News & Events
07/02/2007 - House builders challenged to tackle climate change
The house-building industry has been challenged to speed up its response to climate change by creating a number of zero and near zero carbon developments in a new government-backed initiative announced today by Communities Secretary, Ruth Kelly.
The Carbon Challenge, to be run by national regeneration agency English Partnerships, will fast track a number of new communities that combine exceptional environmental performance with quality buildings and high standards of design. As a minimum, developments will have to meet the second highest specification (Level 5) of the government’s recently published Code for Sustainable Homes as well as meet the conditions of its latest Planning Policy Statement on Climate Change.
Trevor Beattie, the Director at English Partnerships responsible for delivering the Challenge, said, “Climate change is with us now – so now is the time to act. English Partnerships is already working with developers to accelerate the move towards zero carbon development and this challenge will redouble our efforts.The built environment is one of the most significant contributors to global warming, which means our work can have a massive impact on leading the way in cutting domestic carbon emissions.”
The Carbon Challenge is a successor to the highly successful Design for Manufacture (DfM) competition (also run by English Partnerships) that focussed on cutting construction costs and minimising waste generated through building processes. The Challenge also links with the wider package of green measures announced by government in December 2006 aimed at tackling global warming and reducing carbon emissions, including a proposal that all new homes will be zero carbon by 2016.
The Carbon Challenge will bring forward several thousand homes across a wide range of sites and each development is likely to contain a minimum of 200 homes. This will ensure a critical mass allowing the installation of shared energy systems and other features that will contribute to a zero or near zero carbon foot print for each settlement.
English Partnerships has put forward two initial development sites Hanham Hall near Bristol and Glebe Road in Peterborough with the intention of attracting bids from private sector house builders and housing associations to deliver the new communities. It is expected that in the first year of the Challenge a total of five major public and private sector sites will be identified.
As part of the Challenge, local authorities, RDAs (Regional Development Agencies) private developers and housing associations will be asked to nominate their own sites.
Each site will have a tailored design brief to reduce carbon emissions, incorporate features to reduce water usage and energy consumption as well as minimise waste. A key feature will be to increase biodiversity and include greenery, which is known to significantly reduce overheating and improve air quality.
Under European Union (EU) rules a PIN (Prior Information Notice) has been published by English Partnerships in the EU’s official procurement journal, inviting expressions of interest from across member states.
Work will begin on the first sites by summer 2008 with the first completions in spring 2009. Lessons learnt through the building programme, including the supply chain of materials, will be analysed and collated and used to inform future wide-scale carbon neutral development.
Carbon emissions – Completed housing accounts for around 30 per cent of the UK’s total energy use and 27 per cent of carbon dioxide emissions. While the environmental footprint of new housing schemes has been improving in recent years, there are many barriers to overcome in the supply of energy and design of homes if we are to match the standards being achieved in other European Countries.
Zero carbon means no net carbon emissions from all energy uses in the home, so the amount of energy taken from the national grid is less than or equal to the amount put back through renewable technologies. This equates to Level 6 of the Code for Sustainable Homes and will qualify for Stamp Duty relief.
Near zero carbon means no net carbon emissions in relation to core Building Regulations energy performance specifications relating to heating, hot water, ventilation and lighting. This equates to Level 5 of the Code for Sustainable Homes.
A competition run by English Partnerships, also directed by Trevor Beattie, which has demonstrated that it is possible to construct sustainable, well-designed, good quality homes for around £60,000. It was launched in April 2005 by the Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott. Already four schemes of 529 homes have started on site and a further 619 homes are in the pipeline.
Green package – A challenging package of measures for planners and housebuilders, to help reduce carbon emissions and bring innovation to the building industry, was published in December 2006 by Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly. The aim is to put tackling climate change at the heart of the planning system and the way we build new homes. The overall strategy is set out in a consultation document Building a Greener Future: Towards Zero Carbon Development.
In his pre-budget report in December 2006 the Chancellor outlined proposals to abolish stamp duty on new build ‘green’ homes. In addition he announced plans to undertake energy audits and offer low loans to occupiers of existing homes that undertook renovations aimed at reducing emissions.
The sites - Glebe Road in Peterborough is more than 10 ha in total. English Partnerships owns 1.7 ha and Peterborough City Council and the East of England Development Agency own two adjacent sites. Hanham Hall is approximately 6.5 ha with a net developable area of 3.7 hectares, this is inclusive of the Grade II* Listed former hospital building which is suitable for conversion into residential apartments.
English Partnerships is the government’s national regeneration agency delivering high quality sustainable growth in England
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