UKGBC reacts to consultation on Future Homes Standard and Building Regulations

The UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) has today reacted to the publication of Government’s much-anticipated consultation on the Future Homes Standard and changes to Building Regulations.

The Government has published policy proposals for Part L and Part F of Building Regulations, to come into force in 2020. For 2020, the proposals being consulted upon include uplifts on Part L 2013, which would result in either a 20 per cent or 31 per cent reduction in emissions from new build homes, with a noted Government preference for the latter.

It has also published outline proposals and transitional arrangements for the Future Homes Standard in 2025. The Government has indicated that the new standard will represent around a 75-80% reduction in emissions compared to Part L 2013, with further details to be developed via the convening of a Future Homes industry taskforce to be established next year.

The current consultation relates to new domestic buildings only, and is open until 10 January 2020. A further consultation is due to be published towards the end of this year, covering new non-domestic as well as existing domestic and non-domestic buildings.

John Alker, Director of Policy and Places at UKGBC said:

“With the UK now legally bound to deliver net zero carbon emissions across the economy by 2050, as a nation we can no longer avoid the crucial role that new homes play in helping to meet this target. This announcement sets out a new and extremely welcome level of ambition from the Government, which should see a significant improvement in carbon reductions from new homes in 2020, and important clarity on further improvement in 2025.

“It is also encouraging to see a recognition from Government of the importance of clarity for businesses in the construction sector. By setting out a ‘roadmap’ towards the Future Homes Standard in 2025, this should provide confidence in the direction of travel. Many in the industry are still scarred by the scrapping of the Code for Sustainable Homes and Zero Carbon Homes policy in 2015, so Government must learn lessons from that, and be absolutely rock solid in its commitment to this agenda.

“There is much work still to do on the detail of these announcements, and there are further challenges ahead associated with addressing the performance gap, unregulated energy and the embodied carbon of new developments. But at long last it appears as though we are heading in the right direction.”

UKGBC will be responding to the consultation in due course.

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Notes to editors

The full MHCLG press release is available here.

This consultation has been published alongside a range of other announcements, including the publication of a new National Design Guide and proposals for improving the system for planning permissions.

The full Future Homes Standard consultation document is available here

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