A frequently asked question is whether low-carbon design will incur extra costs. To the contrary of this common concern, multiple statements and research projects have demonstrated that significant (10-30%) carbon savings are regularly found for free. This blog post rounds up a summary of this evidence.

The Government’s Levelling-Up and Regeneration Bill (LURB) marks a first in the House of Lords for the presentation and debate of a substantive amendment demanding embodied carbon regulation for building projects. The proposed amendment built on the work of Part Z and earned its place for consideration at the report stage, winning support from different corners of the House in the process.

The Future Homes Hub have launched their report “Embodied and Whole Life Carbon: 2023-2025 Implementation plan for the homebuilding industry”. Amongst other measures, the report sets out the need for the homebuilding sector to implement a series of embodied carbon related actions over the next three years. The report calls for mainstream or regulated disclosure of whole life carbon on housing projects from 2025 – which is aligned with the regulation that the Part Z proposals have been calling for.

On 30 September, the UK Government published its collective response from numerous Departments, including DLUHC and BEIS, to the Environmental Audit Committee’s (EAC) report ‘Building to net zero: costing carbon in construction’, released earlier this year. A consultation planned for 2023 appears to be the Government’s next milestone in identifying outstanding actions that will be required to deliver its net zero ambition for 2050.

The Part Z authors have over the past few months spoken with housebuilders of all sizes to discuss the Part Z proposals. All of the housebuilders we met were supportive of the proposed Part Z, calling for the level playing field that will benefit all in the industry. This blog is a summary of our conversations around concerns raised by housebuilders.

The Part Z authors have been in conversation with Richard Blyth, Head of Policy at the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI), to better understand what role planners and the planning process could play in relation to Part Z and whole life carbon.

The RICS PS (2017) is the only UK-based WLCA guidance available for the interpretation and implementation of the framework put forward by EN 15978 and is widely used by industry professionals. The Part Z authors recommend that the UK Government standardise the use of the PS and identify key areas of development for its next revision.

Jerome Mayhew MP reintroduced a private member’s bill to the UK Parliament today, calling for the reporting and limiting of embodied carbon in buildings.

The Part Z Authors welcome the release today (26 May) of the UK Parliament’s Environmental Audit Select Committee report, which states that:“…the single most significant policy the Government could introduce is a mandatory requirement to undertake whole-life carbon assessments for buildings”.

MPs, civil servants, industry leaders, major developers and asset managers join the Part Z authors in Westminster for the launch event of the proposed regulation of embodied carbon emissions in buildings.