Construction firms want 'more ambitious' Future Buildings Standard

Twenty-one leading construction groups have told the government that they need to be more ambitious with the Future Buildings Standard.

Organisations calling for the move include the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB), Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and UK Green Building Council (UKGBC).

Concerns about the current standard have been raised by the organisations after writing a letter to Jeremy Pocklington, the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).

We believe the government has a key role to play in setting adequate standards...

The letter identifies significant shortcomings of proposed energy and ventilation standards for non-domestic buildings as well as existing homes. Key points taken from the failings they have listed include:

• No intention to regulate the total energy of buildings
• Set targets for actual energy performance or embodied carbon

A national retrofit strategy has also been called for by those who have signed. An excerpt from the letter said: “We welcome the direction of travel shown by many of the measures proposed and the government’s ambition to reduce the impact of buildings on the environment. However, the built environment is responsible for around 40% of global carbon emissions and we believe the government has a key role to play in setting adequate standards to reduce this impact.

“We believe that there are several additional areas that are critical to success in achieving the UK’s net-zero ambition, and with the right decisions, the UK can demonstrate global leadership and create a world-leading built environment sector.”

The 21 signatories are:

• Active Building Centre
• Architects Climate Action Network (ACAN)
• Architects Declare
• Associated for Environment Conscious Building (AECB)
• Building Performance Network (BPN)
• Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB)
• Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE)
• E3G
• Energy Saving Trust
• London Energy Transformation Initiative (LETI)
• Friends of the Earth
• Good Homes Alliance
• Greenpeace
• MCS Foundation
• National Energy Foundation (NEF)
• New London Architecture (NLA)
• Passivhaus Trust
• Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)
• Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI)
• The Alliance for Sustainable Building Products (ASBP)
• UK Green Building Council (UKGBC)