Code for Sustainable Homes Guide

The Code for Sustainable Homes applies to all new dwellings in England and Wales.
It covers nine Categories of environmental impact, each of which has a number of Issues, totalling 34 in all.
The Code assigns particular criteria to each of the Issues. When each performance requirement is achieved, credits are awarded.
The total number of credits available to a Category is the sum of credits available for all of the Issues within it.

The Code for Sustainable Homes Guide for Sustainable homes Berkshire and elsewhere in the country turns the CHS requirements into a 3-step process:

Step 1

Mandatory minimum standards are set for some issues. For four of these issues, a single mandatory requirement must be met irrespective
of the Code level rating sought. No credits are awarded for meeting the requirements of these issues. The four issues are:

• Environmental impact of materials
• Management of Surface Water runoff from developments
• Storage of non-recyclable and recyclable household waste
• Construction site waste management

Step 2

There are a further three mandatory issues that need to be considered and for which credits are also awarded. For two issues,
credits are awarded according to the level of achievement recognised in the Code. In this case, the mandatory requirements
increase where Code levels increase. The two issues are:

• Dwelling emission rate (DER)
• Indoor water use
• The final issue with a mandatory requirement for achieving Code level 6 is:
• Lifetime Homes

Step 3

Further 'tradable' credits are available based on choice so that developers can decide which performance credits they wish to aim for to achieve the desired Code rating.

The environmental impact Categories of the Code are not of equal importance as each category is weighted according to its importance. Once the credits for a Category have been added up they are multiplied by the weighting factor to determine the number of points. The total number of points determines the Code Level achieved.

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• CSH Categories
• Energy and CO2 emissions
• Water
• Materials
• Surface Water Runoff
• Waste
• Pollution
• Health & Wellbeing
• Management
• Ecology

Points mean prizes:

• Level 1 * (36 points or more)
• Level 2 ** (48 points or more)
• Level 3 *** (57 points or more)
• Level 4 **** (68 points or more)
• Level 5 ***** (84 points or more)
• Level 6 ****** (90 points or more)