Technology Netherlands critical of expansion of Environmental Performance Buildings

The proposed expansion of the Environmental Performance of Buildings (MPG) will probably have to wait a while, but Techniek Nederland is not happy with the tightening. The trade association fears that the new scheme is not easy to implement and stated this in an internet consultation. Laurens de Vrijer, head of the Employer and Entrepreneurship department explains the criticism.

The MPG is currently 0.8 for residential functions and 1.0 for office buildings. With the tightening, the requirement, which is currently scheduled for January 1, 2025, will increase to 0.5 for residential functions and to 0.85 for office functions. According to the minister, the tightening has little impact on the price of new construction, and therefore on the ambition to build more than 900,000 homes in the coming years.

But expansion has not been sitting well with Techniek Nederland for a long time. “A tightening must be feasible, that is the biggest pain point for us,” says De Vrijer. “Expansion of the MPG will result in a clash with the Nearly Energy Neutral Buildings (BENG) standard. They then work against each other. That is why we advocate one, integral standard.”

“In addition, innovations are already happening very quickly,” De Vrijer continues his story. ”Manufacturers are rapidly bringing new, improved devices and components to the market. Then it is often not worth investing thousands of euros in an environmental statement. This is different with brick, for example.”

“We expect that further tightening will cause problems with enforcement,” says De Vrijer. “The MPG standard applies nationally, but enforcement must take place at local level. Enforcement costs time and money, and there are already problems with this, because municipalities are already struggling with a shortage of personnel. We therefore believe that they should be given resources and have the commitment to take enforcement seriously. Because without proper supervision, there is a good chance that people will ignore the rules.”

De Vrijer also noticed that the criticism of the tightening focuses on the fact that bio-based construction is becoming a problem. He understands that, but he also thinks it is too one-sided. “Reducing environmental impact does not only happen with bio-based construction. This is also possible with circular construction, detachable installation and modular construction.” De Vrijer emphasizes that Techniek Nederland is not against tightening the MPG per se. “That keeps the entire sector on its toes. Just give us some extra impetus to keep our wits about us.”

Delay
Over the past year and a half, Techniek Nederland has been a member of a sounding board group, which expressed its concerns to the ministry. How was the response to the criticism there? “The response from the officials was that they are taking steps towards an integrated standard,” says De Vrijer. “We were happy to hear that. They also understood our positions.”

It recently emerged that the proposal will most likely be postponed. There were more than a hundred responses to the proposal, after which outgoing Minister De Jonge indicated that he needed more time to respond. It is not yet known how long the postponement will last, although a spokesperson for the minister told Bouwwereld that there should ideally be six months between the response and the decision.

“I’m disappointed with the postponement,” says De Vrijer. “We have been working on this tightening for a year and a half. We put a lot of time and energy into it. To hear just before the decision is made that the government may be backing down is very annoying. Ministry officials told me that the postponement was not only due to the many responses, but that the calculation methods must also be incorporated into the various calculation programs. That in itself makes sense, but postponement is not useful.”

In practice, postponement often leads to adjustment. De Vrijer doesn’t see that happening anytime soon. “But perspective is needed,” he clarifies. “An impact study will soon be conducted to investigate what the tightening and expansion could possibly mean. Based on this, we will also look at what further steps we will take.”

A new cabinet is also coming. The forming parties are not all known for their generosity and tolerance towards sustainability. Is De Vrijer concerned about that? “Not so much,” he says. “Some of the rules we have to comply with arise from European policy, so you just have to adhere to them. But the government must help, that is indispensable.”

Solutions
Now that the concerns have been made known, the question arises as to what solutions the trade organization sees in addition to the integrated standard. De Vrijer says he is aware that such a standard is not an all-encompassing solution. Techniek Nederland mainly wants to look at the longer term. “Because if central heating boilers are installed that you know will have to be replaced within a few years, then you are demonstrably clumsy.”

Techniek Nederland is also committed to the White Spots Project. This project was set up by the National Environmental Database (NMD), partly at the initiative of Techniek Nederland, to at least triple the number of environmental declarations in the database and thus contribute to the Dutch climate objectives. Techniek Nederland is trying to get more companies to participate in the project.

“For a good MPG you need a lot of data,” concludes De Vrijer. “These are available for most building materials, but they are still missing for many technical installations and components. If it were up to Techniek Nederland, the government would continue to encourage the expansion of available data and provide manufacturers with financial compensation for this. Another solution is to change the system of environmental declarations. Consideration could be given to a ‘light version’ of an environmental statement, which would make reliable data available more quickly.”