The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) has petitioned the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government to consider bringing forward the introduction of the Future Homes Standard from 2025.
The climate adviser also warned that the standard falls short in terms of reducing carbon emissions and addressing the growing risks of flooding and water stress.
“Eliminating carbon emissions from our housing stock is one of the toughest challenges in reaching the UK’s net zero target,” the body wrote in its response to a consultation on the proposals. “It is vital that we do not make that challenge harder, or worsen our preparedness for rising global temperatures, by building sub-standard new homes.
“We welcome the Future Homes Standard and your department’s recent proposals to tighten part L of the building regulations. These are important steps, but they do not go far enough to reduce carbon emissions, or address the growing risks of overheating, flooding and water stress – key climate risks facing the UK. Stronger standards will serve occupants better.”
It continued: “Most of the homes built now will still be standing in 2050. By then, the UK’s net zero target requires an end to the burning of fossil fuels, including natural gas, in our homes. And by 2050, we expect the changing climate to make the temperatures experience during the summer of 2018 the norm each year.
“New homes must be prepared for these twin climate challenges now. It obviously makes no sense to build homes that will need to be retrofitted again before 2050. Making a new home genuinely zero-carbon at the outset is around five times cheaper than retrofitting later, and almost always will reduce residents’ energy bills too.”
The CCC made a series of recommendations, firstly that the full definition of the standard should be set now and passed into law before 2024 to give the market certainty.
It said the government should consider introducing the standard earlier than currently planned in 2025, noting that Scotland intends to introduce similar standards in 2024. If local authorities and cities wish to set earlier and more stringent targets they should be allowed to do so.
The organisation registered its opposition to the removal of the Fabric Energy Efficiency Standard from existing building regulations, cautioning that this could raise energy bills for the affected homes by 50 per cent. It said building new homes at close to the ultra-efficient Passivhaus standard is both “achievable and highly beneficial” but will require ambition from government.
It also raised concerns that the Future Homes Standard could be interpreted in a way that would allow onsite renewables generation to offset continued fossil fuel use, adding: “This is not a credible basis for the standard.”
Furthermore, the CCC said the scope of the standard should extend beyond energy and into water, addressing issues such as water efficiency, urban drainage and flood resilience. Any delay in doing so will “lock in many more home that are unsuitable for the current and future climate.”
And lastly, it warned that none of the proposals will be effective without proper enforcement. As part of this, the CCC said there should be a shift towards monitoring actual energy consumption: “The construction sector must be made accountable for delivering outcomes, rather the current design-for-compliance approach.”
The Future Homes Standard was announced in last year’s spring budget statement. The chancellor of the exchequer at the time, Philip Hammond, said it would prevent the installation of fossil fuel heating systems in new homes from 2025 and require “world-leading” levels of energy efficiency.