As the country emerges from the restrictions enforced by the Covid-19 pandemic, the construction industry is primed to support economic recovery, and provide reassurance for home buyers who may be concerned about the rising cost of running a home against a backdrop of economic uncertainty, and more time spent working from home. Although the pandemic has posed major challenges for the industry, it has also offered opportunities to pause, take stock, and consider the adoption of fresh initiatives that drive better efficiency.
Currently, it is estimated that approximately 3.18 million households in England are classed as being in fuel poverty. While these figures from the Annual Fuel Poverty report in 2021, using 2019 data, reflect a steady decrease in the number of households affected since 2010, it is evident there is still more to be done. Stay-at-home rules throughout the pandemic resulted in a 37% increase in energy bills and, at the end of 2020, Citizens Advice estimated that an additional 2 million households had fallen behind in payments as a direct result of lockdown.
The longer term solution to combatting fuel poverty is, ultimately, more energy efficient buildings. Sustainable building used to be the exception rather than the rule. However, with heightened awareness of our collective carbon footprint and targets to meet through the government’s Net Zero Carbon Emissions goal in the next three decades, coupled with the fact that buyer attitudes are shifting, housebuilders are forced to act in earnest. If they want to meet the 2050 target and attract budget-conscious buyers, housebuilders now need to consider how to appeal to buyers who wish to reduce their overall living costs – and a fabric first approach is the way to do that.
In response to calls for more sustainable housing, industry reports are increasingly signalling a move towards modern methods of construction (MMC) in the housebuilding sector, enabling developers to adopt and champion construction practices that will speed up delivery through offsite construction, plug the skills gap and be a driving force for a low carbon sustainable economy. This, teamed with a fabric first, fit and forget approach to construction is crucial.
For a home to be energy efficient, it should be designed with a fit and forget approach. At Stewart Milne Timber Systems (SMTS), we have long advocated this. Timber frame construction contributes quite considerably by retaining and reducing heat demand, and the resulting building helps to reduce fuel poverty as heating bills tend to be lower, and the house warmer.
When building with timber frame, a home can be designed as one integrated system with a fabric first approach and energy efficiency locked into the home’s core: reducing the need for renewables, or wider newer technologies to be added on at a later date. Ultimately, this will save the homeowners money and gives them peace of mind in delivery of energy performance. Timber frame homes have a track record of superior energy efficiency and low embodied carbon, and at Stewart Milne Timber Systems, we have developed build systems that can provide low U-values and great thermal bridging. The homes are naturally warm in winter and yet cool in the summer.
In the south of England, in Milton Keynes and in Stratford-upon-Avon, we have been working closely with London & Quadrant Housing Trust (L&Q) to build efficiently insulated homes for their homeowners and tenants. To meet targets set by L&Q, we delivered our award-winning Sigma II timber frame build system.
L&Q is helping more first-time buyers with new homes through help-to-buy and shared ownership, meaning young couples who have lived with their parents for many years can now afford to step onto the property ladder with a home of their own.
We are now three years into our four-year agreement with L&Q, and have built over a third of the units we have been contracted to deliver. We are continuing our work with L&Q to deliver Warwickshire’s Beauchamp Park, a thriving new residential and community development. The scheme will produce 450 quality homes, with at least 40% of these earmarked for affordable housing. As L&Q state: “Our vision is that everyone deserves a quality home that provides them with the opportunity to live a better life.”
The use of offsite timber construction on new developments is a proven means of ensuring sustainability, with low-carbon compliance at the very heart of the development – not only in the materials used, but also during the varying construction stages and for the remainder of its lifecycle – sustainability is something that developers should look to incorporate into strategies now, and in the years ahead.
As we look to the future, building in timber frame, combined with a fabric first approach, will be one of the most effective means of meeting major housebuilding and net-zero carbon targets sustainably. Not only is it affordable, it also reduces long-term maintenance, while positively impacting the social agenda with more efficient homes and thereby contributing to housing associations’ drive to decrease fuel poverty.
