The UK’s housing problem is in no small part due to the age of the housing stock. The vast majority of homes are old, inefficient and leaking heat. Even newer homes were frequently built without the most efficient and modern technologies embedded, as they followed outdated regulations, meaning homeowners are still paying hundreds of pounds more per year in utility bills than they would if developers had used the best systems.
But regulations for newbuilds are finally shifting with the Future Homes Standard being rolled out over the next two years. The new standards require modern homes to be highly energy-efficient and built with low-carbon heating systems, making them ‘zero-carbon-ready’. It will require new homes to produce 75–80% fewer emissions than those built to the old 2013 rules.
Heat pumps or heat networks will become the default form of heating as gas boilers are designed out. Better insulation, high-performance glazing and tighter air tightness will become standard. And for the first time, newbuild homes will be required to generate renewable electricity on site. The UK government has already confirmed that solar panels will be included on the vast majority of new homes across the country, and planning rules have also shifted to speed up heat pump installation.
