CODE FOR SUSTAINABLE HOMES

The Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH) is an environmental assessment method for rating and certifying the performance of new homes based on BRE Global’s EcoHomes scheme. It is a Government owned national standard intended to encourage continuous improvement in sustainable home building.

Scope and Scoring

The CSH covers nine categories of sustainable design:

Energy and CO2 emissions (M)
Water (M)
Materials (M)
Surface Water Run-off (M)
Waste (M)
Pollution
Health and Wellbeing (M)
Management
Ecology

There are mandatory performance requirements in 6 categories (denoted by an M above). All other performance requirements are flexible. It is possible to achieve an overall level of between zero and six depending on the mandatory standards and proportion of flexible standards achieved.