In this week's comments update, readers are talking about the energy performance of the longlisted projects for the RIBA House of the Year 2021 and discussing other top stories.
According to research by architecture studio Hawkes Architecture, only one of the 20 projects longlisted for the RIBA House of the Year 2021 achieved an A-rated energy performance certificate.
Nine of the projects received a B-rated energy performance certificate (EPC), while the remaining projects were C, D and E-rated.
An EPC is a measure of the overall efficiency of a home, for which the best rating is A and the worst is E.
"It should win an award for the house of yesterday"
Commenters are torn. "The response from one of the judges that it is 'unfair to judge designs conceived more than a decade ago by today's expectations' just makes you think it should win an award for the 'house of yesterday' not 2021," said Leon Crascall. Jhardman disagreed: "Total rubbish to only look at EPC ratings on projects such a Redhill Barn and Water Tower and call them unsustainable. They are cleverly reusing structures and existing materials."
"The winning project does reuse an existing building when it could have been demolished and completely replaced," added Alfred Hitchcock. "So that's a sustainable method to start with."
"The EPC is a lightweight statutory document that is commonly generated with design data, not as-built test results," concluded Richa...