Although he is deeply committed to low- and zero-carbon systems and solutions, the HVCA's recently-appointed head of sustainability, David Frise, believes that simplicity is the key to their successful implementation. Ian Vallely reports.
The concept of sustainability is like fog - you know it when you see it, but it is difficult to grasp and there is a danger that it will conceal more than it reveals.


Probably the best definition of sustainability was conceived in 1987 by the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development. The Brundtland Commission report, which resulted from a decisive meeting of this organisation, came up with: 'Sustainable development meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.'

If we are to protect future generations so that they can meet their own needs, it is for our own generation to start the process of delivering a low carbon economy to mitigate the potentially devastating impact of climate change.

However, as David Frise, the HVCA's recently-appointed head of sustainability, points out, this is an enormous task and one that some people may see as insurmountable. He explains: '[The pessimists believe] it is such a huge area requiring so many disparate, fragmented groups and organisations to come together that the likelihood is that we would fail, but I think that there is actually a good chance that we will succeed.'

Mr Frise is convinced that the UK building services sector is capable of delivering a large proportion of the savings in carbon that are required.

On the right path

'I think it is unlikely we will meet the targets [set by Government] by 2020, but I think we will be on the right path and we will be able to pull that back for the 2050 targets. That is the more likely scenario simply because we are playing catch-up.'
So how do we deliver these carbon savings? For Mr Frise, the key, at least initially, is simplicity: 'I think in many ways we have set off down this route trying to do really difficult things - complex buildings and systems that few people fully understand.
They are really unlikely to meet the design intent because of their complexity... all the way down the supply chain we don't fully understand what it is we are required to do for the whole system to succeed.

'So, for example, we are integrating too many low carbon technologies into a building or trying new building techniques.'

For Mr Frise, the simpler the project design can be made, the more likely it is to succeed.

'This,' he adds, 'becomes increasingly important when you bring in new areas such as the Green Deal (see the box) which has this golden rule that the savings you get from the project should be greater than the cost of the project. It is really important that when that kicks off in 2012 that that really does happen.'
Mr Frise says complexity can be added later: 'But I would see the Green Deal initially being about improvements to insulation and the building fabric, heating system upgrades and low energy lighting.'

The Green Deal signals a change in the mode of operation in building services projects 'so that we are getting to a point where clients are buying the performance - the results of the project - rather than the project itself'.

Clients, says Mr Frise, are not desperately interested in what is done; rather they are interested in how much it will save them: 'That may be - and I think will be - not exclusively how much energy the project has saved. Rather it is quantifying how much the work has improved the performance of the business.'
So the big questions will be: How much have I increased productivity? How will it cut my unit cost of production? And so on.

Mr Frise again: 'It has got to be beyond the simple equation of energy because it may not make economic sense and the disruption factor could be far greater than the benefit they would derive from doing the work financially.'

This opens up a whole new area for Mr Frise: 'We then get into how can you use the information you collate through building management systems through integration on IP networks, how can you use that information strategically for the business?'
As he points out: 'If you can start providing information that is of value to the business performance and not just the building performance then you take energy management / building services management out of the basement and into the boardroom.'

However, although cutting costs is relatively easy and therefore attractive, it is short-term and contractors really need to be adding value. That, according to Mr Frise, means they need to become fully integrated in the design process early in the project, before the value engineering stage. 'This, is typically where contractors are brought in, but it is probably too late to add value.'

Mr Frise sees one of the key roles of HVCA members is as integrators of building services, bringing all the complex low carbon and renewable energy technologies together in one place and making them work.

'That,' he concludes, 'is why you cannot, I think, have an industry predicated on niche players who each come and deliver their element and then disappear. You need someone to pull it all together and that is why the integrator role is one of the key roles that our members will provide because they understand the fundamentals.
'There is no better argument for early contractor involvement; you don't get to that position if you chop and change.'

The Green Deal explained

UK housing is responsible for around a quarter of the UK's carbon emissions with heating for non-domestic building accounting for around a further tenth. Most of our building stock will therefore require energy efficiency measures over the next 20 years if we are to meet our legally binding carbon budget targets and set us on a path to 2050.

The Green deal is the Coalition Government's initiative to support the implementation of energy efficiency measures to households and businesses without needing to meet any upfront costs. This programme will be backed with a new finance mechanism designed around the needs of people and business.

Energy and Climate Change Minister Greg Barker has set out a vision for a Green Deal that will be a 'radical, game changing, way of improving energy efficiency in all properties affordable to all'.

He adds: 'By creating a new market opportunity for private sector finance we will provide another major opportunity for growth and employment with tens of thousands of jobs likely to be created in the home insulation market alone by 2020.'

The Queen's Speech on May 25 set out a provisional timetable to put in place the legal framework needed for Green Deal:

· Late 2010 - Bill introduced into Parliament.
· Autumn 2011 - Bill receives Royal Assent.
· Ahead of Autumn 2011 - Officials will develop thinking on secondary legislation.
· Early 2012 - Secondary legislation laid in Parliament.
· Spring 2012 - Detailed guidance prepared.
· Autumn 2012 - First Green Deals appear.