Lathams has added Code for Sustainable Homes assessment to its suite of services for the private and social housing sectors.
The Code for Sustainable Homes (CfSH) is a new tool to assess the environmental performance of new-build homes. The Government target is that all new dwellings are designed to be zero-carbon by 2016.
Licensed assessor Mark Welsford explained: “The code is important for anyone involved in the construction of new homes, whether they are a self-builder interested in building their one-off dream home, a larger scale private developer, or a social housing association with funding dependent on achieving a code level set down by the Homes and Communities Agency.
“Our assessment service will be of particular benefit to clients where Lathams is acting as both project designer and CfSH assessor.
“By providing the two processes hand-in-hand we can avoid the potential for the kind of omissions at the early design stage which can lead to additional expense further down the line.”
The BREEAM Code for Sustainable Homes aims to protect the environment by providing guidance on the construction of high performance homes built with sustainability in mind. The code has a scoring system of six levels, with performance being assessed across nine categories: energy and emissions2, water consumption, use of materials, surface water and flood risk, waste pollution, health and wellbeing, management and ecology.
The different levels are made up by achieving both the appropriate mandatory minimum standards together with a proportion of the ‘flexible' standards. Gaining the higher code levels places emphasis on scoring highly in the two main categories, energy and water, as these are considered key in achieving sustainable homes.
Mark added: “Lathams’ CfSH assessor service can be tailored to suit a specific project - from the preparation of a pre-assessment at the initial project briefing to a full design stage assessment at building regulations submission and a post-construction stage assessment when most of the building work is complete.
