The Future Homes Standard: We are all eco-developers now

2020 is going to be a turning point for UK housebuilding, says Joseph Daniels, CEO, modular eco developer Project Etopia.

Not only is the government getting behind offsite construction in a big way but it is also set to be the year that the Future Homes Standard (FHS) hits our streets.

The proposals have been well-documented but most commentary has only really focused on what it will mean for those developers who need to be cajoled to join the green revolution.

Forcing traditional developers to install measures including heat pumps and triple glazing means they face additional costs. This is going to hit their margins and could impact sale prices when these properties hit the open market.

However, for those already leading the charge for sustainable homes, the Future Homes Standard has other cost implications — and they’re positive.

The reason for this is that the economy of scale in the UK for such technology has barely got off the ground. By the time every developer in the country is installing the same green technology that a handful of trail blazers are using already, the expense attached to going green will diminish significantly.

Match that with the savings that such innovations, as well as advanced air tightness in properties, are capable of when it comes to household bills and the real victors will be two-fold; homeowners and the environment.

The Government will introduce the Future Homes Standard with its ambition to reduce carbon emissions to zero by 2050 firmly in its cross hairs. The associated reductions in emissions are anticipated to be between 20% and 31% so the environmental gains are colossal.

But that’s not all. For those already building eco projects, there’s a marketing dividend too. Until now, going green has been a conscious choice. Once all housebuilders need to ‘sell’ the benefits of the eco-technology in their homes, no buyer of a new build home will remain ignorant of the savings and environmental benefits made possible by these buildings.

That’s going to make an awful lot of people think twice about how green is green. Why stop at a heat pump and a solar panel, when you can go far beyond that. This is likely to play into the hands of the offsite construction industry whose materials and methods already hardwire environmental benefits into other areas of their schemes — most notably the insulating properties (U-values) of the walls and wall panels. The FHS will likely drive up consumer awareness of what thermal efficiency is and how these build methods differ.

But there’s the environmental cost of the build too. If home buyers are going to be sold the dream of going green, they won’t be able to help becoming more aware of the carbon cost of construction too.

This has become big news in the past decade. The UK Green Building Council estimates that around 40% of the UK’s carbon dioxide emissions are directly linked to the built environment, with 10% from heating buildings¹. That’s why the house building sector has come under added scrutiny. Cement alone is estimated to account for 8% of the world’s CO2 emissions².

The only downside to the FHS is that the additional costs will eat into the margins of bricks and mortar developers and pose a slight risk of a slowdown in house building at a time when the housing market in key areas has seen prices falling. This is typically when developers reduce their pipeline of projects to manage risk.

This is where the fortunes of offsite manufacturers and traditional developers could diverge with the former pressing on regardless, aided by lower overheads and shorter build times.

It wasn’t so long ago that only a tiny minority in this country paid due regard to the environment when it came to house hunting. As we have seen from Etopia Corby, our own modular development in Northamptonshire, there is now huge demand for sustainable homes.

What we learned when showing people round the scheme is that their interest isn’t just driven by a desire for zero energy bills but because they desperately want to do their bit to help the environment.

Sustainability looks set to become a top-three selling point for most buyers. And that will happen thanks largely to the FHS and its power to ensure all developers have a vested interest in shouting about the green credentials of their homes wherever buyers happen to be shopping.

We are all eco developers now.

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