Published as part of the government’s ‘Code for Sustainable Homes’, new houses will have a mandatory rating from April 2008, with six stars being awarded to ‘zero carbon’ homes.
Announcing the proposals, Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly said: “Climate change is a real and imminent threat. With a rising population and more people living in smaller households the demands on housing are only set to increase. So it is vital that homes and other buildings are as sustainable and eco-friendly as possible.”
Other measures announced by Kelly included making existing property more energy efficient, with Energy Performance Certificates key to explaining a building’s environmental footprint.
Commercial property was also highlighted, with details of how they would be made to be more eco-friendly set to be published in the government’s energy white paper in March.
Neil Johnson, PR and policy manager at the Building Societies Association, commented: “Providing incentives to improve energy efficiency is the right thing to do but the problem, which Ruth Kelly acknowledges, is what to do with the existing stock. The star ratings and Energy Performance Certificates will make customers aware of the property they are looking at and I think taken in the context of rising energy prices, we may see in a few years a change to the way people buy houses.
“It will be interesting to see the impact on the mortgage market as people often remortgage nowadays to build loft conversions but you could see people remortgaging to install solar panels.”
