Sustainability

All housing built from 2025 should include heat pumps, according to new government proposals. A consultation on technical requirements for the government’s Future Homes Standard opened on Wednesday (13 December), with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) stating that the requirements will ensure “net-zero ready” status for…

Embodied carbon emissions in the UK built environment have not reduced at the pace required to reach net zero, the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) has warned. The body’s assessment of targets, laid out in a 2021 report called the Net Zero Whole Life Carbon Roadmap, found that the sector…

Ardmore has been named as main contractor on a £50m office retrofit job in central London. Client LS Estates has appointed the Islington-headquartered firm to its commercial project at 5 Chancery Lane. Work will involve retrofitting the existing six-storey building, located between Fleet Street and Holborn, to provide 105,600 square…

The Scottish Government has said its new legislative plans to improve energy efficiency in the nation’s housing stock will incentivise construction businesses to invest in upskilling. Zero carbon buildings minister Patrick Harvie said proposals under consultation as part of the long-awaited Heat in Buildings Bill would provide the certainty needed…

A key report has warned that the industry is “not on track” to improve energy efficiency in millions of homes – but minister Nusrat Ghani failed to acknowledge the warning in the document’s foreword. In its seventh quarterly report of the Construct Zero Performance Framework, the Construction Leadership Council (CLC)…

Not a single application has been made for an onshore wind scheme in England since the government relaxed planning rules with great fanfare 10 weeks ago, it has emerged. Membership body RenewableUK said its data showed zero bids to build turbines on English soil after ministers acted to make it…

Construction bodies have bemoaned a King’s Speech that confirmed landlords would not have to make home improvements to drive up energy efficiency. In a traditional ceremony in the Houses of Parliament, King Charles today (7 November) outlined the 21 laws that the government intends to push through over the coming…

Balfour Beatty has been selected to build a £67.8m Passivhaus-accredited secondary school in Edinburgh. The UK’s largest contractor will build a replacement campus for Liberton High School, whose existing building is being demolished after a 12-year-old girl was crushed to death when a wall collapsed in 2014. The mixed-use campus…

A Scottish council has paused a requirement for its new housing to meet the Passivhaus sustainability standard, amid concerns over high costs. Last week, members of Midlothian Council backed a motion to pause the pursuit of Passivhaus compliance in future housing developments until the council could better consider its costs…

The Scottish Government has been warned that legislative delays are jeopardising the transition to net-zero homes by 2045. The Existing Homes Alliance, a coalition of housing, environmental, fuel poverty, consumer and industry organisations, said failure to introduce the Heat in Buildings Bill – as promised in a 2021 strategy document…