A pioneering development in roofing materials is enabling use of more sustainable methods of construction, be it at initial design or retrospectively during the build process.

Hambleside Danelaw’s Zenon GRP in-plane rooflight to achieve an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD). The certification means that, where Zenon rooflights are incorporated into a building they can contribute a minimum 1.5points towards BREEAM in addition to the metal roof system used.

The cost of energy in £ and CO2 required to light a building artificially is accepted to be far greater than any potential heat loss through rooflights. Making efficient use of natural daylight using rooflights can reduce the amount of artificial lighting required- and its period of usage- therefore reducing the building’s energy costs.

Depending on requirements, the Zenon product range offers in-plane, composite panel or barrel vault rooflights, enabling the architect and contractor to find an appropriate solution for new-build and refurbishment.

Paul Hanratty, National Sales Manager- Zenon commented, “We’re all aware of the need to reduce energy consumption, and our carbon footprint. As part of the UK’s industrial strategy, the construction industry has committed to halving  greenhouse gas emissions by 2025. According to the UK Green Building Council, around 10% of the UK’s carbon dioxide emissions are associated with the construction industry.

“Hambleside Danelaw has a history of innovation. The developments with Zenon are exemplar of that. If you want a cost-effective, compliant solution to enhance a building’s energy performance, whether new build or refurbishment, just look to the roof, and particularly rooflights.”

Hambleside Danelaw’ EPD is our latest pioneering development; it grants a guaranteed contribution to BREEAM rated industrial and commercial projects in the UK when specifying Zenon GRP rooflights. We have more in-depth information about BREEAM on the Zenon section of our site just click to view pages here.

Also, whether you are a project designer, architect, specifier, sustainability manager, main contractor, sub-contractor, BREEAM AP working on a specific BREEAM project, we would be happy to set up a meeting and discuss it further in more detail. Click here to contact us.

We are currently pioneering a quantifiable means of achieving Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) points via our Zenon GRP Low Carbon rooflights.

Manufactured in the UK,  Zenon GRP in-plane rooflights are the first of its kind to attain an independently assessed Environmental Product Declaration (EPD). The accreditation enables a contribution of 1.5 points towards a building’s BREEAM rating. Zenon’s EPD applies to a range of site-assembled and composite panel rooflight configurations.

“Rooflights have always been acknowledged as contributing towards BREEAM, but it has always been an intangible element,” explains Paul Hanratty, Hambleside Danelaw National Sales Manager Rooflights. “The EPD makes that contribution tangible, quantifiable; it gives reliable evidence.”

The EPD points come under BREEAM’s Materials (Mat 02) category when used as part of a metal roof. Rooflights can contribute towards credits in two Materials subcategories (Mat 01 and Mat 03), plus under the Energy (Ene 01) and Health & Wellbeing  (Hea 01) categories- the three highest rated sections of BREEAM.

Paul added, “The concept of rooflights being able to quantifiably contribute towards a BREEAM rated project in this way is a major innovation for the market. It provides massive potential for a change in the way we conceive, plan and construct the roofs of commercial and industrial buildings, in the private and public sector.

“Most importantly, it will change the perception, and emphasise the importance of thinking of rooflights as more than just a ‘hole in the roof’ when specifying the roof components- whether in new build, fit out or refurbishment.”

Under BREEAM, when Zenon GRP rooflights are incorporated by Concept Design RIBA stage 2 (essential for any calculation based credits such as Ene 01 and Mat 01), the contribution is easy to apply and the rooflight inclusion generates little or no cost. If not included in the original design, they can be added a later stage of the procurement process to recover credits that may have been lost elsewhere in the original plan.

Hambleside Danelaw’ EPD is our latest pioneering development; it grants a guaranteed contribution to BREEAM rated industrial and commercial projects in the UK when specifying Zenon GRP rooflights. We have more in-depth information about BREEAM on the Zenon section of our site just click to view pages here.

Also, whether you are a project designer, architect, specifier, sustainability manager, main contractor, sub-contractor, BREEAM AP working on a specific BREEAM project, we would be happy to set up a meeting and discuss it further in more detail. Click here to contact us.

The provision of natural daylight within the built environment can deliver genuine, positive benefits to the finished construction; benefits that can enhance the financial and environmental performance of the building in service, benefits that can improve the internal environment and make it a better, more pleasant place to be. Benefits that can make a real, measurable contribution to the Government’s original target of project carbon neutrality for non-domestic buildings by 2019.

While considering the daylighting plan of any building, particularly relatively lightweight buildings such as those with metal clad envelopes, designers need to remain aware of the potential for overheating caused by excessive solar gain where there is no adequate ventilation strategy, or where there are significant heat gains due to internal processes. The design of the building and provision of rooflights has to balance several factors, in particular the perceived conflict between providing daylight and the associated energy savings together with the risk of overheating.

For any building, there is an optimum target percentage of rooflights which will deliver the optimum level of natural daylight into the building, making the optimum saving in energy usage and costs. Beyond that point, solar gain can add to the energy consumption if powered cooling systems become necessary. In high internal volume industrial buildings, the most appropriate, but uncontrolled action, to counter overheating in the building will often be to increase the ventilation by opening doors.

The ‘g-value’ is a measure of the total solar heat energy that passes through a window or rooflight, most of which is directly transmitted through the material or construction in the visible light spectrum. Total solar heat gain includes directly transmitted solar heat and absorbed solar radiation, which is then re-radiated and conducted into the space. For this reason, the solar heat transmission correlates closely with light transmission. If properly considered at the design stage and well managed during the building’s service life, in a relatively temperate climate such as the UK, passive solar gain usually provides a benefit for most of the year, with the overheating effects only being a consideration for the hottest few weeks of the summer months.

A study by De Montfort University concluded that the optimum rooflight area for minimum energy consumption is generally in the region of 15% to 18% of the buildings floor area, for a large single storey industrial type building. If wall-lights are being considered, then the figure can be increased to 20%. A Rooflight Association (RA) study commissioned with Oxford Brookes University concluded that evenly distributed rooflights up to 20% of the roof area can be used without significant solar overheating.

Section 12: Lighting of HM Government’s Non-Domestic Building Services Guide 2013 edition states that for a space below rooflights to be classed as ‘daylit’, the rooflight area should be at least 10% of the floor area with light transmittance at least 70%. If the transmittance is below 70% then the rooflight area should be increased proportionately.

Notwithstanding this, Criterion 3 in Building Regulations Approved Document L2A requires the effects of heat gains in summer to be limited to reduce the need for air-conditioning, or the energy consumption of any air-conditioning system that is installed. For buildings defined in the National Calculation Methodology database as ‘top lit’, those whose zone height is less than 6m, a total of 10% rooflight area with a framing factor of 25% and a g-value of 68% is recommended. For buildings whose zone height is greater than 6m, the rooflight area increases to 20% with a framing factor of 15% and a g-value of 46% to go some way into taking account the effects of stratification, or the effect of internal temperatures being cooler at lower level occupied spaces.

These recommended rooflight areas are calculated making certain assumptions on a limited range of light, thermal and solar transmission values for rooflights, whereas the designer has the freedom to specify a wider variation of product to meet the specific needs of the building. It is therefore recommended that the designer uses the data provided from the manufacturer, obtained through responsible independent physical testing. In the absence of any specific BS or EN standard governing the measurement of solar energy transmission through ‘plastic’ type rooflights, there is a clear need to ensure that the information provided on this issue by rooflight manufacturers, is relevant and specific. Hambleside Danelaw use full solar spectrum transmission data from physical testing by The National Physical Laboratory calculated in accordance with BS EN 410 for all rooflight assembly data produced.

For more specific technical requirements, please email sales@hambleside-danelaw.co.uk or call 01327 701920