For once the construction industry is united. In the face of draft Part L there is a sense of team effort as everyone exclaims: it’s not going to work.

The potential impact of the new legislation has finally dawned on our sector. Or at least on those who’ve been paying attention – I suspect there are still vast tracts of individuals in property and construction who haven’t got a clue what’s going to happen.

As we all know, Part L (and the integrated Energy Performance of Buildings Directive) is aimed at mitigating climate change. But it’s also going to have some important corollary effects on construction.

For years, this industry has complained about the lack of new blood. But have we really tried to do anything about it? Some half-hearted ads in the national press last year didn’t produce a flood of newcomers. And the next generation of engineers seems to be completely missing.

Yet the new Part L will require a massive rise in numbers of workers to carry out all the required checks on boilers and air conditioning. Perhaps the government has already begun its human cloning programme in secret, because that’s the only way we’re going to get enough bodies to deal with the workload.

There have also been long-standing moans about the poor margins in construction. Now the government seems to expect the industry to foot the bill for research into energy efficiency. What makes the ODPM think that we can suddenly afford this when for years training budgets have been slashed to microscopic levels?

As one anonymous delegate at a recent conference on Part L said: “Our industry is rubbish, and there’s no way we can cope with this.”

Sad, but it seems to be true. Part L comes into force in 15 months. Construction will come face to face with some long-standing problems. The question is, how quickly can we sort them out?

Karen Fletcher, Editor

Source

Building Sustainable Design