A Journey Towards Carbon Neutral Housing

The built environment accounts for roughly 40% of UK greenhouse gas emissions, with 20% of this coming from the 28 million homes in the UK. As we look to reach the governments net zero target in 2050 to help combat climate change and protect the environment for future generations to come, it poses the question, how will housing design alter to help meet this target?

The government are currently undergoing consultation on ‘The Future Homes Standard’ which is set to fundamentally change the way we think about construction. The standards will complement the Building Regulations to ensure new homes are built to higher energy standards and are set to act as a road map for the industry to reach the net zero target in 2050.

The legislation to enforce the Future Homes Standard is due to be passed in 2025 and will radically improve the energy performance of new homes and is expected to reduce carbon emissions by 75% compared to those built to current standards. At this point new homes will be seen as ‘carbon ready’ and no retrofit work will be needed to enable housing to become zero carbon as the electricity grid continues to decarbonise.

This year we are expecting an interim update to Part L as a stepping stone towards the 2025 standards which sets to reduce carbon emissions by 31%. There will be transitional arrangements in place for these updates, which will last for one year and apply to individual homes rather than a whole development.

Significant improvements to insulation and air tightness, reducing heat loss, space for hot water and battery storage for example are all considerations to be aware of moving forward. Units will grow in size as walls become thicker and storage requirements become greater, plan forms will be rationalised to to help with heat loss. MMC solutions are expected to become more widely used to help with this.

We need to start thinking of the house as a complete system, a network of separate systems which all work together to meet the standards. How can a home be constructed with mechanical ventilation and heat recovery for example without the need to create openings in walls and reduce airtightness? Our diagram begins to suggest systems that can be implemented moving forward.

IDP believe that the prospect of these standards will create a changing but exciting future for residential design, helping deliver greener homes as well as reducing energy bills for families and businesses, safeguarding the environment for future generations to come.