In August 2016, the London Legacy Development Corporation published a Supplementary Planning Document, Carbon Offsets, which describes a new Carbon-offset scheme will apply to all major development schemes within the Legacy Corporation area.
Developments of over 10 homes or 1,000m2 will be required to be zero carbon from the end of October 2016. Where this target cannot be met through on site measures, the policy requires that each scheme off-set any remaining predicted carbon emissions through the payment of £1800/TCO2e. The policy identifies mechanisms for collecting the money through a S106 and then identifying an allocating it to projects that will verifiably result in offsetting.
Page 28 of the document describes how projects offering embodied carbon reductions can apply for funding from this fund. An example is provided in Appendix 3, which is described as fictitious. We notice an error in the totaling of materials and the building weighs in at 6kg!
There is also no explanation on the conversion to £…..We assume this is £60/TCO2e. Our colleagues at Eurban always state the sequestered carbon locked up in their projects. Hayes primary school in Croydon for example came in at 118 TCO2e….so £7k. So not much to get excited about but an interesting precedent, all the same. This will also be a driver for our business model work to develop steel reuse. We will contact LLDC, seek clarification and keep you informed.