The Travis Perkins Group has welcomed the government’s announcement of changes to Part L 2013 documents.

Paul Joyner, group director of Sustainability, said: “The government has taken a pragmatic approach that balances the need to reduce carbon emissions with the need to support housebuilders during the economic recovery. We know that the new standards are achievable with the right advice and expertise. Over the last two years we have invested heavily in tools to help housebuilders build cost-effectively to the level required by the new regulations with our Code 4 New-build Standard Construction Drawings.”

The Part L 2013 documentation will require new homes to generate 6% less CO2 across the build mix from 6 April 2014, compared with standards introduced in 2010. New non-domestic buildings will need to reduce CO2 emissions by a further 9%.

Through its Sustainable Building Solutions (SBS) team, the Travis Perkins Group has a ready-made solution in place to help housebuilders comply with the regulations cost-effectively.

The SBS New-build Standard Construction Drawings are aimed at maximising the contribution of the building fabric under SAP and minimising thermal conductivity. By using these junctions, housebuilders could find passing the SAP process much easier: thermal modelling has shown the resultant psi-values are on average 69% better than the accredited values within Appendix K.

Mr Joyner added: “Through our Sustainable Building Solutions team, we have a ready-made, proven solution which can help UK builders comply with the new 2013 regulations and help builders maximise fabric performance at a minimum cost. Typically, we have helped housebuilders save between £2,000 to £3,000 per home when using these drawings.

“We are confident that these drawings offer architects, specifiers, builders and contractors a complete solution for their construction details which can help them navigate the new building regulations and maximise the use of building fabric.”

The SBS New-build Standard Construction Drawings have been independently verified by the BRE and the NHBC and accredited by the LABC. Each is available as a CAD drawing. All products included in the plans are specified and available from Travis Perkins with a six digit product code.