We created this article to help you stay ahead of the curve, take advantage of the coming changes, and prosper where others are failing. The change we are referring to is The New Homes Standards, and knowing how it will affect you will skyrocket your success.

The New Homes Standard is a piece of legislation which is due to take effect in 2025. It requires CO2 emissions produced by newly built homes to be 75%-80% lower than those that are being built by today’s standard.

This will come as a shock for many developers, as it means they must change the way they build and calculate development deals. However, as much as these changes are going to rock the industry, they are necessary.

Homes built under the current standard are producing 8.1 tonnes of carbon per year. That’s the equivalent of driving 29,825.816 miles in a diesel car. To put that into further perspective, that is more miles than it would take to drive around the circumference of the earth.

The best thing to do is start preparing now. If you wait until 2025 to make the necessary changes to your development business, then you will be behind everyone else. If you want to dip your toe in the water, then look at what materials are used in your builds that can be replaced with sustainable ones. For example, can you use bamboo flooring over hardwood or start using recycled steel beams?

There are alternative methods of building that will give you a head start, like SIPs buildings, which produce much less carbon. Try to implement sustainability into every step of your build, beginning with the planning stage. Speak with an architect about your plans, they’ll help you to put something together that is more eco-friendly than a standard build.

We will soon start to see local councils tighten up the planning process. If developers submit plans for new homes that aren’t eco-friendly and are still producing high carbon emissions, then they will find that these plans get rejected.

Fossil fuels will also be banned, so developers need to look at new ways of heating homes. For example, homes with boilers will no longer get through the planning process. Instead, homes will need to be heated with eco-friendly methods, like air source heat pumps.

Right now, low-carbon homes are all the rage. It is seen as trendy to have a property which has substantially fewer carbon emissions. It is better to get on the bandwagon while these properties are seen as new. Advertising your builds in this way will increase their value and attract more interest from people looking to buy/rent.

New schemes and funding programmes, like ‘green mortgages’, are being released. These schemes make buying low-carbon homes more attractive as homeowners are rewarded for it. However, these rewards will soon start to fade away when everyone is building homes to the new standard. Get ahead of the curve and take advantage of these benefits while you can.

We take the planet into consideration when starting a new project. However, we do not just do this to make planning easier or increase the value of our projects. We care about the environment, and we work hard to make a positive difference, one new home at a time.

For more information on how you can make a positive impact and a return on investment by being involved in one of our projects, click here.