Future Homes Standard is a golden opportunity to deliver zero-carbon homes

The Future Homes Hub Task Group has released its report on Refining the 2025 Future Homes Standard, ahead of the Government consultation due in the spring.

The Hub has brought together 170 experts from 100 organisations to produce this landmark report investigating the core options for building lower carbon homes at scale.

The Government has committed to consult on the Future Homes Standard in late spring 2023. This Standard will deliver zero carbon ready homes, with low carbon heating and high fabric standards, that will require no future retrofitting.

The Future Homes Hub is operating under a terms of reference from the Department for Levelling Up to present the views of all stakeholders on the new technologies and approaches homebuilders may use to deliver the Future Homes Standard and the benefits and challenges of each.

Following consultation in 2023, Government intends to publish the Future Homes Standard (FHS) in 2024 and then bring it into force in 2025. All new homes will then be 'zero carbon-ready', meaning that they will be zero carbon once the electricity grid has been decarbonised.

The UK Green Building Council, which contributed to the consultation, welcomed the study.

Simon McWhirter, Deputy Chief Executive at UKGBC said: “Today we’re not building houses that are fit for the net zero future. The Future Homes Standard is our best chance to put that right for the next generation of people living in new homes across the UK, but the current draft Standard falls significantly short of the Government’s own test of ‘zero carbon ready’ and would leave homes unfit for a rapidly warming climate.

“The Future Homes Hub has done phenomenal work in developing this report, which is a vitally important contribution to the policy debate.

“But this is just one piece of the puzzle, and UKGBC urges the Government to make broader changes to housing standards to ensure a complete picture. We believe that every new home built from 2025 should not require future retrofitting and should pass in-use energy performance tests rather than relying on modelled estimates – put simply, we should calculate the real amount of energy they use. Additionally, future homes should enable a net zero electricity system, have low embodied carbon, and be designed for resilience to our changing climate.

“This is a golden opportunity to lay the groundwork for how homes of the future will both play their part in delivering a net zero UK and shape happy, healthy lives for people living in them. We look forward to the formal consultation in the spring and will continue to engage with our members and Government to deliver zero-carbon ready, climate-resilient homes.”