Future Buildings Standard shortcomings raised

[edit] Introduction

On 14 April 2021, a coalition of built environment and climate action organisations wrote to the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), Jeremy Pocklington, to share concerns about the Future Buildings Standard.

The second part of a two-part Future Homes Standard consultation process closed on 13 April 2021. It covered proposed changes to Part L (Conservation of fuel and power) and Part F (ventilation) of the Building Regulations. It builds on the Future Homes Standard consultation by setting out energy and ventilation standards for non-domestic buildings and existing homes and includes proposals to mitigate against overheating in residential buildings.

[edit] Letter specifics

The letter – signed by 21 organisations including the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB), Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) and Greenpeace – highlights significant perceived shortcomings of the proposed energy and ventilation standards for non-domestic buildings and existing homes in England. Failings include no intention to regulate the total energy consumption of buildings or plans to set targets for actual energy performance or embodied carbon. Alongside a request for more ambitious new standards to address these issues, signatories also called for a National Retrofit Strategy.

The letter includes several recommendations for the UK to demonstrate global leadership in its net zero ambition, to create a world-leading built environment sector. These include:

• Start regulating total energy consumption and not introduce primary energy.
• Setting actual energy performance targets for buildings.
• Ensuring new buildings are on track for net zero carbon, with low energy demand and no fossil fuels.
• Assessing building performance better to close the performance gap.
• Introducing and regulating embodies carbon targets for buildings.

[edit] Response

Hew Edgar, Associate Director for Policy at CIOB, said "We welcome the direction of travel being shown to reduce the impact of buildings on the environment, but given the built environment's significant contribution to carbon emissions, we believe the Government has a significant opportunity to go further.

"It's clear that there is cross-industry support for addressing net zero across the built environment. By adapting the Future Buildings Standard to look at both the ways that we assess and understand energy use in buildings as well as incentivising the sector through a long-term national retrofit strategy, to drive towards greener homes and provide certainty to create stable green jobs, the Government can truly showcase global leadership on this important agenda."

[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki

• Approved Document F.
• Approved document L.
• Building Regulations.
• Changes to Building Regulations Part F.
• CIOB articles.
• Energy Performance of Buildings Directive.
• Future Buildings Standard.
• Future Homes Standard.
• Home design prospects under the Future Homes Standard.
• Smart cities engineering.
• Ventilation.

[edit] External resources

• Joint letter to Jeremy Pocklington on Future Buildings Standard consultation.