Government sets out its approach to zero-carbon homes

The Housing Minister Grant Shapps has outlined new steps to give local councils and developers more flexibility to ensure that all new homes are zero-carbon from 2016 and that the costs of new build “do not prevent appropriate and sustainable development.”

He announced that the Government will:

1. Introduce a minimum standard for the energy efficiency of the fabric of a building. This would be set through future revisions of Part L of the Building Regulations, in line with proposals suggested in a recent consultation on the Code for Sustainable Homes;

2. Set a national benchmark carbon compliance standard in the Building Regulations. The Zero-Carbon Hub, the organisation with operational responsibility for co-ordinating the delivery of low and zero-carbon new homes, will test new “appropriate benchmarks” for carbon emission reductions over the coming months; and

3. Explore the possibility of allowing builders and developers to fund community energy projects, such as wind farms and district heating schemes, in order to meet their obligations to reduce carbon emissions from new homes.

Despite this announcement, the property industry is still awaiting the Government’s definition of ‘zero-carbon’, which was promised within weeks of it taking office. However, according to reports, a definition may now not be available until November 2010. The British Property Federation has warned that the industry needs a definition urgently, so that it has time to ensure that all new homes are zero-carbon by 2016.