Leading the way in best practice for PAS 2035
At VOR, we wear many hats, working across the PAS 2035 process end-to-end; as assessors, coordinators, designers and also compliance auditors, reviewing delivery organisations processes and documentation, ensuring they meet best practice prior to commencement, and, for completed projects, reviewing the entire process and all the supporting documents to ensure compliance with PAS 2035.
Through this work we have seen first-hand the common issues faced, and misunderstandings made by installers, assessors, designers, coordinators and the housing providers or Local Authorities that contract them.
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Common issues with compliance:
- The requirements of both PAS 2035 and PAS 2030:2019 are much greater than the requirements of previous funding routes. It is very challenging to comply fully and often, even simple requirements are missed.
- Retrofit assessments often omit vital information required for retrofit coordination and design. Examples range from failure to identify the thermal envelope, missing wet rooms to common misunderstandings of how to measure door undercuts.
- Medium Term Improvement Plans and Improvement Option Evaluations often do not correlate with the installed measures or only focus on the first phase of retrofit rather than a route to net zero.
- Retrofit design is provided as checklists with no design details / dwelling specific information, or with multiple options for each detail given without recommendation.
- Whole Home Ventilation is a key requirement of PAS 2035, however, the moisture movement and ventilation of the measures (BS 5250) is equally important to ensure that there are no unintended consequences. Rarely is the ventilation of the loft space itself considered in a retrofit design. This is a requirement and important for the long-term health of the building.
- A general misconception is that compliance with both PAS 2035 and PAS 2030 can be obtained by only completing and uploading the documents identified in the data warehouse for Trustmark lodgement.
- Whilst PAS 2035 promotes a fabric-first approach, it doesn’t preclude the installation of purely renewable measures. PV and ASHP require fabric measures first to ensure they are effective. In some cases, renewables may move a home to EPC C and outside of future funding streams.
- With no stipulation in any of the funding programmes to have an independent consultant team, delivery organisations can undertake the end-to-end process with little to no compliance audits, often leading to costly remedial work down the line.
As SHDF funding is awarded in the coming months and ECO, LAD, and HUGs continue, now is the time to bridge the knowledge gap to aid PAS 2035 compliance and help to mitigate mistakes.
