The new version of the energy standards in Scottish Buildings, known as ‘Section 6 (Energy)’ is now in force since, 1st February 2023.
As a result, any new domestic or non-domestic builds subject to a building warrant application on and from 1st February 2023 are required to demonstrate compliance with Section 6 2022.
What is Section 6?
Building energy performance, overheating, and ventilation are all covered in Section 6 of the Scottish Building Standards, with separate standards for domestic and non-domestic properties within the document. New Building Regulations apply to all new applications received after 1st February 2023.
New buildings are assessed using approved compliance software. At ERS Consultants, we use Elmhurst’s Design SAP 10 for domestic assessments, and IES VE for non-domestic. Buildings are independently inspected in Scotland before and during construction by local authorities called verifiers.
Technical Handbooks:
To comply with the standards or to submit a building warrant on or after 1st February 2023, designers should refer to the technical documents in the following sections. Also included is guidance for projects that may have already been registered prior to this date between June 2022 to January 2023.
For June 2022 – January 2023
Designers seeking to comply with the standards or to submit a building warrant between the 1st of June 2022 and the 31st of January 2023 should refer to:
- building standards technical handbooks 2022 – Summary of changes(June 2022)
- Building standards technical handbook 2022: domestic buildings, Section 0 and Section 2 publication (June 2022)(HTML and PDF format)
- Building standards technical handbook 2022: non-domestic buildings, Section 0 and Section 2 publication (June 2022)(HTML and PDF format)
From February 2023
Designers seeking to comply with the standards or to submit a building warrant on or after 1 February 2023 should refer to:
- building standards technical handbooks – summary of changes (December 2022)
- Building Standards Technical Handbook 2022: Domestic Buildings, with updates to Sections 0, 2, 3, 6 & 7 (December 2022) (PDF)
- Building Standards Technical Handbook 2022: Non-domestic Buildings, with updates to Sections 0, 2, 3, 6 & 7 (December 2022) (PDF)
You can also access a list of links to key supporting technical guidance documents and to previous editions of the Technical Handbooks.
What has changed?
Domestic Construction:
- A reduction of 32% in carbon emissions compared to Section 6 2015.
- A Delivered Energy compliance metric will be introduced alongside the existing carbon emissions standard.
- The limiting fabric standards for thermal elements in new homes and work done on existing homes have been tightened.
- Testing for airtightness using the CIBSE TM23 standard is mandatory for all new homes.
- Overheating risk is now addressed in standard 3.28 and is no longer assessed in SAP assessments.
- Adoption of the SAP 10 methodology.
At ERS Consultants, we use suitable BRE-Approved applications to determine compliance with the new standards in both domestic and non-domestic properties.
Non-Domestic Construction:
Renewable and low-carbon sources generate 30-40% of all electricity on the grid today. Compared to 2014, when fossil fuels accounted for most of the electricity produced. This reduction represents a significant improvement.
This change is reflected in the revised Simplified Building Energy Model (SBEM), which has improved by around 73% from the previous requirement in 2014.
This means that owners of non-domestic buildings can now take full advantage of the new carbon factors.
EPC Lodgement Process
Following the introduction of Section 6 2022, the Scottish Government has recently clarified the process for lodging EPCs on new homes. The SAP 2012 methodology and Section 6 2015 work can continue to be lodged in all approved SAP 2012 softwares until 1st August 2023. From 1st August 2023, however, all EPCs must be prepared using SAP 10 methodology and, therefore, Design SAP 10.
EPC ratings will likely change when recalculated in Design SAP 10. To view an updated EPC, it is recommended importing the assessment into Design SAP 10 if the work is currently under Section 6 2015, but will not be completed by 1st August. For any assessments completed to Section 6 2022 standards, the EPC should be lodged in the latest regulations.