Ben Standing, partner in planning and environment at UK and Ireland law firm Browne Jacobson, and Jonathan Vickers, legal director in construction, analyse what the implementation of the Future Homes Standard means for the industry
Common sense has prevailed. After much delay since its initial launch in 2019, the UK Government has implemented the Future Homes Standard, meaning the majority of new homes in England should be fitted with solar panels and heat pumps.
While the government’s ambitions to build 1.5m homes during this parliament are well publicised, there has been near silence regarding the Future Homes Standard since its launch seven years and five Prime Ministers ago, during Theresa May’s premiership.
This would have risked the 300,000 homes that Labour wants built every year, requiring retrofitting to meet net-zero targets – which would be inefficient and cost homeowners more.
A good start?
Amid soaring energy prices owing to the Iran conflict, the government finally announced details on the Future Homes Standard in March. From 24 March 2027, the majority of new homes must be fitted with solar panels and low-carbon heating sources, such as heat pumps, as standard, although there is a 12-month transition period following this date to help the industry prepare for compliance.
An associated policy removed barriers to enable the UK rollout of low-cost, plug-in solar panels that can be easily installed on balconies or outdoor spaces.
These interventions can help to ensure Britain’s housebuilding drive is in step with its homegrown clean energy ambitions. There’s also potential to reframe the narrative around “green housing” not simply as meeting national net-zero objectives, but as the development of high-quality, comfortable homes that are cheap to run.
Challenges lie ahead to future-proof our new housing stock, however. Builders already have significant viability concerns and face acute skills shortages, while the Future Homes Standard doesn’t address embodied carbon in the construction supply chain.
Working through these issues requires the government to work hand in glove with industry if it’s to ensure new regulations don’t have a chilling effect on housebuilding.
Where is the construction industry in terms of compliance?
The good news is the construction industry would likely argue it’s leading the government on sustainability, rather than the other way around.
In the absence of any concrete details on the Future Homes Standard until recent weeks, several voluntary certification schemes have been established, driven by a desire to improve energy efficiency in residential buildings.
These include BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method), Passivhaus, LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) and the WELL Building Standard.
Many developers and real estate agents prominently display such certifications when marketing properties, indicating that consumers already value their benefits.
A cross-industry group representing stakeholders across the built environment in Britain also joined forces in 2024 to launch the concept of a UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard, which would set out the metrics by which net-zero-aligned performance is evaluated.
The first version of this standard was published on 10 March this year, providing the UK built environment with its first unified, evidence-based definition of a net zero carbon-aligned building.
Described by its developer signatories as “science-led and industry-built”, it applies to new construction, existing buildings and retrofits. The standard incorporates feedback from more than 200 pilot projects and wider industry consultation with more than 200 organisations.
The application of the standard involves a flowchart that guides project owners and design teams through key stages of a development, alongside a verification framework that explains the process, evidence requirements, and pricing.
Developers wishing to receive credentials will need to obtain third-party verification by submitting 1 year of operational data.
The UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard also goes further than the Future Homes Standard, which only addresses operational energy efficiency, by imposing limits on embodied carbon from supply chains.
A clear direction is set, with these limits – for heating and cooling energy usage as well as total energy use intensity – gradually lowered over time.
By taking the lead on sustainability, the industry has proven it wants to get ahead of regulation and acknowledges the importance of future-proofing new housing stock.
Skills challenges and viability concerns
Installing new technologies such as solar and heat pumps, as well as handling sustainable construction materials and new types of insulation, requires certain skillsets that are in short supply.
If existing skills shortages aren’t plugged, this could hold back development at a time when it needs to be accelerated – in 2024/25, housing delivery actually fell to 208,600 units, down from 221,410 the previous year.
Training may be required to upskill the labour force and support the success of the Future Homes Standard – ensuring contractors have the resources and the public has the confidence that works will be carried out in accordance with the new regulations.
The government has already taken steps to address this, announcing last year that it would establish 10 technical excellence colleges specialising in construction for the 2025-26 academic year.
While certainly a welcome initiative, it will take time to develop a talent pipeline, and there must also be a concerted reskilling effort, particularly for workers from other sectors where job opportunities are narrowing.
Promoting the emerging technologies handled by the green housing workforce, such as smart grids, heat pumps and battery storage, could also help to bolster interest in the building trade as a career choice.
Then there are lingering viability concerns. Developers and supply chains will point to escalating costs across the board owing to energy, raw materials, labour and interest rates.
This highlights how housebuilding isn’t an isolated sector but has touchpoints to the wider economic agenda, where the mission is to turn around stagnation and turbocharge growth.
What’s missing in the Future Homes Standard?
We must also acknowledge that the Future Homes Standard is only a starting point, and other technologies and systems must be incorporated over time. Three areas in particular deserve attention.
First: Water efficiency. Grey water – wastewater from baths, showers, sinks and washing machines – accounts for up to 60% of a household’s total wastewater output, according to the World Health Organization. Recycling systems treat and redirect this water for non-potable uses such as toilet flushing and garden irrigation, reducing potable water consumption by up to 40%.
With the Environment Agency warning that England’s water supply could fall short by five billion litres a day by 2055, this is not a peripheral concern. The regulatory picture is shifting – a 2025 consultation on Building Regulations 2010 Part G2 considered grey water reuse alongside modest water-saving measures – but the principal obstacle remains the current interpretation of the Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations 2016, which restricts non-potable water supply to residential properties. A targeted review of that framework is needed.
Second: Retrofitting. The Future Homes Standard applies only to new builds, yet England’s approximately 29m existing homes – among the oldest and least energy-efficient in Europe – will still be standing in 2050. A whole-house approach, combining insulation, efficient heating, grey water recycling and rooftop solar, is far more cost-effective than piecemeal interventions. The government’s Warm Homes Plan is a start, but the scale of ambition must match the scale of the problem.
Third: The broader energy mix. Rooftop solar and heat pumps are sensible foundations, but individual homes do not exist in isolation from the wider grid. Heat pumps are only as green as the electricity that powers them, which is why the decarbonisation of that grid through offshore wind, small modular reactors, tidal energy and hydrogen must advance in lockstep with building standards. Future iterations of the Future Homes Standard should also address how new homes connect to the grid through smart meters, battery storage, and vehicle-to-grid technology.
Equally, it is important that the Future Homes Standard does not make running a home more expensive, otherwise public pressure against such technologies will grow. Accordingly, the government needs to find a way for the public to benefit from the lower cost of renewable energy.
The buildings we design today will still be in use at the end of this century. The Future Homes Standard must be treated as a foundation, not a destination.
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