Edinburgh Standards for Sustainable Building

The Edinburgh Standards for Sustainable Building have been approved as supplementary planning guidance to be met by all ‘major’ planning applications submitted after 1 May 2007.

The guidance demonstrates how sustainable development may be improved in the Edinburgh context. It includes a series of ‘best practice’ design principles and specific development Standards or requirements which will need to be addressed in a Sustainability Statement which must accompany all ‘major’ applications for planning permission after that date.  The publication version of the report attached below includes case studies on each of the principles.  Please note that due to changes in the Edinburgh City Local Plan amendments have been made to the policy.  These are incorporated into a revised Sustainability Statement S1 Form and this now supercedes the specimen version contained in the original report publication.  One of these amendments changes the threshold at which higher standards are required from that of Areas of Major Change and strategic sites to ‘large scale’ developments of 250 units or non residential sites of 1 hectare and/or developments of 5000 square metres gross floor area or more and to all ‘basic scale’ major planning applications located within areas covered by Development Frameworks or Master Plans

Note: ‘Major’ Planning Applications are those of 1000 square metres gross floor area, 10 residential units or sites of 0.5 hectares ( ‘basic scale’ ) and over.   The amended Sustainability Statement S1 Form and Guidance Notes Hard are available below and  hard copies of the published versions of the main report and launch leaflet can be made available on request.

Edinburgh Standards for Sustainable Building Leaflet (524 kB)

Edinburgh Standards for Sustainable Building Document (1021 kB)

Sustainability Statement Form and Guidance Notes (229 kB)