A coalition of built environment and climate action organisations has written to the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), Jeremy Pocklington, to share concerns about the current Future Buildings Standard.
The letter – signed by twenty-one organisations including the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB), Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) and Greenpeace – highlights significant shortcomings of the proposed new energy and ventilation standards for non-domestic buildings and existing homes in England.
Failings include no intention to regulate the total energy consumption of buildings; set targets for actual energy performance, or embodied carbon. Alongside more ambitious new standards, signatories also call for a National Retrofit Strategy.
It follows the official Future Buildings Standard consultation, which closed last week.
RIBA President, Alan Jones, said, “The built environment is responsible for approximately 40% of the UK’s total carbon output. Put simply, the proposed Future Buildings Standard does not go far enough to reduce this impact. To reach net zero carbon emissions, demonstrate global leadership and create a world-leading built environment sector England needs more ambitious regulations. The Future Buildings Standard provides an opportunity to make critical and essential changes: to regulate total energy consumption and set critical targets for actual energy performance and embodied carbon. I urge policymakers to realise its potential.”
