NEWS IN NUMBERS
-13.8% The total annual rate of decrease of new housing output . Source: ONS
Engineers concerned about omission of embodied carbon
emissions of a new home coming from embodied carbon, which accounts for 10 per cent of UK emissions. The institution said the omission could leave the UK open to legal challenge on whether the legislation met net zero commitments. IStructE’s Head of Climate Action, Will Arnold, said: “Our letter urges DLUHC to consider consistent regulation, aligning the UK with global standards. Our view is that a building is only net zero if its whole life carbon emissions are considered.”
The Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE) queried the lack of embodied carbon regulation within the proposed Future Homes and Building Standards. Writing to Michael Gove, the Secretary of State at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (DLUHC), IStructE said it is “a missed opportunity to regulate embodied carbon to meet the UK’s net zero legal commitments”. IStructE had concerns about the phrase, ‘net zero ready’, used in the consultation to refer only to operational carbon emissions – despite half of the
14% The percentage by which the trade gap narrowed in 2023 , which is now at £14bn and denotes the difference between the value of construction materials that the UK
exports and imports. Source: www.gov.uk
Labour unveils plans for green belt building
approach, announcing plans to create grey belt land in low-quality green belt areas including scrubland. The Labour Party said at least 50 per cent of housing developments on these sites must be considered affordable. Starmer commented: “Labour supports brownfield-first policies. But we must be honest, we cannot
Proposed plans by the Labour Party would have councils prioritising building on brownfield sites and poor-quality areas in the green belt – what is being called the ‘grey belt’. The party said it would override planning rules and local MPs to build 1.5 million homes to match the Conservative Party’s housebuilding target. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has committed to a ‘brownfield-first’
1st London is the
build the homes Britain needs without also releasing some land currently classed as green belt.”
most expensive city in the world to build in. Source: Arcadis
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Master Builder
www.fmb.org.uk
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