The Royal Society of Ulster Architect’s (RSUA) has today called on housing developers and other construction clients to prioritise people’s well-being and the environment, by building to the new Nearly-Zero Energy Building standards even where they are not required to.
New building regulation standards came into effect in Northern Ireland on 30 June 2022 with the goal of making new homes 40% more energy efficient. However, in a bid to avoid being held to this higher standard, developers rushed to get building regulation applications submitted before the deadline, creating a pipeline of thousands of new homes which could be built to standards set 10 years ago.
RSUA has obtained data from 7 of Northern Ireland’s 11 local councils that shows building control applications for housing in June 2022 had an estimated value of £979m compared to June 2021 where the estimated value was only £67m. Indeed, the value of applications in the single month of June 2022 outstripped the total value of applications submitted in the 12 previous months combined (£843m). The graph below shows the limited volatility over the 12 months leading up to the new standards and the sudden spike in June 2022.
Ciarán Fox, RSUA Director, said, “Developers have done nothing outside the rules here but in the midst of a cost of living and climate crisis I think there is a social imperative for developers to explore every possibility of building to higher energy-efficiency standards. When we extrapolate the data from June 2022 to take account of building control applications in all 11 Local Councils in Northern Ireland, there is well over £1 billion of housing at stake here.”
“The Department of Finance estimated that annual energy bills in new houses would typically be around £200 lower in homes built to the new standards versus the old ones. Further to that, new houses being built to the out-dated standards will most likely need a costly and disruptive retrofit in the relatively near future as Northern Ireland gets serious about decarbonisation. That’s why we are calling on developers to put people’s well-being and the environment first.”
The Nearly-Zero Energy Building (NZEB) standards require reduced greenhouse gas emissions with an expectation of low carbon technologies alongside increased air tightness testing and improved minimum standards for insulation.
The Northern Ireland Executive was very late in giving effect to the new standards. A European Directive from 2010 required all new buildings to be nearly zero-energy buildings by 31 December 2020 but a meaningful change was not implemented locally until June 2022.
Mr Fox continued, “This issue extends beyond housing. We estimate that across Northern Ireland the value of building control applications for all building types in June 2022 was around £2bn compared to only £160m in June 2021. We strongly encourage clients, architects and builders to work together to create buildings with lower energy bills and lower greenhouse gas emissions.”
A full set of data can be viewed here: Building Control Applications in Northern Ireland June 2021 to July 2022
Data Gaps
Data was initially requested from all Councils in August 2022 with follow-up requests sent in subsequent months.
7 Councils provided all data requested.
No value estimates were received from: Causeway Coast and Glens Council, Derry and Strabane Council and Fermanagh and Omagh Council
Ards and North Down Council did not provide overall value estimates but did provide value estimates for housing applications.
Newry, Mourne and Down Council provided an overall value estimate but not provide a value estimate for housing applications.
Image Credit: 65 – 67 Fitzroy Avenue designed by Studio Rogers and photographed by Gary McCall
