2 Existing housing stock and new build
Striking a balance
5. The Government announced in its 2007 Green Paper
on housing that, among other things, it intended to build 10 new
Eco-Towns and to make all new homes carbon-neutral by 2016.[9]
Significantly higher standards in Building Regulations have led
to significant improvements in the energy performance of newly
built housing over the past decade: a typical Standard Assessment
Procedure (SAP) rating for an average home in England is about
45, while the average house built to current Building Regulation
standards achieves nearer 80. The Department for Communities
and Local Government's (CLG) Code for Sustainable Homes has also
set new energy efficiency standards for developers to achieve
within new housing stock, and the Department will shortly make
the code, or elements of it, mandatory for forthcoming development.
In short, much has been done to minimise the environmental impact
of new housing.
BOX 1: Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP)
| Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP)
The energy performance of individual buildings is measured using the Government's Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP), a rating scale of 1 to 100, in which 100 represents the best performance possible. SAP takes account of the fuel efficiency of heating systems and the thermal efficiency of the building fabric (that is, how well it retains heat in winter). It also takes account of other factors including the type of construction (e.g. cavity wall, solid wall, terraced, semi-detached, detached or flat), the shape, size and orientation of the building, and the size and distribution of windows.
A version of SAP, known as reduced data Standard Assessment Procedure (rdSAP), is used to measure performance for Energy Performance Certificate ratings.
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Source:, Government memorandum, Ev 277-94
6. Questions have been raised, however, over whether
the Government's focus on new build has deflected its attention
from existing homes. In December 2006, CLG, consulting on how
to achieve zero-carbon development, stated its commitment to prioritising
action on new build, asking:
Are we right about the need for new housing to lead
the way in delivering low-carbon and zero-carbon housing?[10]
Respondents did not think that right: among the "central
themes" to emerge from the consultation, the Government reported:
A number of respondents … said that they did
not want to see the focus on new homes come at the expense of
action on the existing housing stock.[11]
7. The Sustainable Development Commission (SDC),
the Government's own independent adviser in the field, has expressed
considerable concern at what it sees as an inadequate balance
between policy on new build and existing stock. A report originally
commissioned by CLG's predecessor, the Office of the Deputy Prime
Minister, identified the problem as long ago as July 2006:
there is an uneven playing field between new build
and refurbishment. The whole system for at least 20 years has
been geared in favour of new build; renovation grants have all
but disappeared and incentives to renovate are minimal and extremely
restrictive. There is a high VAT tax of 17.5% imposed on all repair
and modernisation…[12]
Professor Anne Power, a commissioner and one of that
report's authors, told us that the SDC was immensely frustrated
that its report appeared to have gathered dust in the 18 months
since its publication:
The Government has not yet responded at all to the
recommendations we made, even though they paid for and commissioned
our work, and we have actually asked them to respond. There is
a really serious hiatus in their review of the existing stock.[13]
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)
"believes that the emphasis on reducing carbon emissions
on new build has been disproportionate."[14]
The Chartered Institute of Housing thinks the Government "is
in danger of neglecting the biggest problem facing us—emissions
from existing homes."[15]
There
is clear consensus that the Government needs to engage as fully
with reducing carbon emissions from the existing housing stock
as it has with reducing those from new development.
8. In the Government's defence, there is clear sense
in focusing on what can be done to improve performance in houses
not yet built: regulations, voluntary codes and improving technologies
can all play a part in constructing housing that is sufficiently
insulated or has high-performance windows or highly efficient
boilers and heating systems. In addition, a headline-winning
announcement promising 10 new Eco-Towns is more likely to raise
the public profile of housing stock energy efficiency than 10
announcements promoting better cavity wall insulation. In December
2007, the then Minister for Housing, the Rt Hon. Yvette Cooper
MP, raised, too, the idea that cutting-edge technology and ideas
developed to create new homes have potential spin-offs for older
housing:
the real prize for us with the new homes programme
is that if the regulatory framework it sets out can trigger technological
spin-offs that can be used to retrofit existing homes as well,
then you drive investment and technological change.[16]
9. Government policy has begun to tilt back in the
direction of existing stock. CLG is reviewing the sustainability
of existing buildings, albeit at a pace the Sustainable Development
Commission finds frustratingly slow.[17]
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA),
via the Energy Saving Trust, will also, by December 2008, launch
a new Green Homes Service, intended to provide a nationwide advice
service and to be active in targeting the poorest performing homes
with information on action, grants and potential suppliers and
installers. None the less,
the Government's understandable desire to build improvements into
future housing has led it to give insufficient priority to action
on the vast bulk of the housing stock represented by the 23 million
homes already there in England and Wales. A much clearer focus
on what must be done to bring existing housing up to required
energy efficiency standards is essential.
9 Ev 278 Back
10
Department for Communities and Local Government, Building a
Greener Future: Towards Zero Carbon Development; a consultation
paper, December 2006, Question 1. Back
11
Department for Communities and local Government, Building a
Greener Future; policy statement, July 2007, p. 13 Back
12
Sustainable Development Commission, Stock Take: delivering
improvements in existing housing, July 2006, p. 15 Back
13
Q 1 Back
14
Ev 201 Back
15
Ev 56 Back
16
Q 240 Back
17
Qq 1 and 5 Back
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