photovoltaic panels. As the public becomes increasingly aware of the shift towards net zero, clear indicators of a building’s efforts to reduce its carbon output can be a selling point for potential tenants.
