Government sets out targets for new Future Homes Standard
The government has set out its plans and timeframe for its new Future Homes Standard which aims to radically improve the energy performance of new homes, making them zero carbon ready by 2025
The 114-page consultation response to proposed changes to Parts L (energy) and F (ventilation) of the Building Regulations sets out how, within four years, new housing must produce 75-80 per cent less carbon emissions than allowed under the current regulations.
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As a first step, from 2021 all new homes will be expected to produce 31 per cent lower carbon emissions as part of an ‘interim uplift’ in Part L standards
Natural gas boilers and all other forms of fossil fuel heating will officially not be permitted in new homes from 2025, the government has now confirmed.
Heating and Ventilation News
General praise for stricter carbon reduction targets from next year is tempered by longer-term questions around industry support and opportunities to exceed national building requirements
The construction sector has welcomed some of the major commitments made by the government in its Future Homes Standard, such as the introduction of stricter energy efficiency standards from 2022. However, some industry bodies have questioned whether enough support will be in place to realistically meet the standards nationally in both new and existing homes.
A government response to its consultation on setting revised efficiency requirements for new build homes from 2025 has formalised intentions to ban fossil fuel heating, including natural gas boilers, from future buildings.
By Elizabeth Hopkirk2021-01-20T13:24:00+00:00
Architects criticise government’s Future Homes Standard response for ‘falling significantly short’
Architects have criticised the government’s response to the Future Homes Standard consultation, saying it does not mention embodied carbon once in 114 pages.
But they welcomed some of the revisions the government has proposed, saying it had listened to concerns they had raised previously.
The government’s response, published yesterday, centres on energy efficiency improvements that will be implemented on new homes through Parts L (energy) and F (ventilation) of the Building Regulations.
Architect Seb Laan Lomas, coordinator of the Architects Climate Action Network (ACAN)’s embodied carbon group, said the government had recognised the clamour for embodied carbon to be part of the Future Homes Standard (FHS) but that its response was inadequate.