ButterSideUp was recently selected by Xtratherm as its business content provider. These projects required a technical knowledge of building regulations, insulation levels and involved researching recent changes to government legislation. Here, below, you can read our latest output or download the pdf.

Editorial

“How The Zero Carbon Home will affect you...”

Back in November’09, the Housing Minister re-confirmed his ambitions, for every new built home (2016 onwards) to be ‘Zero Carbon’. Let’s take a look at what this means, understand what’s expected of builders/developers and consider the benefits on offer.

The government has indicated three elements which can achieve 100% Zero Carbon building – i.e. energy efficiency, carbon compliance and allowable solutions. The biggest impact for builders is with energy efficiency. It’s here the Government wants to bite off a sizeable chunk of the Zero Carbon target, by changing the 2006 Part L Building Regulations. The new, 2010 Part L changes, will see an objective to construct homes to a fabric standard 20%-25% improved on the 2006 position.

Delivering these new standards on site will be a challenge. In particular, increased air tightness and thermal bridging requirements will demand improved levels of detail and understanding. This being the case, those designing schemes falling under the 2010 Part L update would be wise to consider these design standards now.

With change on this scale, it’s natural to assume increased efficiency means higher costs – i.e. wider cavities, thicker insulation etc. Actually, you’d be wrong! The technology now exists to meet and exceed the standards – cost effectively. CavityTherm, developed by Xtratherm, is the new, BBA approved wall insulation system designed to work within the traditional 100mm cavity. What’s more, in testing it achieved a U-value rating of 0.16 W/m2K, far exceeding the suggested target of around 0.22 W/m2K.

With CavityTherm you can achieve the Part L requirements without altering designs, changing familiar building methods or increasing the build footprint – all because CavityTherm works perfectly within a standard 100mm cavity. Best of all, this system dramatically reduces long-term running costs, further advancing the move towards Zero Carbon.

To find out more visit www.cavitytherm.com