I attended the first meeting of the Construction Products Assocaition's Green Deal Shadow Group yesterday. The CPA has used the concept of the Shadow Group to follow important policy developments as they evolve very successfully with the Code for Sustainable Homes and the London Olympics. The aim is to provide Association members with an insight into policymakers' thinking as they develop the detail, and to enable industry to engage directly. The speakers included Tracey Vegro, the DECC civil servant who is leading the work on the
Green Deal, and three of the four Chairmen of the forums which are looking at particular aspects. The presentation slides are available on
the CPA website. The main ppoints I took from the discussion were:
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There is going to be a Green Deal in some form or other in October 2012. Ministers have already invested too much political capital in it for the policy to be allowed to fail.
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The primary legislation is going through Parliament at the moment. This sets up the structure in terms of the underlying principles. The detail will be worked out in regulations and guidance over the next 18 months or so. There much that still needs to be worked out.
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The overriding principle is the Golden Rule that anything which is funded through the Green Deal must generate sufficient savings to the property's energy bills over the period of the loan (assumed to be 25 years) to repay it. Nothing has been specifically ruled in or ruled out (and Paul Morrell said specifically that the group working on capacity and innovation issues expected the initial focus to be on insulation, heating and glazing measures but whatever is put forward must comply with the Golden Rule.
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This is our main challenge as an industry. As yet, no one has managed to get fenestration to work within the Golden Rule. We have contributed some information via the Glass & Glazing Federation, who were approached by the Department for information. After the meeting, we discussed bringing all the fenestration sector associations together, so that we can pool resources and get a single clear message. The main issue has to be ensuring fenestration is part of the consideration.
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The funding available is not clear. The £6,500 figure bandied around before the Election was glossed over fairly quickly, with talk of the measures required for the property and compliance with the Golden Rule. DECC see the opportunity for the industry in the scale of the overall project, rather what might be available for any particular job.
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The measures which could be funded by the Green Deal will vary depending on the building. There will be a requirement for independent assessment to establish the current state of energy efficiency and repair, and to develop a recommended package. A group is working to develop a standardised assessment methodology for assessment, but the consumer will be free to shop around to implement the recommendation.
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There is an intense awareness of the importance of consumer protection to the success of this policy. The last thing Ministers want is to be accused of introducing a 'cowboys' charter. Another group (which includes the GGF, Trustmark, ConstructionSkills and the Federation of Master Builders) is looking at minimum standards and accreditation systems for both products and installation. There is an expectation of a need for guarantees, but there is no clarity on who might provide them – Government, via insurance, or some other market measure. There is also the interesting question of how to guarantee the product for the life of the loan if this is greater than the service life of the product.
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Green Deal Installers will be required to be registered and certificated as complying with a new Publicly Available Standard (PAS which will cover health & safety, competence & skills, customer service, complaints and redress, and where appropriate, subcontracting and outsourcing. BSI has been commissioned to produce the PAS, which is to be published on 15 February 2012. The detailed timetable is in one of the slides. If it meets this date, it will be the fastest produced PAS ever.
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The Government is aware that it needs to create the demand for taking up the Green Deal, and is talking about triggers and nudges to push it forward. Those under discussion at the moment do not include fiscal incentives (such as stamp duty or council tax as the Treasury has yet to sanction anything. There seems to be an acceptance that industry will follow demand, not lead it.
If you want to receive information from the Green Deal Shadow Group, contact
Avani Raval at the Construction Products Association, mentioing that you are a BWF member company.
