We are excited to announce Robert Marshall as a member of the NABERS UK Independent Design Review Panel. Robert, who leads our internal team on DfP work, will be one of eleven Panel members who will play a leading role in upskilling the commercial real estate sector and reliably delivering energy efficient buildings.
The NABERS UK Independent Design Review Panel has been launched by BRE today following the official opening of the scheme to registrations on 15th April. The launch of the panel is a key milestone to support new office development and refurbishment projects that are utilising the Design for Performance (DfP) framework to target operational energy performance during the design stage.
Design for Performance is part of the NABERS UK rating scheme, administered by BRE, in partnership with NABERS and the Better Buildings Partnership. All projects registered under the framework must procure an Independent Design Review (IDR) to assess how likely the project is to achieve its operational energy target.
The Independent Design Review Panel acts as a procurement framework panel of shortlisted suppliers who have the necessary skills to be able to undertake an Independent Design Review for any project. Independent Design Reviews can only be undertaken by those on the Panel.
The purpose of the Independent Design Review is to review the work completed by the design team in order to help the project owner manage the risk of achieving the target rating. The review would typically take place at Stage 4 however Watkins Payne would strongly recommend projects which are looking to target a NABERS UK rating via the Design for Performance framework engage with an Independent Design Reviewer at the earliest opportunity. Considerable additional value may be achieved if the Reviewer is engaged to undertake a preliminary design review during Stage 3 design or earlier. This enables the reviewer to provide input to larger scale design decisions that may be difficult to change at Stage 4. In addition Independent Design Reviewers may offer the below additional services within the Design for Performance framework whilst maintain independent status from the project:
- Simulation (including the simulation for the DfP agreement)
- Design advise after the completion of the Independent Design Review
- Assistance with onsite building tuning
- Post-construction monitoring and verification
Clients who are looking to utilise the Design for Performance framework on current or future projects can contact Watkins Payne for advice and further information.
