CIOB demanding a more ambitious Future Buildings Standard

CIOB has joined a coalition of built environment and climate action organisations in writing to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) urging the Government to be more ambitious with its Future Buildings Standard.

The letter, accessible here, highlights shortcomings of the proposed new energy and ventilation standards for non-domestic buildings and existing homes in England. Our joint response makes several recommendations for the UK to demonstrate global leadership in its net zero ambition, to create a world-leading built environment sector. These include:

• Start regulating total energy consumption and not introduce primary energy
• Setting actual energy performance targets for buildings
• Ensuring new buildings are on track for net zero carbon, with low energy demand and no fossil fuels
• Assessing building performance better to close the performance gap
• Introducing and regulating embodies carbon targets for buildings
• Setting a clear National Retrofit Strategy

Hew Edgar, Associate Director for Policy at CIOB, said:

"We welcome the direction of travel being shown to reduce the impact of buildings on the environment, but given the built environment's significant contribution to carbon emissions, we believe the Government has a significant opportunity to go further.

"It's clear that there is cross-industry support for addressing net zero across the built environment. By adapting the Future Buildings Standard to look at both the ways that we assess and understand energy use in buildings as well as incentivising the sector through a long-term national retrofit strategy, to drive towards greener homes and provide certainty to create stable green jobs, the Government can truly showcase global leadership on this important agenda."