A round table of housebuilders, consultants, academics and the construction supply chain convened this week to discuss strategies for maintaining a focus on building fabric for housebuilders complying with the new Future Homes Standard, against a narrative dominated by heating and renewable technologies.
The Building Insights LIVE event, “Keeping Fabric First in Future Homes Standard Compliance” was held at London’s Building Centre, and was sponsored by Kingspan Insulation, Medite Smartply, Don & Low, Tarmac Group, Keystone Lintels and Eurocell. Sponsors brought delegates to the event to offer key insights from their respective parts of delivery of new homes, and brought a practical focus together with highlighting related concerns such as embodied carbon and choice of materials.
Concerns around an overt focus on heating and renewables were expressed by the group, and fixed ‘functional requirements’ around solar PV area required in the new Standard. Delegates agreed with the chair, Housebuilder & Developer editor James Parker’s assertion that the standard currently did not advance the requirements for fabric noticeably beyond the Part L 2021 improvements, apart from a small uplift in air-tightness, and a more onerous and thorough way of calculating window performance.
Other challenges were raised including the fact that the performance gap between design and built homes persists, and specifications of carbon-saving materials can be undermined by cost saving and other compromises. In addition, skills shortage across the delivery chain were highlighted as a crucial barrier to fabric being the focus, with the rigours of the new Standard itself, and the associated costs, having led to more people leaving the industry, according to delegates. The likely increase in use of triple glazing was discussed, and its impact on housebuilders, as well how different more robust fabric approaches could be affected under the new National Planning Policy Framework.
Solutions put forward including support for the ‘Building Passports’ concept which would carry detailed information on new homes as a means to provide greater transparency on product installs, and thereby a greater sense of design robustness in housebuilding. Also cited were the benefits of offsite timber techniques to ensure fabric quality, and the potential of using regional weather models to make designs more appropriate to their relative climatic conditions – though this was currently absent in the Standard, as well as embodied carbon. Approaches taken in the devolved nations, in comparison with a relatively hesitant approach to driving higher standards by Government in England, should be given greater consideration, said delegates.
The technical importance of the building fabric, and professionalism required to design and construct compliant envelopes correctly, was cited as one potential lever to help attract new recruits to the sector to fill the skills gaps. The health benefits of well-designed fabric for not only the occupants, but the structure itself long-term, was a key focus, as was the need to stress user comfort to help engage customers in its importance.
James Parker, event chair and editor of ADF, commented: “We have staged two in-depth round tables on the impact of the new Future Homes Standard already this year, the first shortly after launch on the much-debated issues around heating systems and renewables. However, this event on the current prognosis ‘fabric first’ shone a light on an imbalance in the current Standard in favour of technology over the possibly less ‘sexy’ area of building fabric.
“However, in order to make those technologies efficient, the fabric of new homes needs to be at the forefront of design and build. The former culture of ‘out of sight out of mind’ which has hampered a rigorous approach to creating truly efficient envelopes has to be eradicated. Our round table discovered that this is only currently likely from industry initiatives, as Government has other drivers and seems to be uninterested in explicitly driving focus on robust building fabric.”
The full list of attendees was:
Naomi Sadler Director, SEES (Sadler Energy & Environmental Services)
Tim Martel Standards & Certification Programme Manager, AECB
Dr Marina Topouzi Researcher, Energy programme, University of Oxford (Environmental Change Institute)
Simon Storer Chief Executive, Insulation Manufacturers Association (IMA)
James Towt Principal Energy and Carbon Consultant, Useful Simple Trust
Tom Westwood Programme Director, The Green Register
Rob East Associate Technical Director, Newland Homes
Ness Scott Head of Sustainability, Greencore Homes
Paul Christmas Insulated Render and Cladding Association/Head of technical at EWIPRO
Sponsors’ Attendees:
Jon Ducker Head of Regulatory Affairs, Kingspan Insulation
Roly Ward Head of Business Development, Medite Smartply
Alan Collier Business Development Manager, Don & Low
Chris Pears-Ryding Commercial Director, Blocks, Tarmac Group
A Building Insights podcast capturing highlights and recommendations from the discussion, will be available at: insights.netmagmedia.co.uk