London calling:
How to meet London Plan requirements

Large-scale construction in London is about to undergo a whole-life-carbon revolution, as the new London Plan mandates Whole Life Carbon Assessments and Circular Economy Statements in a bid to meet net zero carbon commitments. For architects, designers and developers, this will mean a new way of approaching referable planning applications. Find out what the new London Plan means for you and how One Click LCA can help you meet its requirements.
The London Plan

Chapter 9 of the plan covers Sustainable Infrastructure (SI) with policies SI2 EN SI7 being the key ones pertaining to the planning process for major developments.
-
Policy SI2: Minimising greenhouse gas emissions
Whole Life Carbon (WLC) emissions should be calculated for each project via a life-cycle assessment (LCA) and the actions taken to reduce WLC emissions should be demonstrated. This is mandatory for referable applications, but it should be noted that GLA guidance on WLC encourages LCA to be done for all projects in London.
-
Policy SI7: Reducing Waste and supporting the Circular Economy
The new London Plan supports development proposals that apply circular economy principles and aim to be net zero-waste and requires a Circular Economy Statement to be submitted.
Referable applications
The requirements of the London Plan apply to major developments only, which are known as ‘referable applications’ as these proposals need to be referred to the Mayor of London.
Broadly speaking referable applications are residential developments of more than 150 units or buildings over 30 m in height and commercial buildings over 2,500 m2. Precise criteria for whether an application is considered referable depend on factors such as whether the proposed development will be located within the City of London, inner London or the outer boroughs, adjacency to the river Thames and whether the proposed site is on green belt land. Your planning consultant can advise on whether your project is referable or not.
Policy SI2: Minimising greenhouse gas emissions
IMPORTANT: Although Whole Life Carbon (WLC) assessments are only mandatory for ‘refereable’ development proposals, the GLA encourages WLC assessments for ALL new projects in London and boroughs may choose to apply the policy and the guidance to non-referable applications.
What is required?
The GLA guidance on WLC assessments follows EN 15978 (the European standard for measuring building performance) and the 2017 RICS (Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors) Professional Statement: Whole life carbon assessment for the built environment (which has also been adopted by RIBA, the Royal Institute of British Architects).
It requires the WLC Assessment to be done in three stages:
- Pre-application: at this stage no LCA is needed, just a broad outline of the expected emissions.
- Planning submission: this is the most critical stage, as it can affect whether or not planning is approved. A WLC assessment is needed for each life cycle. Applicants also need to provide two WLC scenarios: one with current energy needs and one based on future energy predictions.
- Post-construction: this needs to be submitted within three months of project completion using actual as-built data.
How can One Click LCA help?
One Click LCA has a solution to support each stage of the process.
Pre-application stage
- One Click LCA Carbon Designer enables you to develop early-stage design options.
Planning submission stage
- One Click LCA Building LCA for the UK is based on the RICS guidance, so you can be confident that your LCA will comply with their standards.
- Our new GLA tool corresponds closely to the GLA Excel spreadsheet, making it much easier to complete.
- One Click LCA’s eco-design capabilities help designers to see where measures such as using alternative materials (for example with improved insulation) can lower embodied carbon.
- We will shortly offer a Future Energy Scenarios (FES) database too, enabling you to provide both sets of emissions data, current and predicted.
Post-construction stage
- With One Click LCA, assessment is easily done by using as-built data in the form of BIM, drawings, and real quantity data.
Policy SI7: Reducing Waste and supporting the Circular Economy
The GLA has recognised that half the waste material in London arises from the built environment. Policy SI 7 aims to move away from a linear construction process – where materials are extracted, used and then thrown away at end-of-life – to a more circular one – where materials are retained in use at their highest value for as long as possible and are then reused or recycled, leaving a minimum of residual waste.
What is required?
- Conserving resources, increasing resource efficiency and sourcing sustainably
- Designing to eliminate waste (and for ease of maintenance)
- Managing waste sustainably and at the highest value
How can One Click LCA help?
It offers mass-based assessment of building materials and helps you to calculate the amount of reused and recycled materials and determine end of life processes and the benefits to designing for adaptability and disassembly.

Interested in Building Circularity?
Read our introduction to Circular Economy principles in construction design
Bonus reason for choosing One Click LCA
In order to keep global temperature rise under 2 degrees in line with the Paris Agreement, architects and designers need to look beyond operational energy and also address embodied carbon. Both the RICS Professional Statement and the London Plan put this at the heart of carbon reduction efforts and making the shift to a whole life carbon approach is easier with One Click LCA.
External resources
Webinar
How to meet London Plan requirements
Osäker på nästa steg?
Speak to our UK experts today
