Standard Assessment Procedure for Energy Performance

People live through a dream of owning a house and struggle hard in life to achieve it. It is perfectly an overwhelming experience when they can really see that their dream house has shaped and moulded to their choice, life style preferences and status levels. Building a house requires a perfect architecture plan with good quality construction features for a long lasting sustainability. It is important for anyone who wants to construct a new building or rather say a dream home to be cautious from the basic basement foundation to the complete furnishing of the building.

In UK, it is mandatory for any newly constructed building either commercial or residential to follow certain guidelines according to Part L of Building Regulations Act. Amongst the set standards, Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) is a process of calculating the energy efficiency of a building. It is required for every new dwelling and building to obtain a SAP rating to achieve the level of sustainability in the building. Government has formed certain guidelines for SAP rating to standardize the process of construction buildings and their sustainability for longer period of time. It is not only mandatory for new building but also for the existing building to obtain the SAP rating to check the efficiency of energy in the building.

To check the energy efficiency of the building, there are professionals in building and shaping the houses like Architects, Building Contractors, Heating and Plumbing Contractors, Surveyors, Developers, Furnishers, Electricians and Glaziers. According to SAP ratings formulated, each building should follow the Part L building regulations that score 80-100 or higher. Generally SAP uses a range of 1-120 scale to calculate annual energy costs for space, water heating, lighting, and carbon dioxide emission rate.

According to the set standards, there are three methods to comply with SAP rating, they are elemental method, target method and carbon index. For any building, to undergo a SAP rating, certain documents are needed. The following are the documents for calculating SAP ratings:

1. The architecture plan of the building design.
2. Details regarding the boiling water system, hot water cylinder and control systems.
3. Details of entire construction including U Values.
3. Furnishing details of window, door, ventilators including U Values along with the frame and glass used.

SAP is a standard procedure to check the energy and CO2 emission of the building. It is also used as part of the Code for Sustainable Homes. The standard energy requirement for SAP as a part of the Code for Sustainable Homes is 25% improvement on the set standards according to Part L building regulations 2008. Structural Insulated Panels, or SIPs, though expensive are used to tighten the building envelope to increase the sustainability as they have higher insulating properties which reduces energy loss. Also the use of solar energy helps to reduce the energy loss and helps the SAP rating with improved energy efficiency levels.

All of you, who wish to a build dream house, should be aware of all regulations formulated for the safety and benefits of the residents.