The white label energy assessment service provided by Darren Evans effectively creates an in-house sustainability consultancy for businesses in the construction industry. Businesses are therefore able to support their customers with a greater level of insight into issues such as building performance and net zero, helping their customers to achieve their climate change goals and make a meaningful contribution to reducing the carbon footprint of our built environment.
Energy assessments are an essential part of building regulation compliance, but training staff to be able to deliver them as an additional service is often impractical or cost prohibitive. Working with an external consultant to deliver high quality, accurate assessments with your own branding therefore offers the best of both worlds.
Building product manufacturers, architects, contractors, engineers, consultants, and developers can all benefit from being able to offer their clients and customers up to date knowledge and expertise in sustainability practices.
For a well-known manufacturer of thermal and acoustic insulation products, working with Darren Evans to offer a branded energy assessments service allowed them to significantly expand the scope of their technical services.
The level of service offered by different insulation manufacturers varies considerably, often depending on the knowledge and expertise within their existing technical teams. Investing in recruitment, or extensive training and development, can be a risk if there is no guarantee that it will generate sufficient new specifications and orders at the end of the day.
Taking advantage of Darren Evans’ white label service meant this insulation manufacturer could go beyond offering U-value calculations only. They can now provide additional project support in the form of SAP and SBEM calculations, energy performance certificates (EPCs), psi value calculations for thermal bridging details, and a rainscreen cladding U-value calculation service.
The benefits do not end there, as Michael Brogden, Technical Director at Darren Evans, explains: “As well as providing hundreds of SAP calculations, EPCs and psi values, we’ve also provided training to the manufacturer’s local technical teams. This ensures that support is available to answer questions at all stages of a project, whether during the design or construction phases.
“The service is a partnership. We’re able to provide insight into energy efficiency legislation, enhancing the level of understanding within the manufacturer’s organisation. Businesses can better respond to their customers’ needs and offer a greater level of technical service, which is a significant differentiator in the marketplace and increases the attractiveness of their insulation products.”
The service provided by Darren Evans to the insulation manufacturer has developed over time in response to the manufacturer’s changing requirements. Its main focus is residential compliance calculations using SAP, incorporating psi value calculations to accurately represent heat loss due to thermal bridging.
“A SAP calculation requires insulation to be specified, and the thickness of insulation is determined from the outputs of the SAP calculation,” says Michael. “The manufacturer has benefited from a kind of symbiosis, where the white label service works ‘hand in glove’ with their product offering.”
The manufacturer uses data collection forms and templates developed by Darren Evans. While the forms are based on the documents that Darren Evans use themselves, even these have been adjusted and tweaked to suit the specific needs of the manufacturer and to capture the right type and level of information.
For businesses and organisations looking to demonstrate leadership to their customers on climate change and sustainability, understanding where best to implement new processes is vital. If the organisation doesn’t have that understanding, Darren Evans can look at the roles and responsibilities of individuals and teams. Identifying how different people and departments can support the business’s goal makes for a smoother implementation of a service like energy assessments - and ensuring that it is truly unique to the business and its aims.
Achieving compliance with the energy efficiency requirements of national building regulations (such as Part L in England or Wales, or Section 6 in Scotland) is one of the biggest drivers for specifications on construction projects.
With an energy assessment service available, the insulation manufacturer has been able to enjoy deeper technical conversations that take into account broader compliance factors.
“A good example is being able to discuss how the specification of insulation played a part in avoiding the need for solar PV or reducing the thickness of external walls. They can propose solutions that eliminate extra costs while still meeting the energy efficiency needs of the project,” says Michael.
Over-specification can be a significant issue that perpetuates the idea of sustainable construction techniques being expensive and complicated. An energy assessment service provides a clear path to regulatory compliance - or meeting other, higher performing standards - while delivering the project within budget.
Michael goes on to describe the rainscreen cladding calculation service that Darren Evans provides for the insulation manufacturer: “It supports the specification of the right amount of insulation early in a project design. Calculations are carried out within three working days to ensure the prompt delivery of information to customers and to aid the winning of orders.”
By making more services available in one place, relationships are built and developed based on technical understanding and responsive service. The availability of an energy assessment service was key for the manufacturer to provide a greater level of service to large contractors and helped to secure a renewed agreement for supplying insulation products and compliance calculations to a volume housebuilder.
At Darren Evans, we’re here to support your business by providing an enhanced level of technical and compliance services. We can provide a white label energy assessments service, tailored to suit your organisation’s needs, and comprising any of the range of services we currently offer. Through a tailored service we can help you to demonstrate leadership in understanding climate change, net zero and building performance.
We support you to support your customers, developing deeper relationships and making it more likely that your customers keep returning to you for help with achieving their climate change goals. By partnering with Darren Evans, you can offer performance as well as compliance. We take the time to understand your needs, develop your knowledge of low energy construction, and ensure that energy assessments are used to avoid over-specification.
Whether you are a building product manufacturer, architectural practice, contractor, engineer, consultant or developer, contact us and start a conversation today to discuss how we can help you to meet the aims and aspirations of all projects you work on.