Activities

In December 2006 the Government announced its proposals for all new homes to be "zero carbon" by 2016. The overall strategy was set out in the consultation document Building a Greener Future: Towards Zero Carbon Development.

 

Building a Greener Future was issued as part of a wider package of measures, which includes:

• A framework for progressively tightening building regulations up to 2016 to increase the energy efficiency and reduce the carbon footprint of new homes including;

• Energy Performance Certificates. From 1 June 2007 anyone selling a home must provide a certificate giving an energy efficiency rating and advice on further improvements that can be made. The certificate will form part of the Home Information Pack;

• The Code for Sustainable Homes aiming to increase the environmental sustainability of new homes and give homeowners better information about the sustainability of their home. The Code sets out a star rating from one to six (with six being the most sustainable) which can be applied to all new homes. From April 2008, after learning from the voluntary phase, the Government intends to propose that all new homes should be required to have a mandatory Code rating, indicating whether they have been assessed and the performance of the home against the Code; and

• A draft Planning Policy Statement on climate change, which expects planning strategies, such as LDD's and RSS's to be tested on their carbon ambition and, in providing for new homes, jobs and infrastructure needed by communities, shape places with lower carbon emissions and resilience to climate change. The draft PPS expects new development to be located to optimise its carbon performance and make the most of existing and planned opportunities for decentralised, renewable and low-carbon energy supplies.

In response to this announcement, HBF convened an environmental roundtable summit on the 9 January 2007. The summit was jointly chaired by HBF Executive Chairman Stewart Baseley and Housing and Planning Minister Yvette Cooper MP. It brought together senior figures from HBF member companies and other key stakeholders, including the supply chain and regulators, to discuss the challenges and opportunities entailed in building new homes to zero carbon standards within ten years.

 

Link to Stewart Baseley's opening speech at the Summit

 

Following the summit, a HBF-Government led "2016 Taskforce” has been set up to identify the barriers to delivering zero carbon homes and find solutions to these. The Taskforce met for the first time on January 31.