Comfortable, energy-efficient buildings
The buildings in which we live and work should be safe and comfortable, make minimum use of carbon-intensive materials, and be efficient to run. They will have to remain habitable in the face of a climate disrupted by increasingly extreme weather events.
Wherever possible, existing buildings should be renovated rather than demolished and rebuilt. New settlements must be more than “low carbon”: they must provide local services and low-carbon transport options to enable emission reductions across the region. “Net zero building” must mean more than minimising day-to-day emissions: the carbon costs of construction, the embodied carbon in building materials, and the loss of carbon stocks caused by the destruction of soils, vegetation or existing structures, must all be taken into account.
A Green City Council would:
- Make best use of the Council’s limited retrofit budget by funding accessible, lower cost measures (such as insulation) for as many Council homes as possible, rather than providing full refits for a smaller number of households. This approach delivers greater climate emissions reductions for the same spend, and helps to lift more people out of fuel poverty
- Provide information, including signposting to funding sources, to help owners make their buildings as energy- efficient as possible through measures like improved insulation, solar panels, and heat pumps in place of gas boilers where suitable
- Consider the feasibility of introducing a council “kitemark” to be awarded to developments that comply with the council’s highest standards to encourage voluntary compliance with higher standards than those imposed by law, including but not limited to Passivhaus
- Recruit an additional building controls inspector to ensure the city’s required standards are met
- Continue to work with and on behalf of social housing residents to get hazards such as mould and condensation rapidly resolved.
Relevant documents (links to PDFs)
Consultation response: proposed redevelopment of Market Square (July 2021)