Code for Sustainable Homes

The Code for Sustainable Homes (CfSH) assesses the environmental, ecological & social impacts of the house. It is based on a points system and a level grading is given in accordance with the points scored  - level 1 (lowest) to level 6 (highest). Certain aspects of the assessment are compulsory to achieve a particular level eg to achieve the highest level it must be a zero carbon property. 


The CfSH encompasses all aspects of the house through design, build & use, therefore is a way too large to explain properly in a blog post. I will try and explain each in more depth on their own and how we are tackling them individually at appropriate times.


To give a brief outline of what is involved there are 9 main categories and these are then split up into further total of 34 sub-categories. 

• Energy - efficiency, generation and saving
• Water - internal and external use
• Materials - environmental impact
• Surface Water - reduction of contribution to flooding
• Waste - recycling & waste management
• Pollution - material & operational pollution
• Health & Wellbeing - Quality of living environment
• Management - Security & management of the property during build & occupation
• Ecology - protection of existing & positive ecological changes

This is a very brief outline and it will hopefully become clearer in time when I go into each in a bit more detail.