Greater collaboration across the sector in embracing new technology and re-skilling the workforce is essential if new homes and existing stock are to meet the nation’s ambitious decarbonisation targets. This was the key message from The Housing Forum’s National Conference, held last week in London.
The keynote speaker, Housing Minister Christopher Pincher (pictured above), told 300 delegates that as COP26 approaches “the eyes of the world would be looking toward us to build more sustainable homes and lead the charge toward net zero.”
The Minister added: “It’s a big challenge, but I know that we are up to it. From 2025, the Future Homes Standard will require new homes to produce at least 75% fewer carbon dioxide emissions than those built under current standards. And that means that all new homes will be fit for the future, better for the environment, and more crucially more affordable for consumers.
“But it’s not enough just to make new homes more efficient. We also need to make sure that we are retrofitting and upgrading existing homes.”
This was emphasised by Peter Denton, Chief Executive of Homes England, who said that partnering with housing providers to meet taxing energy reductions was a top priority for the agency. He described the Future Homes Standard as “probably the most significant policy instrument we’ve been involved with in the recent past.”
The Housing Minister’s rallying cry to the sector came as The Housing Forum announced a new workstream. The scoping group will comprise experts from its pan-industry membership who will develop ideas and share best practice across the sector to help local authorities, housing associations and private developers meet the Future Homes Standard as well as reduce embodied energy and switch to low carbon heating and boost skills.
In a decarbonisation stream at the conference, delegates were told about available low energy solutions that were being developed through heat networks, mainstreaming retrofit to Passivhaus level, decarbonisation through innovative stock improvement and embracing offsite modern methods of construction.
Caroline Compton-James, Public Sector Director, Osborne and Deputy Chair, The Housing Forum, said the scale of the challenge could seem overwhelming: “In England, we need to build over 300,000 new homes each year to meet lack of supply. And if we are to achieve net zero by 2050, there is also a need to retrofit three homes every minute.”
Stephen Teagle, Vistry Partnerships Chief Executive and The Housing Forum Chair, pointed out that industry could be helped in its challenge with a clear-sighted strategy and funding pipeline from government. Stephen said: “In framing infrastructure investment as part of a post-pandemic response, The Housing Forum wants all political parties to commit to support investment in a long-term plan for delivering housing. Such a commitment would align policy objectives in response to climate change, safety and post-pandemic economic stimulus.
“We need a cross-sector roadmap with visibility of investment to achieve low carbon targets in new homes and for decarbonisation plans and processes to be embedded in quality and building safety reforms.”
