Summit aims for 'greener' housing
January 9, 2007
Housing Minister Yvette Cooper is due to meet building industry leaders to discuss how to ensure new homes are made energy efficient and affordable
Talks are to take place between the government, home building companies, and environmental groups.
The Home Builders Federation said the talks were an ambitious attempt to improve environmental standards.
Last month Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly unveiled proposals to make all new homes carbon neutral in 10 years.
The event will see builders, suppliers, utility companies and regulators discussing the potential barriers to achieving the government target.
Organisers, the Home Builders Federation, hope key groups will agree to a set of pledges thrashed out during the day to begin the process of meeting the goals.
Stewart Baseley, executive chairman of the federation, said: "The home building industry broadly welcomes the government's environmental targets. However, home builders cannot achieve them alone.
"This roundtable summit aims to bring all the parties together and, rolling up our sleeves, begin the crucial task of working out the detail so that we can achieve higher environmental standards and at the same time deliver the step-change in housing output that the country so badly needs."
A zero carbon house is defined as a property with "zero net emissions of carbon dioxide from all energy use in the home".
This includes energy consumed by appliances such as TVs and cookers, not just other uses that are currently part of building regulations, including heating, hot water and ventilation.
The UK's 21 million homes are responsible for 27% of the country's CO2 emissions, which the government hopes to reduce by 60% by 2050.
Developers in Redditch, Worcestershire, have started construction of 36 houses using energy-efficient timber panels insulated with glass fibres.
Developer Alan Yates told BBC News: "These houses will produce less than half the carbon emissions of a traditionally built house, they will cost about a third as much to run, and we're building them at the same cost as a standard house type in this country."
Last month Ms Kelly unveiled a consultation document which proposed making all new homes carbon neutral by 2016.
The document recommended tightening building and planning rules, and introducing a star rating system to reveal a property's energy efficiency to potential home buyers.
It came after Chancellor Gordon Brown announced in his Pre-Budget Report that carbon zero homes would be free from stamp duty.
Zero carbon homes could also be achieved by using solar panels or wind turbines that produce electricity.
Such homes are already being built across the country with environmentally-friendly developments in Brixton, south London, and Leicester in the East Midlands.
Environmental groups which will be attending the talks welcomed the attempt to set a strategy for implementing the government's proposals.
A Greenpeace spokesman said: "Tackling emissions from homes is really important and zero carbon homes are therefore crucial."
Housing Minister Yvette Cooper also welcomed the discussions.
She said: "Every sector of the economy needs to do its bit to help cut carbon emissions and I welcome the commitment of the Home Builders Federation to delivering much higher environmental standards in the future.
"We know it will be a challenge for all new homes to be zero carbon within 10 years but we think the industry can rise to it."
But there have been warnings energy-efficient homes can cost 10% more than a traditional house, pricing them out of the reach of young or first-time buyers.
Developer Richard Serrass told BBC News he wanted subsidies to help first-time buyers buy more ecologically sound housing.
"The cost of these technologies are in the region of £16,000 irrespective of the size of the property, and that is an awful lot of money for a first-time buyer, who probably cannot actually afford it in the first place."
He said that to recoup the benefits they would need to stay in the house for some time, but most moved up the property ladder within two or three years.
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