SPONSOR CPD PROGRAMME Evolving Building Regulations towards a net zero future Continuing professional development (CPD) is the regular maintenance, improvement and broadening of your knowledge and skills, to maintain professional competence. It is a requirement of CIBSE and other professional bodies. This Journal CPD programme can be used to meet your CPD requirements. Study the module and answer the questions on the final page. Each successfully completed module is equivalent to 1.5 hours of CPD. Modules are also available at www.cibsejournal.com/cpd This module explores some of the changes in the recently updated Approved Documents that affect the provision of heating, cooling and ventilation for non-domestic buildings The recent updates to the Building Regulations for England, together with the associated Approved Documents (ADs), are referred to as interim, and intended to raise standards in the design and construction of buildings in preparation for the Future Buildings Standard and Future Homes Standard, which are due in 2025 and will set higher targets. As outlined in last months CPD, there is concurrent activity across the four nations of the UK to develop the Building Regulations (and supporting documentation), aiming towards a net zero future. This CPD article will focus on some of the changes in the recently updated ADs that particularly affect the provision of heating, cooling, and ventilation for non-domestic buildings. Overall, the intent in updating the Building Regulations is to drive the construction and property sectors towards delivering lower-carbon, energy-efficient buildings that employ decarbonised energy sources. Applied since 15 June 2022, the amended ADs are AD L Conservation of energy and AD F Ventilation, which are both spilt into volume 1: Dwellings, and volume 2: Buildings other than dwellings. A new addition is AD O Overheating, which covers the overheating mitigation requirements in new residential buildings. The previous ADs made use of complementary compliance guides to provide detail of the provisions to meet requirements the revised ADs include that level of detail without reference to a supplementary guide. The new ADs also include a clearer indication of the specific regulation that is being addressed by the guidance, with bold notation providing the relevant regulation reference at the top of each page. ADL2 Buildings other than dwellings sets out measures that will satisfy the energy performance as required by Part 6 of Building Regulations 2010. As with the previous edition, this is evidenced by meeting a target performance created from a notional building that is the same size and shape as the actual building, as specified by the UKs National Calculation Method for Non Domestic Buildings.1 The energy performance of the notional building establishes two targets. To comply, a proposed building must meet both annual targets the target emission rate (TER) in kg CO2.m-2 per annum that, overall, is 27% lower than the previous requirement, and the newly introduced target primary energy rate (TPER) in kWhPE.m-2 per annum (as discussed in last months CPD). ADL 2021 requires that buildings must be nearly zero-energy, which would be evidenced by the calculated building emission rate (BER) being no greater than the TER. Software such as Simplified Building Energy Model2 (SBEM) is used to compare the performance of the actual building against the targets set by the notional building, with calculations undertaken for both the design and as-built stages. The regulations include an uplift in requirements for fabric performance including lower U-values for fabric elements and reduced air permeability, both of which must be addressed at the design stage. Minimum performance standards for the www.cibsejournal.com August 2022 55