One thing that is clear is that there will not be any centralised difference in the standards required for private and social housing - Grant Shapps, the Housing Minister, has made this very clear. Consequently the Homes and Communities Agency’s (HCA) core standards will not be upgraded as previously planned but the current standards will continue for the time being. It is not clear however if these sustainability standards will be gradually reduced or the requirements of private builders will gradually increase – let’s hope it is the latter but don’t hold your breath. Lowering the standards for social housing will increase the number that can be built but this is where there needs to be a balance between a given number of high standard homes and a greater number of lower quality homes – which is preferable? In addition to providing more sustainable homes the HCA standards
2019 for non-domestic buildings. Initially the new government unpicked some of the progress made to date on the zero carbon definition but it is now moving forward to consider the difficult subject of ‘allowable solutions’. Although the current definition only applies to homes the commercial sector should keep a close eye on its impact as the basic trinity of energy efficiency, onsite renewables, and off site allowances is likely to apply to all sectors. It should of course be noted that zero carbon applies from these dates and so schemes approved beforehand will not need to meet the standard. The UK is being watched closely by our European cousins as the revised Energy Performance of Buildings Directive will require all member states to develop their own
Figure 1 - Uttlesford District Council relaxed their renewables requirement to allow the Passivhaus standard to be used but not all councils are so forward thinking. Image courtesy of Parsons and Whittley Architects.
also
encourage innovation in that they provide the opportunity for innovative or high performance products to gain a foothold ahead of the main market.
There will also be a question about what is meant by ‘affordable housing’. With housing associations now being required to charge close to the market rent they need to be able to assist their tenants in another way – low fuel bills is about the only remaining option and several housing associations are now pushing this agenda. Interestingly they see Passivhaus, the German low energy standard, as the best way of delivering this and not the Code for Sustainable Homes.
Looking ahead to standards of the future the ‘zero carbon’ agenda is still on – from 2016 for homes and
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definition in line with principles yet to be decided by the Commission.
On site renewable energy is bound to form part of any ‘zero’ definition but those who think the Feed in Tariff will offset some of the costs need to remember that the rates will have degressed or ‘ramped down’ considerably by 2019 when such buildings are being constructed. This means that it is important to accelerate any proposals for applicable technologies to maximise the FiT payments.
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