On 8 Feb, PBC Today held the first in a new series of webinars with the Future Homes Standard – Next Steps on the Road to 2025.
Building Regulations and Future Homes Standard: Road to 2025
The government committed in the 2019 Spring Statement to introduce a Future Homes Standard by 2025 that will ensure new homes are “futureproofed with low carbon heating and world-leading energy efficiency”.
From 2025, it will require CO2 emissions from new build homes to be 75%-80% lower than previous standards, and dwellings will need to be “zero carbon ready” with no retrofit work required to connect to a decarbonised electricity grid.
In June 2022, an interim uplift in Building Regulations Approved Documents F (ventilation), and L (energy and carbon emissions) came into force, along with the new Parts O (overheating) and S (electric vehicles), as a step towards the standard. A full technical
specification is expected to be published for consultation later this year.
Last month saw Mission Zero, the Independent Review of Net Zero by Chris Skidmore MP, call on the government to go “further and faster” on energy efficiency and reducing fossil fuel dependency, urging ministers to press ahead with the Future Homes Standard – and consider the introduction of a Net Zero Homes Standard by 2033.
Two years out, the momentum behind the Future Homes Standard seems to be building. It represents a step-change in how we plan, design and build homes – but this brings substantial challenges.
With this in mind, PBC Today’s expert panel explored the development of the Future Homes Standard, from its policy foundations to the “real world” impacts we are starting to see as we prepare for 2025.
We also had live polls looking at the barriers that need to be overcome for the industry and levels of confidence about being ready in time.
Viewers put their questions to a live panel of experts
In addition, our viewers could put their questions to our experts in a live Q&A.
Joining PBC Today managing editor Andy Jowett were:
- Dr Gavin Dunn, CEO of the Chartered Association of Building Engineers (CABE) and chair of the Building Regulations Advisory Committee’s Future Homes Standard Working Group.
- John Askew, a regulatory specialist with Local Authority Building Control.
- Eddie Tuttle, director for policy, external affairs & research at the Chartered Institute of Building.
- Paul Jones, director at the global architecture, engineering and consultancy company Ramboll.
Changes to the Future Homes Standard “are going to hit you much faster than changes in the past”
Discussing his work on the Future Homes Standard Working Group, Dr Gavin Dunn looked at the high-level concepts behind the policy and changes to the FLOS Building Regulations.
He stressed the importance of focusing on building fabric with insulation, careful detailing around thermal bridging, the right selection of materials and ensuring that what is built on-site matches the design performance set to be critical.
“If you take away only one thing from today’s webinar, the switch from gas to electricity as the primary source of heating our homes is fundamental and changes everything, and the transitional arrangements mean these changes are going to hit you much faster than changes in the past,” Dr Dunn said.
Implementation timeline of the Building Regulations
John Askew of LABC began by looking at the implementation timeline, from the interim uplift of the Building Regulations to full implementation of the FHS.
He also looked at the performance gap and the evidence that will be required to prove as-built performance. Finally, he stressed the importance of interaction between Part O and Part F, as current design practice on overheating and ventilation makes problem cases more common.
There is a need for a radical national retrofit strategy
With our live poll showing a lack of skills as the biggest concern for our viewers in meeting the Future Homes Standard, Eddie Tuttle of the CIOB said a national skills strategy is long overdue.
And while the Future Homes Standard focuses on new builds, we must also focus on the performance of existing homes, he added.
“If we are to retrofit 29m existing homes by 2050, that’s a million a year or 20,000 each and every week, then we need a relevant national retrofit strategy that will be able to contribute to our legally binding carbon targets, but also create new jobs, deliver growth
across the country and take many people out of fuel poverty,” he said.
What are the challenges surrounding awareness, viability and compliance with the Future Homes Standard?
Paul Jones of Ramboll discussed working with clients to prepare for the Future Homes Standard, as well as the challenges surrounding awareness, viability and compliance.
“This is a necessary step towards a low carbon future, but it’s happening at the same time as the Building Safety Act, the introduction of second staircases in buildings to address concerns around fire safety, inflationary pressures in the market, the cost of borrowing – all of these things make it really difficult,” he said.
Paul’s key message was that early engagement with the design team will be essential to ensure strategies are joined up.
The panel also took several questions from viewers, discussing everything from the challenges of delivery against ongoing skills shortages to the need for planning reform and the future of design and build contracts.
You can watch the full Future Homes Standard – Next Steps on the Road to 2025 webinar for free here.
What does the future homes standard mean for insulation?
James Francis, product manager at ROCKWOOL UK, explores what the Future Homes Standard may mean for insulation and the latest solutions that will help meet enhanced requirements.
While we await the full details of the Future Homes Standard, there is undoubtedly a huge role for insulation in the drive to achieve at least a 75% reduction in carbon emissions in new homes by 2025.
The cheapest, cleanest, safest energy is the energy we don’t use. To meet these targets and support the government’s wider net zero objectives, we must address building performance, fabric first, alongside energy generation measures, and place more
emphasis on how buildings perform not just when built but beyond.
Approved document L (ADL) 2021 is a ‘stepping stone’ to the future homes standard
Approved Document L (ADL) 2021 has the foundations of this outlook.
It outlines a “fabric plus technology” approach that targets both the heating system and fabric of a new building.
The removal of the Fabric Energy Efficiency Standards (FEES) that was originally proposed during the consultation phase of ADL 2021 has remained, suggesting it will be
maintained in forthcoming legislation too – including the Future Homes Standard.
Analysing the changes to ADL 2021 also signals the legislative direction of travel when it comes to building materials; specifically, greater scrutiny on closing the gap between designed and as-built performance.
Now, on completion of work, a Buildings Regulations England Part L (BREL) report and photographic evidence are needed.
This evidence is provided to the building control body to demonstrate compliance with energy efficiency requirements.
Photographs must be taken at various construction stages before elements are concealed to show build quality and that the designed details have been followed.
For insulation specifically, there needs to be evidence of the thermal continuity of the material at foundations/structures, external walls, roofs and openings, pipes and ducts to demonstrate it is fitted tightly and without gaps.
While already best practice for installation, the need to physically evidence continuity increases the need to achieve a tighter, continuous fit and could require additional cutting on-site and/or taping at board joints with foil tape.
For developers and building owners acutely aware of build schedules, this requirement could equate to additional build time and a more significant burden to ensure building control sign-off.
Insulation needs to bring additional value
This greater focus on thermal continuity also changes specification considerations. Historically, choosing insulation has broadly been a box-ticking exercise: select
the product that meets the required U-value and press on.
However, the evolving thermal performance requirements of legislation such as ADL means thermal performance is now, rightly, multi-dimensional.
The ease of achieving a precise fit and, in turn, as-designed performance varies depending on the type of insulation used and selecting a product solely based on a single metric, such as its thermal conductivity, overlooks this critical consideration.
For example, highly pliable stone wool insulation is simple to closely friction fit without onerous levels of precision cutting when on site.
As well as minimising the margin for error, it also supports reliable and effective thermal performance that reduces thermal bridging. Further, the flexibility of stone wool allows
for easier installation at the abutments between insulation boards, another area prone to
thermal leakage.
Plus, its composition means individual slabs knit together to create a seamless fit, and its
workable nature supports the delivery of designed U-values.
Long-term, post-occupancy performance is a trend that is likely to continue
The shift to consider longer-term, post-occupancy performance brought about by ADL is also a trend that’s likely to continue as legislation such as the Future Homes Standard comes into law.
Reports such as that from the Committee on Climate Change also reference the role of smart meters and their ability to “track progress in, and performance of, energy efficiency and heating measures”.
Whether in the future developers may have greater accountability for a building’s energy performance once in use remains to be seen. Still, there is decidedly a shift in buyers’ considering a home’s energy performance and its impact on their future bills.
Equally, several major housebuilders are marketing the ongoing energy bill savings that buying a new home can bring. When selecting insulation, it pays to have longevity in mind as the thermal performance of some insulation types can wane over time.
For insulation to be effective – and remain so – dimensional stability is vital as the air pockets within it help prevent heat transfer. Squashed and sagging insulation can affect these energy-saving capabilities.
To prevent this, it’s essential to choose a product that’s going to keep its strength and, in turn, its thermal performance.
Next generation, stone wool insulation is the way forward
To support architects and developers in achieving the likely more onerous requirements of Future Homes Standard and beyond, building product manufacturers must lead the charge
with innovation that delivers on the wider definition of “thermal performance” in reality, as well as the commercial factors that can sometimes be barriers to specification.
To this end, last year ROCKWOOL launched the first products featuring NyRock® technology, a patented production process that builds on the existing benefits of stone wool, creating the most thermally efficient stone wool insulation currently available in the
UK and Ireland.
Innovatively manufactured using a new patented production process, this next-generation stone wool insulation has a more efficient fibre structure that can deliver thermal conductivity as low as 0.032 W/mK.
Critically, this means that U-values can be met with comparatively thinner constructions, which in the case of external wall applications, creates the potential for additional interior floor space over a given building footprint.
Alongside its improved thermal efficiency, NyRock technology still delivers all the additional benefits of stone wool insulation. As well as acoustic absorption and the ability to be recycled indefinitely, ROCKWOOL stone wool insulation contains, on average, 25% non-virgin material, utilising waste streams such as slag from the steel industry.
Off cuts of ROCKWOOL insulation can also be returned for reprocessing using the company’s recycling service.
Highly durable, the vast majority of ROCKWOOL products can be easily removed when a building is renovated or demolished and recycled back into new products – without losing performance. This same dimensional stability also helps to deliver consistent thermal performance over decades.
In fact, in late 2022, ROCKWOOL insulation from Copenhagen Airport (Hangar 4), built in 1958, was discovered intact, enabling the manufacturer to complete independent testing to measure performance more than 65 years after installation.
The research completed by the Danish Testing Institute showed the stone wool sample had retained the same lambda value after more than 65 years in-situ plus no ageing effects, including sagging, slumping or degradation.
To learn more, read the full eBook.
