How we are setting ‘the Standard’ on net zero – a progress report on the UKNZCBS

Ever since its establishment in 2022, The UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard (‘the Standard’) has been uniting people under the goal of developing a robust definition for net zero carbon buildings for the UK.

A lot has happened since then. The Standard brought on more than 350 industry volunteers in late 2022, organising these into sector and technical expert groups. In early 2023, we collated industry-wide data in a call for evidence, to support our understanding of the current carbon performance of the UK’s building stock. After processing that information and developing our thinking, we launched a technical consultation in summer this year, and work continues apace to develop all this information into a robust Standard, behind which the industry can rally.

I have been working as the technical project manager for the Standard for nearly a year now. It has been both humbling and inspiring to witness the passion, determination and wisdom of the Standard’s technical steering group (TSG), governance board and volunteers.

I am now stepping into the role of chair of the TSG. This role was previously held by Clara Bagenal George, who will remain on the TSG as LETI’s representative. Clara’s importance to the Standard cannot be understated. She has worked hard, with great ingenuity and collaboration, to create the brief for the Standard, unite people behind it and develop a robust strategy for delivering it. All those working at the Standard, myself included, are immensely grateful to her and her employer, Introba, who have funded this role. We thank her for her fantastic work as chair, and for her continued support as a TSG member.

The Standard continues to be a hotbed of activity and there are several key ongoing workstreams.

We have been processing the responses to our July technical consultation. We had a huge response, with over 500 individuals and organisations sharing their thoughts and insights. We would like to thank everyone who responded. We’ve been developing our approach to the ‘technical fundamentals’ referenced in the consultation, feeding in the industry responses as we go. We will be providing an update later this month on the responses and how they have informed our decision-making.

A science based limit setting (SBLS) tool has been developed for use by the Standard and is currently being tested by our task groups. The work we have done so far will form the inputs into the tool and its functionality will allow us to create net zero carbon limits.

Meanwhile, we have appointed a technical writer, who is reviewing our written outputs and preparing to convert these into a final format befitting a Standard.

All of these efforts are supported by fundraising initiatives led by the governance board. I’d like to thank the governance board, particularly its chair, David Partridge, for their efforts to rally the industry to support this initiative. I’d also like to thank everyone who has pledged their support by sponsoring the Standard, whether this is financially (see notes below) or through in kind donations of volunteer time. This support has enabled us to appoint our technical writer, consultation analyst, a project administrator, and to continue to have a technical project manager and chair who spend significant amounts of time on the Standard. We are still seeking more sponsorships, so please contact info@nzcbuildings.co.uk to find out more. Creating a technically robust Standard is a huge task, and this support enables us access to the resources we need to do it justice and meet the industry’s needs and expectations.

The Standard team will soon be issuing a public update. Scheduled for mid-December, it will recap the background information, provide a run-down of some of the key findings from our July consultation, provide progress updates on each of our workstreams and outline our next steps. Beyond 2023, we are scheduled to issue the beta test version of the Standard in spring 2024.

This article only really scratches the surface. Huge amounts of stellar work have been done, and are ongoing to create the Standard. The task groups and sector groups are playing a pivotal role in developing the work, skilfully led by the TSG. It is really exciting to be taking on the chair role to play my part in making it all happen, and I look forward to keeping the industry updated on our next steps.

Katie Clemence-Jackson is chair of the technical steering group at UK NZCBS

UK NZCBS would like to thank the Standard’s extremely generous sponsors as follows:

Diamond Sponsors: Landsec, British Land

Gold Sponsors: Mitsubishi Electric

Silver Sponsors: Derwent London

Bronze Sponsors: Bennetts Architects, Daikin UK, Federated Herme, Howells, Perkins & Will, Socius Developments

Sponsors: Oaknorth Bank