Achieving updated Part L compliance with hot water heat pump solutions in large apartment developments
Achieving updated Part L compliance with hot water heat pump solutions in large apartment developments
Part L 2021 has been updated to help map out a path to meeting the UK’s target of becoming net zero carbon by 2050 through reducing the carbon footprint of the built environment. Low-carbon technologies, such as hot water heat pumps can form the backbone of a sustainable and compliant HVAC solution for large apartment developments. A well insulated and thermally efficient building fabric of these modern large apartment buildings reduces the demand for space heating, and this requirement can be effectively met by the specification of direct acting panel heaters for an all-electric heating and hot water solution.
Part L 2021 encourages the move away from using fossil fuels as an energy source toward the use of solutions that use electricity. It prepares developers for the proposed further regulatory changes potentially laid out in the Future Homes Standard (FHS), due to be introduced in 2025. The expectation is that FHS would effectively ban fossil fuels and aim to make homes built under the standard ‘zero-carbon ready’ in preparation for the accelerated decarbonisation of the national grid.
As the national grid decarbonises, those residential dwellings specifying all-electric HVAC systems will see their associated carbon emissions fall over time. Eventually, these emissions will become zero when the grid is fully decarbonised.
In this way developers who adopt technologies such as hot water heat pumps and direct acting panel heaters now will likely benefit in two key areas. They achieve compliance for large apartment buildings with the current Building Regulations, and crucially developers will gain valuable experience in creating future-proof specifications and strong supply chains for their businesses as the drive to achieve a built environment that supports the UK’s goal of becoming net zero carbon by 2050 intensifies.
How do the updates to the Part L 2021 regulations encourage the use of heat pumps and direct acting panel heaters?
The use of heat pumps is encouraged within the updated Part L 2021 regulations through the creation of a new notional building that uses an electric heat pump rather than a gas boiler as the main energy source. This new notional building gives developers and M&E consultants a guide for the type of specification for building fabric and heat pumps-based HVAC services that will achieve compliance.
Although this specification is not set in stone and parameters can be adjusted to suit individual projects, it nonetheless provides a good insight into how the use of low-carbon technologies such as hot water heat pumps can be used to provide a compliant solution for large apartment developments.
Another change introduced in Part L 2021 is the introduction of a new primary energy target. This focuses on the raw fuel required to produce one unit of final energy used by the apartment. As the percentage of renewable energy sources used to produce grid electricity continues to increase, the associated primary energy factor of electricity will decrease when compared to that of fossil fuels. This favours highly efficient fully electric HVAC systems over those that use fossil fuels.
Specification of hot water heat pumps is further reinforced by the carbon factors attributed to each fuel type. In Part L 2021, electricity now has lower carbon factors than those gas and oil for the first time. One unit of energy derived from fossil fuels will give higher carbon emissions than one unit of electricity. This, combined with the primary energy implications, makes switching to efficient low-carbon technologies in the shape of hot water heat pumps, a great option when looking for ways to comply with present Part L regulations in new dwellings.
Specification of direct acting panel heaters and hot water heat pumps brings additional benefits in highly insulated modern buildings where the energy demand of space heating is low. Here the benefits are that gas infrastructure and connection is no longer required, there is no need for a central plant and there is the reduction in the amount of pipework needed when compared to a traditional wet heating system. This means less penetrations through the building fabric that can compromise its thermal performance. An all-electric HVAC solution also helps to create sustainable apartments that are net zero carbon ready now, with minimal future retrofitting.
How can specifying hot water heat pumps and direct acting panel heaters help compliance with other key regulations?
It is expected that the FHS won’t just address the importance of energy efficiency and carbon reductions within Part L, it will also recognise that ventilation (Part F) and overheating (Part O) are intrinsically linked to Part L if a healthy and comfortable living space is to be created.
Specifying an all-electric HVAC system that incorporates hot water heat pumps and direct acting panel heaters can therefore help provide a solution that influences the key areas of the dwelling’s indoor environment. As an example, the elimination of pipework carrying hot water through the building means that overheating risk in multi-occupancy dwellings is significantly reduced, aligning with the requirements of the new Part O. An HVAC system that includes an Edel hot water heat pump allows developers to take a holistic approach to HVAC specification that achieves compliance with regulations in a streamlined and efficient manner.
Edel hot water heat pump is available in a range of sizes and Dimplex offer a wealth of knowledge on the regulatory landscape, including the changes to Part L of the building regulations and its interaction with Part F and Part O. You can download the Dimplex New Building Regulations Guide here. If you have a large apartment project and you would like to explore how our highly efficient HVAC solutions, that include Edel hot water heat pumps, can help meet your compliance requirements, please contact our design team today.