Coverage
MEP consultants in London
MEP design for London projects, to the Building Regulations and the London Plan, where energy and cooling hierarchies apply in addition.
BUILDING CONTROL
The statutory route here
London projects are subject to the Building Regulations 2010 and the Approved Documents in the same way as the rest of England, with approval through the relevant London borough or a registered building control approver.
London adds a planning layer that materially affects services design. The London Plan sets an energy hierarchy — be lean, be clean, be green, be seen — and a cooling hierarchy that requires passive measures to be demonstrated before mechanical cooling is accepted. Boroughs apply these through planning conditions, and the energy statement supporting a planning application has to demonstrate compliance with them.
The practical effect is that the energy strategy has to be developed for planning, well before the detailed services design, and the design that follows has to deliver what the energy statement promised.
AUTHORITIES
Local authorities in this area
QUESTIONS
Common questions
What does the London Plan require of building services design?
The London Plan sets an energy hierarchy and a cooling hierarchy that require demand reduction and passive measures to be demonstrated before mechanical cooling or additional plant is accepted. Compliance is demonstrated through an energy statement submitted with the planning application, which then commits the detailed design that follows.