The Future Homes Standard: evaluating how the sector is working towards targets

In short, the technology is there: the insulated building fabric, heating and ventilation systems needed to meet the standard are well known. The only remaining question is quite which combination of approaches works best – but work is under way there.

Project 80 is a research and development programme being run by Midland Heart and Birmingham City University. Tony Hopkin, head of construction, quality and innovation at Midland Heart, explains that the association is testing possible models for meeting the standard. Two housing schemes have already been completed as part of it.

“We’ve initially gone for a traditional construction approach, so masonry construction, and we’ve modelled different specifications – so three different house types, three different specifications,” Mr Hopkin explains. As well as the fabric solutions, four different heating and hot water solutions are being tested.

Head 100 miles east, and there is an organisation for which low carbon increasingly feels like business as usual.

“We now feel we’ve gone beyond the experimental stage. We know we’ve got a really good fabric-first approach to building,” says Craig Sparrow, executive director of development at ClwydAlyn in North Wales. “We know the technologies that we like and that work, and we know what the residents like. All of our schemes, if they’re not ultra-low carbon, are already EPC [Energy Performance Certificate Band] A, off gas.”

Legal & General Modular Homes is another organisation for which pilots are a thing of the past. “We’ve moved past them because, fundamentally, a lot of these technologies are already proven,” says Rosie Toogood, the company’s chief executive.

People power

On the face of it, there is a feeling that the affordable housing sector is well placed on low-carbon homes. But this does not take into account a key factor – one that will become the central point of discussion for this event. Dr Rehan Khodabuccus, operations director at modular homes firm Zed Pods, sums it up in memorable fashion.

“Weird and wonderful things happen to design and engineering models when you start putting people in,” he says. “As designers and developers, we need to appreciate that the handover [of a low-carbon home] doesn’t stop when you hand over the keys. There’s another stage, of helping people through an educational process. It’s really important if you want the buildings to perform as they’re designed.”

In some instances, that process will involve persuading people to abandon habits and beliefs they may have had their whole lives. “I open my windows every day, because that’s what I’ve always done since I was a young girl,” says Jenny Buterchi, partner at architecture practice PRP. “[For these new homes] it’s ‘don’t open your windows in the middle of winter because you’re going to mess up the ventilation’. We’re expecting people to make this huge leap.”

What that means is that simply explaining how, for instance, a new heating system should work is not enough to give every resident the confidence to use it in that way. A case in point: a Passivhaus-type scheme by Origin Housing, a housing association operating in London and Hertfordshire. When properties were handed over, residents were given detailed information on keeping the heating and the ventilation fan on.

“It was all gone through in detail, but when we did the post-monitoring, there was more than a 500% difference between the lowest energy use and the highest use,” says Gareth Jones, development director at Origin.

Data from Midland Heart’s Project 80 shows something similar. “We’ve found that some people are using air source heat pumps in a similar way to gas boilers,” says Mr Hopkin. “You can see from the energy use patterns that they turn it off and on. That shows there is a need for further education for our residents… and to reassure them that by leaving it on, it costs them less than turning it on and off.”

There may be another solution alongside education: making things simpler. In homes built by Beattie Passive, there has been a deliberate decision to make everything straightforward. “Everybody presses buttons,” says Ron Beattie, the company’s managing director. “So take those buttons away. MVHR [mechanical ventilation with heat recovery] is designed to run all the time – and has only a boost button and an alarm. Simplicity is the way.”

It is not only residents who will need education and support as low-carbon homes become more common. It is also staff at social landlords. Claire Flowers, head of the Housing Development Agency at Cambridge City Council, says: “You can spend all this money trying to do the right thing, but how you give information to residents and the maintenance team over the long term is really important.”

Clive Pridgeon, head of construction services at Longhurst Group, agrees. “It’s very important to look at the whole picture [with low-carbon homes]: installation, design, design standards, everything. But also to look at the end product, look at the 30, 40-year plan. How are you going to look after it? What’s the impact on service and maintenance?” he says.