NET ZERO NEW BUILDINGS: SHAPING MANCHESTER’S LOCAL PLAN

A new report, published today by Manchester Climate Change Partnership’s Net Zero New Buildings City Challenge Group, explores how local planning policy can be used to help reduce the city’s emissions from new buildings, and support efforts to stay within Manchester’s science-based carbon budget.

The Net Zero New Build City Challenge Group, Chaired by Civic Engineers, with Sub-groups led by Cundall, SimpsonHaugh, Natwest and Deloitte, brought together industry experts from across the built environment sector with support from Manchester Climate Change Agency and Manchester City Council. The Group examined best practice standards from across the UK, performance data from local planning applications and exemplar new builds, and the financial barriers and drivers affecting progress.

The resulting report recommends a series of targets for Manchester’s Local Plan that cover operational energy, upfront and embodied carbon escalating over time and being tailored to different building types and scale of development. It also recommends a ‘retrofit first’ approach.