The house builder is investigating the initiative, which it said would provide the opportunity to cut carbon, improve water efficiency, slash energy costs, create additional jobs while delivering new homes that people want to live in.
“We are committed to increasing sustainability across all of our developments,” said Linden Homes’ group managing director Ian Baker. “Last year’s improvement in building regulations as a result of the Code for Sustainable Homes has significantly reduced CO2 emissions and water use from all new homes. However, we believe the government and new-build housing industry need to explore alternative ways to deliver the further carbon reductions and improvements in sustainability aspired to.”
Rather than imposing additional regulation onto an already efficient new house, Linden Homes says that new homes should continue to be constructed in accordance with Building Regulations 2010. Instead, developers would then provide a ‘new homes sustainability bonus’, which would be deposited into a central fund, to enable the retrofit of the UK’s existing housing stock.
Linden Homes has commissioned independent research into the improvements required within the existing housing stock to exceed the UK government’s proposed carbon and water consumption efficiencies projected within new build properties over the next 25 years. Linden Homes is confident it will highlight wide-reaching economic and social advantages not only for the industry, but for homeowners, tenants and local communities as well.
These works to existing homes would deliver significant energy savings as well as reduce household bills for those most affected by fuel poverty, said Linden Homes. In addition, additional jobs would be created and there would be investment into local communities and a reduction in the maintenance burden to housing associations and local authorities.
This could also lead to a significant reduction in costs to the new build sector – making land more viable and enabling more new homes to be built.
Ian Baker said: “At a time when budgets have been tightened and fuel bills are rising, we believe something needs to be done to help local authorities, housing associations and registered social landlords fund energy improvements to existing homes. This scheme would not only make the necessary funds available to undertake these energy improvements, but could also make new build schemes much more viable in the future.”
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