Reegen teamed up with True Energy, Wrexham County Council and Sharp Officials to host the ‘Low-carbon Construction – Challenges & Opportunities,' event at the Sharp PV facility, Wrexham.  Delegates from companies including Watkin Jones, Tweeds Construction, Lawray Architects and Cass Associates attended what was an enjoyable and productive afternoon.  

Janet Sanders of Reegen covered the recent updates to BREEAM and the Code for Sustainable Homes.  We were very pleased to welcome Ian Tansley of True Energy who discussed the effects of the Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) on the renewable market.  He also discussed the much anticipated Renewable-Heat-Incentive (RHI) which will hopefully be with us by autumn 2011.  Jonathan Edwards of Wrexham County Council gave a fascinating talk on Wrexham County Council's proposal to install Photovoltaic Panels on 3,000 of their council owned properties.  Then we were given a guided tour of the Sharp facility which was very informative.

Reegen would like to thank the delegates who attended and we look forward to working with you in the future.  Thank you to Jonathan Edwards for taking the time to discuss Wrexham’s exciting proposals.  Also a big thank you to everyone at Sharp’s who provided an excellent venue for the event.

If you would like to hear about our future events please contact us on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The Technical guide for the November 2010 Code for Sustainable Homes update was released on the 11^th of November.  Although not the radical overhaul some expected there are a number of important changes, including aligning credits Ene 1 & Ene 2 with the new Part L regulations. Further changes include the removal of Internal Lighting from Ene 3 to be replaced by an Energy Display Device credit.  One surprise (and possibly a relief to contractors) is the removal of the mandatory requirement for Site Waste Management Plans (SWMP), to be replaced with voluntary credits for minimising or diverting waste from going to landfill.

To read a summary of the technical changes please click here.

To view the full Code for Sustainable Homes Technical Guide November  2010, please click here.

The Welsh Assembly government have recently released a letter to clarify where they stand in terms of the recent update.  Prior to the latest update every new dwelling in Wales needed to achieve a 31% reduction in section Ene 1, however with the introduction of the new CSH and the 2010 Building Regs this target no longer seemed to match up.

But it has since been confirmed that an 8% reduction over the 2010 Building Regulations will be required for Wales, resulting in one credit.

The full document can be found here

Technical Advice Note 22 – Planning for Sustainable Buildings (June 2010)

The final Technical Advice Note 22 Planning for Sustainable Buildings to assist local planning authorities and developers to deliver sustainable buildings through the planning system was announced by Environment, Sustainability and Housing Minister Jane Davidson (4^th June 2010) at the Greener Homes and Buildings Show, Builth Wells.

TAN 22 sets out the Assembly Government’s planning guidance to support the innovative planning policy published in 2009 which set a minimum standard for sustainability for most new buildings proposed in Wales. This policy expects that most new buildings across Wales meet a minimum standard of sustainability from 1st September 2009, which will be expanded to cover all new homes from 1^st September 2010.

The consultation on TAN22 was held 7^th May – 31^st July 2009 and a consultation summary report has also been published alongside the TAN.

The TAN, published in electronic form only, can be found on http://wales.gov.uk/topics/planning/policy/tans