Ministers plan ahead for 'zero carbon' homes

13 April 2012

Ways of building all new homes to zero carbon performance standards are being looked at by ministers and home builders in the battle to curb climate change.

Housing and Planning Minister Yvette Cooper wants new properties to meet these targets within 10 years, but developers say they cannot achieve this alone.

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The summit in London is organised by the Home Builders Federation.

Better green features such as insulation and efficient heating can come at a cost and recent figures show how the effects that spiralling house prices, an increase in single person households, more divorce and longer lifespans are having on property supply.

The number of households is set to increase by 23% over the next 20 years.

And if housing supply remains at 2005 levels, there will be a shortage of 50,000 homes each year across England according to figures released in 2006 by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

It was three times harder to access the housing ladder in 2006 than in 1996, and more than a third of all working households under 40 cannot now afford to buy a home even at the low end of the housing market.

In the South the situation is even worse with half of all working households under 40 in this position, according to research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

The housing summit, attended by suppliers, utility companies, regulators, local government and environmental groups, marks the most ambitious attempt by the home building industry to deliver higher environmental standards.

Stewart Baseley, executive chairman of the Home Builders Federation, said: "The home building industry broadly welcomes the Government's environmental targets. However, home builders cannot achieve them alone.

"The round-table summit aims to bring all the parties together and, rolling up our sleeves, begin the crucial task of working out the detail so that we can achieve higher environmental standards and at the same time deliver the step-change in housing output that the country so badly needs."

Ms Cooper said: "Every sector of the economy needs to do its it bit to help cut carbon emissions and I welcome the commitment of the Home Builders Federation to delivering much higher environmental standards in the future. We know it will be a challenge for all new homes to be zero carbon within 10 years but we think the industry can rise to it.

"It's important that the Government, house builders, utilities and local councils all work together to deliver the changes we need. And improving the energy efficiency of our homes will help cut people's fuel bills as well as cutting carbon emissions."

Chancellor Gordon Brown said in his pre-Budget statement last December: "It is time to set a long-term framework for curbing emissions from houses, which are 30% of all emissions. Within 10 years every new home will be a zero carbon home and we will be the first country ever to make this commitment."

Communities and Local Government Secretary Ruth Kelly later announced a consultation on a challenging package of proposed measures to ensure that all new homes will be carbon zero by 2016.

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