May 9th 2022
Pilot scheme announced to ensure housing meets Future Homes Standard
Building science centre, the Building Research Establishment (BRE), has today announced a pilot scheme to evaluate the environmental and social impact of homes.
In partnership with regional residential developer, Croudace Homes, the project will come ahead of the Future Homes Standard coming into full force.
Under this, all new homes built from 2025 onwards will produce 75-80% less carbon emissions.
As part of the pilot scheme, Croudace will design ten ‘net-zero ready’ properties, adhering to the proposed criteria of the Future Homes Standard.
These will be built with a fabric-first approach and be fitted with energy efficient technologies, such as air source heat pumps and underfloor heating for low-carbon heating.
Homes will be placed on site at Willowbrook Park in Didcot, as part of a new community being developed.
With consent from the new owners of these homes, the BRE will then provide post-occupancy evaluation to monitor the buildings’ performance, focusing on internal environment, energy consumption and their effect on the residents’ lifestyle.
The development is due to be completed by this September, with the evaluation set to continue for 18 months once houses have been sold.
It’s hoped the scheme will allow both BRE and Croudace to determine how to meet current challenges without compromising the quality of new housing, and customer expectations and needs.
Colin Sinclair, Associate Director, Strategic Advisory at BRE, said: ‘The Future Homes Standard is fast approaching and decarbonisation is the biggest challenge facing the housebuilding industry in a generation. Schemes like the one we are running with Croudace Homes will be paramount to tackling this challenge and building homes that are fit for the future.
‘BRE’s expertise and research in the built environment will be essential in the evaluation phase of the project, and we are delighted to be working with Croudace to evaluate a selection of net-zero ready homes – the likes of which could make up the bulk of the UK’s housing stock over the long term.’
Photo by Daniel Abadia
It is difficult to understand or rate the relative importance of this pilot scheme. From past headlines from the government and construction industry buildings were to be achieving a net zero carbon or carbon neutral status from 2025. There should be universal good practice as described above already contributing to the housing shortage.
I don’t believe a free market approach will achieve what needs to be done to enable the construction industry to achieve a carbon neutral stance. There is no overview of regulation as far as I have read and the latest announcements form Gove just consider numbers not materials and their provenance, suppliers, quality control or the environmental/biodiversity nature of new housing neighbourhoods. This is not to criticise the above scheme it is simply that by now in 2022 all new building should be under carbon-emission restricting regs and in practical acknowledgement of active transport, green and rewilded space and community centres with a 15/20 minute neighbourhood model in mind