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Keeping it local for zero carbon
Housing Minister Grant Shapps has outlined plans to give more control to developers and local authorities to meet the Government’s target of all new homes being zero carbon by 2016, and confirmed the Zero Carbon Hub will be funded to produce a benchmark definition.
A “range of options” are being proposed by the Ministry for provide freedom and flexibility for industry and councils to deliver on the targets. A community energy fund, first suggested by the UK Green Building Council, has been supported in principle by Shapps to allow developers and contractors to contribute to renewable energy projects in their local area, in order to meet the targets for zero carbon homes.
Shapps said that a top-down approach to building standards was not on desirable: “This is about meeting tough environmental standards, but not dictating how every home should be built.
“Councils and developers together are in the best position to decide how best to meet these standards, so we’re giving them the flexibility and a range of options to do this.”
The government also confirmed the Zero Carbon Hub would receive £600,000 of funding to help it define a “benchmark for carbon emission reductions which is both ambitious and achievable,” said Shapps. He said he was “looking forward” to seeing results of tests which the Zero Carbon Hub will conduct “over the next few months” to this end.
Chairman of the Zero Carbon Hub and chief executive of the UKGBC Paul King said that it now needed to move quickly towards a definition for the industry: “Consistency and clarity are essential pre-requisites for continued private sector investment and innovation. We now need to move swiftly to confirm the detail of the final definition; this will boost confidence among industry and other stakeholders involved in practical delivery.”
In the announcement, the Minister re-affirmed his commitment to all new homes being zero-carbon from 2016 and confirmed the introduction of the ‘Fabric Energy Efficiency Standard', proposals developed by a Zero Carbon Hub-led Task Group last year.
Neil Jefferson, chief executive of the Zero Carbon Hub, said:“We look forward again to working with a broad range of organisations, this time to develop and test a national benchmark for carbon compliance. Coming immediately after the Carbon Compliance for Tomorrow New Homes task group, the timing is perfect.”