Enigin Update - Wales Gains Power for Energy Efficiency Building Regulations
THE Welsh government is to use its new powers to improve energy efficiency in non-domestic buildings.
The Welsh government assumes responsibility this week for building regulations from the UK central government in Westminster, and has revealed their energy efficiency plans.
From the beginning of this year the Welsh Assembly have the devolved authority for the countries building regulations, which had previously sat with the UK Government. and will be consulting on new proposals for improving energy efficiency standards for buildings by March this year.
John Griffiths, Welsh Environment Minister revealed that the government aims to achieve an improvement of 55 percent over 2006 targets for new buildings through promotion of sustainable and energy efficient construction.
Griffiths said: "As a government we are committed to reducing the carbon emissions of the built environment.....we have already made significant efforts to achieve these aims through our planning policies; however we recognise that building regulations will be one of the key tools in helping us to reach our goals.
"Now that Wales has responsibility for setting its own building regulations we will be progressing work to make changes to that will enable us to deliver a 55 percent improvement on 2006 requirements."
The Welsh Government will be holding several events for stake holders to publicise the increased standards and to allay fears of increased costs for building developers. Griffiths is expected to consult on the proposals in March.
Enigin Distributors in Wales will be boosted by the proposals as they can supply leading edge energy efficiency technology from Enigin, which is ideal for upgrading existing buildings but can equally be integrated in new builds.
Picture of Welsh assembly building (gordon plant) / CC BY 2.0
