Policy information sourced from Lewisham Development Management Local Plan

DM Policy 22 Sustainable design and construction

In addition to those policies in the London Plan and Lewisham’s Core Strategy Policies 7 and 8, the Council will require all developments to maximise the incorporation of design measures to maximise energy efficiency, manage heat gain and deliver cooling using the following hierarchy:

  • passive solar design to optimise energy gain and reduce the need for heating
  • passive cooling design and natural ventilation to slow heat transfer and remove unwanted heat
  • mixed-mode cooling, with local mechanical ventilation/cooling provided where required to supplement the above measures, using (in order of preference) low energy mechanical cooling followed by air conditioning, and
  • full-building mechanical ventilation/cooling systems using (in order of preference) low energy mechanical cooling followed by air conditioning.

For conversions to residential from other uses, the Council will encourage cost effective and proportional energy efficiency measures to be carried out where feasible to a value not exceeding 10% of the overall construction costs.

For minor residential extensions, the Council will seek to deliver the highest BREEAM standard provision possible for the new part and will encourage improvement of the existing house to be carried out where feasible using energy efficiency measures.

For non-residential extensions and conversions, the Council will seek to deliver the highest BREEAM standard provision possible for both the new and existing parts of the development. Evidence will be required to justify the standard proposed.

In relation to Core Strategy Policy 8 bullet 4, the Council recognises that some industrial (B2 and B8) uses may not be able to provide a minimum of BREEAM ‘Excellent’ standard, as they are delivering only the ‘shell and core’ of the building and not a full fit out. In these circumstances the Council will seek to secure the maximum points possible for those sections of the BREEAM assessment that are relevant to delivering the ‘shell and core’ and as a minimum, at this stage, the overall BREEAM rating should be ‘Very good’. The Council will encourage the use of Allowable Solutions to assist in this process.

For more information please see the Local Plan