Introduction

We are all becoming extremely aware that our energy costs are rising at a faster rate now that they have ever done in the past. Be it the scarceness of natural energy resources or to reduce our carbon emissions the net effect is that it is costing us more to run our homes and businesses. When undertaking any kind new build or refurbishment of your existing building you have the ideal opportunity to put in place new design principles that can have a reducing impact on its long term energy usage; be it that you wish to be “greener” or “save money”, you can do both by making the correct decisions in the early stages of the design process.

For project where it is applicable we can offer our clients Energy Efficient Design over and above our normal creative design solutions. This encompasses both commercial and home design projects and ranges in a wide selection of energy efficient and energy saving techniques available to us. From the outset of establishing a client’s project brief we would look into the possibilities may be available to reduce the long term running cost of a building or home that can be built into our design work and to still maintain stunning visual effects.

The use of Energy Efficient Design usually adds a premium cost to any project that it is being applied to, however this cost needs to be off-set against any potential savings in running cost to work out a pay-back time scale. This will determine if it is economically viable to spend the higher capital cost to gain the energy savings and that the pay-back will be in a reasonable period.

As part of the current Building Control Regulation for new buildings and building extensions, SAP Energy Calculations are required to demonstrate that the design conforms to set minimum standards of insulation values. When working in this area we can adjust the make-up of a building (new or existing) and apply new services etc to achieve a pass in the SAP rating, but still producing good designs that have not been over compromised to reach the require standard.