By Jo Atkinson, Building Project Engineer & Hywel Lloyd, Government Engagement Manager
As part of the Future of Building Week withUKRI, the Active Building Centre discusses the future of green homes as part of the green recovery.
As the UK looks towards recovery from the impact of the COVID-19 crisis many people, businesses and organisations are calling for a green recovery. That makes sense given the future must be greener. As ever the question is going to be, what’s best to focus on? The UK has long had policies to address the poor energy efficiency of homes. It has been a long-term challenge given many of them were built before the concept of building regulations. And as with all regulations, the mechanism lags behind both the technology and the innovations available to make for even better homes.
Going big
Given the scale of the challenge, and the recession we face, it would make sense to pick an opportunity that itself is a significant challenge. The economic win of upgrading our homes from whatever state they are in, to the standards required for the 21st century state is massive. Of our c.27 million homes we have perhaps as many as 25 million have been built to standards that we would now say are insufficient.
This is a challenge that offers a significant opportunity for almost every community, which in turn resonates with the general political ambition for levelling up.
Read the full blog on the UKRI website.
Published July 2020