With all the talk of redundancies – it is nice to hear us (building services engineers) mentioned

It is surely significant that the adults who feature in children’s books are rarely, if ever, Regional Sales Managers or Building Services Engineers. They are shopkeepers, builders, cooks or farmers: people whose labour can easily be linked to the visible betterment of human life. As creatures innately aware of balance and proportion, we cannot help but sense that something is awry in a job title like “Brand Supervision Coordinator, Sweet Biscuits” and that whatever the logic and perspicacity of Vilfredo Pareto’s arguments, another principle to which no one has yet given a convincing name has here been ignored and subtler human laws violated.

Alain de bottom in the Times (page 3)

God new year. Nearly February. I’m back. Been away to raise small person in household. Getting back to normality.

Some food for thought from a favourite author.

“Most people in this world have no insurance and ignore building codes. They live in “informal architecture,” i.e., slum structures. Barrios. Favelas. Squats. Overcrowded districts of this world that look like a post-Katrina situation all the time. When people are thrown out of their too-expensive, too-coded homes, this is where they will go.”

Our whole system is based on overengineering and with climate change we are only trying to make things more complicated…

(with thanks to kottke.org for the link and Bruce Sterling for the quote)

Strange that so few people in services have become EPC assessors.

Stats to come.

Remove VAT from fuel. Sadly won’t work. VAT on fuel is lower (I think) already….

Much better to go with Mr Kyriades – always impressed. However he is a lawyer so his ideas are good.

Economics is always hard and simple solutions usually lead to unforeseen consequences. Quite unlike engineering.

Also IES has a blog yay!

So BREEAM has updated itself to fend off LEED in Europe. I like the outstanding. It’s definitely cool. There are some minimum standards now too. Nice.

Best bit? The forced mandatory post construction audit. Stops those nasty developers.

Anyway i’m still looking for a UK zero carbon outstanding building. Ho hum i will have some time to wait i suspect.

Landlords want money. Tenants will use poor EPCs to leverage a lower price per sq. ft. – at least try anyway.

Lastly this year will see the bad building really come out. DECs and EPCs will, hopefully, sort the wheat from the chaff in building design. I think we’ll go through the next few years seeing what happened to doctors happen to us. THe engineers who only do high budget eco friendly stuff will do well in the league tables. Others less so.

Will SBEM’s source be ever released?

When will the zero carbon guide for commercial buildings be released?

My bets are not this year. Sigh. Damn credit crunch.

Thomas has been doing EPCs simulations in Scotland as well. The LCEA Scotland tells me that you don’t have to register your EPC in those parts……I guess the Scots are cheaper. Its only £35….

Sigh. Still the Sullivan report was good. I agree with Mark of House 2.0. It is a credible report.

Finally the government is finally waking up and smelling the coffee. Urban wind turbines don’t work. Even the Register (my favourite of websites) has got in on it. Report here.

How many assessors do the big boys have (Fabers, Arups, WYG, WSP, Atkins and the other big whorehouses – oops i mean modern day engineering satanic mills, damn it i mean places of excellent graduate learning)? Lets find out…

Fabers – 9

Arups – 5

WYG – 4

WSP – 1

Atkins – 0

Not exactly setting our world on fire is it? We are the only accreditation body that can realistically do complex buildings (think facade engineered free cooled building with complex BMS) and some of our largest consultancies do not even use us for their certification work….Mmmmm. Not impressed Atkins.

Lastly it appears that neither Mel Starrs (Elemental) or Casey Cole (Carbon Limited) appear to be even under assessment. Shome mishtake, shurely?

Oh well all will come out in the wash; hopefully i can get a few homers and have a nice holiday soon. Maybe some wine too. Mmm wine. Too early for a glass – not on holiday.

PS if i missed any big hot shot consultancies let me know.

Wow it been 3 months…..well i moved and other important things have been happening in my life.

There is new EPC guidance (the second edition too). Best bits so far are the recognition that the levels 3,4,5 have to be delineated better. Essentially the guidance states that now level 3,4 are for common systems and outlines what DSM is for better. Still a bit of a pigs ear but better than the two lines that came before.

Also the FAQ appears updated; I live the fact that it now has an answer to all the EPC factories out there (you know who you are). Yes you can get the junior engineer as as he is fit and proper….i quote

The Accredited Energy Assessor must ensure that anyone visiting a property or gathering information on their behalf is both ‘fit and proper’

Mmmmmm good luck juniors….as the recommendation report of an EPC says you have visited the site…you monkey boy will be sent to tick this box.

Also get some of the questions in the FAQ:

• If I am offered work on a farm and that employment comes with a tied building, should I expect to see an EPC? If so, for which part of the building?
• Should an EPC be provided to every new resident of a care home?

Love it…