Update to heating regulations in Scotland

In Scotland, the Government have recently imposed new regulations which will ensure that any newly constructed homes, after the year 2024, will employ the use of either renewable or low-carbon heating systems.

Under the terms of these new regulations, any non-residential buildings that are approved from construction after 2024, in addition to homes, will also be required to utilise renewable or low-carbon heating networks as part of recent efforts by the Scottish Government to tackle the ongoing ‘climate emergency’.

These regulations have been imposed in conjunction with a recent investment of £30M into renewable heating projects by the Scottish Government and form the criteria of proposed initiatives by Parliament to move towards energy efficiency and the reduction of carbon emissions.

The Scottish Energy Minister, Paul Wheelhouse stated: “Scotland is internationally recognised for its leadership on tackling climate change and for responding to the global climate emergency by setting an ambitious target to reach ‘net zero’ emissions by 2045. We have also set a challenging interim target of achieving a 75 per cent reduction in emissions by 2030.

“It is becoming increasingly clear that the pace of decarbonising Scotland’s domestic and non-domestic buildings has to increase significantly to achieve those aims, and emissions from our buildings will have to fall close to zero.

“We will ensure that new homes and buildings across Scotland meet the challenge of the climate emergency, combining the action we need to take on climate change with our ambition to provide affordable, warm homes.”

Further to these amendments to heating regulations for Scottish buildings, the Government is also reviewing their energy standards within building regulations to improve the energy efficiency of buildings in how they retain their heat as well as in how they generate it.

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