What is the difference between a SAP calculation and a planning energy statement?

A SAP calculation satisfies Building Regulations. A planning energy statement satisfies planning policy. They often draw on the same SAP model, but they answer to different authorities: Building Control checks the SAP calculation under Part L, and the local planning authority checks the energy statement against its adopted policy. A single new dwelling can need both, and the energy statement usually comes first, because it forms part of the application for the permission the build depends on.

Why do councils require an energy statement?

Because the council has a legally binding carbon target and planning is one of the few levers it directly controls over emissions from new development. In the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, the council declared an environment and climate emergency in June 2019 and committed to net zero carbon by 2050. That commitment runs into planning through adopted Local Plan Policy SP2, which requires development to show how it mitigates and adapts to climate change, and the Sustainability SPD adopted in July 2024, which sets out how. The declaration is the commitment. The Local Plan policy is the requirement.

Why do energy statements get rejected or queried by planning officers?

More often than an outright refusal, the issue is a query: the officer asks for corrections and the statement goes back for resubmission. That is rarely fatal, but it is back-and-forth that costs time on an application often already on the clock. Refusal is less common and more serious. The avoidable causes are well known. A statement written against a superseded policy rather than the one currently adopted for that authority. The separate Be Lean SAP run missing or run incorrectly, which throws out the hierarchy figures. An out-of-date carbon offset price. Renewable performance overstated or left on default values rather than the actual specification. Headline figures that do not match the SAP output behind them. The list is not fixed and it varies by authority, which is the point. Each is removed by confirming the current policy and cross-checking every figure against the SAP printout before the statement goes out.

What is the Be Lean stage of the GLA energy hierarchy?

Be Lean is the first stage of the Be Lean, Be Clean, Be Green sequence: cutting energy demand through the building fabric before any low-carbon technology is added. It requires its own SAP run, using a notional gas-boiler substitution, so the saving from demand reduction can be isolated from the saving that comes later from the heating technology. Skip that separate run and the hierarchy figures come out wrong, because the two savings get conflated. Reducing demand first also means the heat pump and other systems that follow are smaller and correctly sized rather than over-specified to compensate for a leaky design.

Do you only work in RBWM?

No. The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead is our core area, and we also work across the surrounding Home Counties and the Greater London boroughs. Because requirements differ by authority, we confirm the policy currently adopted for your specific site before starting, rather than applying one authority's rules everywhere. Heat loss calculations we produce nationally, since that work is desk-based from drawings.

Energy Statements — RBWM, London, Home Counties | CCW Surveys

Planning Energy Statements

What is an Energy Statement

A planning energy statement shows how a proposed development meets the local planning authority's energy and carbon-reduction policies. It is submitted with the planning application and is an important part of securing planning permission. It draws on the same SAP modelling as a Building Regulations submission, but it is not the same thing. SAP satisfies Building Regulations. An energy statement satisfies planning policy. A single new dwelling can need both.

Each authority sets its own requirements. In the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, the energy assessment sits inside a broader sustainability statement.

The requirement exists because the council has a legally binding target to hit. RBWM declared an environment and climate emergency in June 2019 and committed to net zero carbon by 2050. The requirement runs through adopted Local Plan Policy SP2 and the Sustainability SPD (July 2024), not the declaration alone. Meeting that policy, and where it strengthens the application, exceeding it, is an economic question balanced against a working understanding of SAP and carbon-reduction strategy. It is not a box-ticking exercise.

What a statement includes

Requirements differ by authority, so the first step on any instruction is confirming the policy currently adopted for your site, and speaking to the planning department where a point needs settling before work starts.

In the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, our core area, that means the Be Lean / Be Clean / Be Green energy hierarchy modelled in the GLA Carbon Emissions Reporting Spreadsheet, including the separate Be Lean SAP run the method requires; a carbon offset calculation at the borough's current rate; a water efficiency calculation against the 110 l/p/day optional standard; an overheating strategy; and an on-site renewables assessment.

Other authorities set different tests, and the energy assessment sometimes needs to sit inside a broader sustainability statement.

How CCW approaches your solution

Reducing demand through the fabric first, the sequence the GLA hierarchy mandates, makes the low-carbon systems that follow smaller, cheaper and correctly sized. For a single dwelling or a small scheme, we produce the whole statement. On larger developments we produce the energy assessment and work as part of your existing team, fitting our deliverable to the consultants and systems already in place.

Turnaround

An energy statement is rarely the only piece of a planning submission, and we take care not to be the reason that timeline slips. At the same time, accuracy and diligence are essential to prevent a statement from being rejected or queried. Turnaround for the energy statement alone is 3 to 5 working days from receipt of drawings and any relevant planning correspondence. Where a SAP calculation is needed alongside it, allow 5 to 10 working days.

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Frequently asked questions

A SAP calculation satisfies Building Regulations. A planning energy statement satisfies planning policy. They often draw on the same SAP model, but they answer to different authorities: Building Control checks the SAP calculation under Part L, and the local planning authority checks the energy statement against its adopted policy. A single new dwelling can need both, and the energy statement usually comes first, because it forms part of the application for the permission the build depends on. [How a SAP calculation works → SAP Calculations]
Because the council has a legally binding carbon target and planning is one of the few levers it directly controls over emissions from new development. In the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, the council declared an environment and climate emergency in June 2019 and committed to net zero carbon by 2050. That commitment runs into planning through adopted Local Plan Policy SP2, which requires development to show how it mitigates and adapts to climate change, and the Sustainability SPD adopted in July 2024, which sets out how. The declaration is the commitment. The Local Plan policy is the requirement.
More often than an outright refusal, the issue is a query: the officer asks for corrections and the statement goes back for resubmission. That is rarely fatal, but it is back-and-forth that costs time on an application often already on the clock. Refusal is less common and more serious.
The avoidable causes are well known. A statement written against a superseded policy rather than the one currently adopted for that authority. The separate Be Lean SAP run missing or run incorrectly, which throws out the hierarchy figures. An out-of-date carbon offset price. Renewable performance overstated or left on default values rather than the actual specification. Headline figures that do not match the SAP output behind them. The list is not fixed and it varies by authority, which is the point. Each is removed by confirming the current policy and cross-checking every figure against the SAP printout before the statement goes out.
Be Lean is the first stage of the Be Lean, Be Clean, Be Green sequence: cutting energy demand through the building fabric before any low-carbon technology is added. It requires its own SAP run, using a notional gas-boiler substitution, so the saving from demand reduction can be isolated from the saving that comes later from the heating technology. Skip that separate run and the hierarchy figures come out wrong, because the two savings get conflated. Reducing demand first also means the heat pump and other systems that follow are smaller and correctly sized rather than over-specified to compensate for a leaky design.
No. The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead is our core area, and we also work across the surrounding Home Counties and the Greater London boroughs. Because requirements differ by authority, we confirm the policy currently adopted for your specific site before starting, rather than applying one authority's rules everywhere. Heat loss calculations we produce nationally, since that work is desk-based from drawings.