Government soft landings
BSRIA’s has published a guide to ‘Soft landings and Government soft landings’ to highlight the crucial differences between BSRIA’s soft-landings framework and those of Government soft landings (GSL). The soft-landings concept is increasingly being recognised as an important step in helping to ensure that actual building performance in terms of energy consumption and occupant comfort closely matches the design intent.
This objective is particularly relevant in the public sector, where it is usual to have long leases or ownership of property and where the benefits of soft landings through the building process and life-cycle analysis can be demonstrated.
In September 2012, the Cabinet Office formally announced the policy that by 2016 all centrally funded projects should be delivered in accordance with GSL as part of the Government’s expectations for the public-sector adoption of BIM (building information modelling).
The guide compares the attributes of BSRIA’s soft-landings framework and GSL. It reviews both methodologies to ensure that the lessons learnt will result in improvements — not just in the process but also in building performance and occupant comfort.
Mitch Layng, portfolio energy manager with M&G Real Estate, said: ‘This should assist in achieving the seismic shift which is required in the industry to achieve what a lot of experts believe is the industry’s holy grail — demonstrating how well-designed energy efficient and well-managed buildings can result in improved occupant health and wellbeing and, potentially, productivity.’
BG 69-2015 can be downloaded free from the BSRIA web site, or it can be purchased from the BSRIA bookshop.
