The long awaited response to the Future Homes Standard has been published, giving us greater certainty on the direction of low carbon housing over the coming years, some key points to be aware of at this stage include:
Future Homes Standard to be introduced in 2025
Local Planning authorities to have the ability to set their own targets for energy efficiency standards in new homes
Building Regs Part L to be updated as a stepping stone to FHS, delivering a 31% reduction in CO2 emissions, coming into effect in 2022
The FEES standard will now be retained
The proposal to use the SAP rating as a compliance metric will not be taken forward
Measures to be introduced to address the performance gap, including photographic evidence for As Built calculations
More stringent transitional arrangements to the new standards to avoid developments being built out to older standards for several years
The detailed consultation response and updated Part L consultation can be found here and Resolution Energy will be brining you further updates on the individual elements of the standard as we digest the detailed guidance.