Energy Statements
Do you need an Energy and Sustainability Statement for your project?
Call: 0117 944 1388 or email: energy@machacoustics.com
Energy Statements are typically required for a planning submission and are reports that provide a summary of the predicted carbon emissions for a project and outlines how carbon has been reduced to meet both building regulations, as well as any local planning policies.
Sustainability Statements relate more specifically to planning policies that cover sustainable building design, which may include climate resilience, biodiversity, transport links, water use or flooding. Whilst they can be provided separately, there is often a lot of overlap and are often provided as a single document, particularly for smaller schemes.
MACH has experience of providing planning stage energy statements and sustainability statements across the UK, and are able to provide expert advise on the best energy strategies for your development.
If you have a planning condition that requires an energy or sustainability statement for your project, get in touch with one of our consultants where we can advise on the best low carbon strategy for your project.
The Energy Hierarchy
The Energy Hierarchy is a methodology of reducing carbon emissions for a building, and is a strategy adopted in many local council planning policies. Typically the Energy Hierarchy is split into 3 sections – ‘Be Lean, Be Clean and Be Green’
Be Lean – This is the reduction of heating and cooling demand on a building through good passive design principles, such as reducing heat loss through low U-values and airtight building envelopes. The careful design of glazing sizing/location and the solar transmittance properties will also help determine the level of passive solar heating in the winter, and the amount of cooling needed in the summer.
Be Clean – The Be Clean stage reviews whether the development can connect to existing heat networks or other existing low carbon heating and hot water sources in the local area. These are commonly found within city centres across the UK.
Be Green – The review of suitable renewable technologies for the development. This will include a high level review of all potential renewable technologies (e.g. photovoltaic panels, heat pumps, biomass boilers, wind turbines) and assess what is the most suitable for the project, considering the project site location, exposure and size. Mach will then recommend a suitable option and determine the level of carbon savings that can be made.
The MACH Planning Package
MACH is a multi-discipline company, where we are able to provide a one-stop-shop for your planning requirements for projects of any size. Our services include;
- Environmental Noise & Acoustic Consultancy
- Overheating Analysis
- Daylight & Sunlight Assessments
- Energy & Sustainability Statements
With team members trained across various disciplines, our services are provided in a holistic manner with each deliverable carried out in tandem with the other, ensuring there are no gaps in communication or delays in the design process.
The benefit of this approach is in reducing risk on your scheme both during the planning process as well as with building regulation compliance, where Approved Documents E, F, O and L all require joined-up design to achieve full compliance.
Integrated design creates more opportunity for low carbon passive design through avoiding the need for mechanical cooling or restrictive thermal requirements on the façade, which can lead to significant cost savings as well.
This can often be more cost effective in reducing consultancy fees due to less project admin and consultancy time.