A SAP assessor creates an energy model, and the 20% improvement compared to a legislated baseline is calculated. This 20% can come from fabric improvement, Solar, Heat Pumps, etc.

There are a couple of overlapping things here - National Planning Policy, Local Plan policy & GLA/London Plan policy. But there may also be a misunderstanding that the 20% reduction applies to power generation.

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They do. It is a different regulatory framework, culture and risk. I think UK insurers were mitigating the risk of retroactive regulation; for example, the gov was consulting on sprinklers for all multi-residential development at the time.

We designed a scheme that was compliant without sprinklers, but the insurers insisted they be included. This was post-Grenfell, parts of the industry were reacting wildly cautiously.

Yes, I've done three projects in the last five years where we introduced sprinklers in four-storey multi-stair residential buildings at the insurer's request. On one occasion, we managed to redesign the building to remove that requirement.

I believe that a single stair requires sprinklers below 18m unless it complies with the exceptions. Insurers now often require sprinklers by default in residential buildings.

We have a niche get-out from additional stairs in UK code - the snappily named 'small single stair building' when a residential building is below five storeys/11m.

We must bring the building up to modern standards (within reason). The choice was sprinklers (and other mechanical smoke mitigation) or an additional escape stair. With the cost implication, the client was happy for us to explore re-designing the layout to get another stair.

In a UK context, and ignoring the huge upheaval around fire & building safety here, I can give a current example: 30-unit refurbishment, the sprinkler system costs about 8% of the construction budget. Adding a stair to the building to remove the need for the sprinklers is 1-2%.

It is also nice to get one the practice’s projects into the press, but maybe not when associated with an article on low pay.