The Future Homes Standard has been presented as a major step forward for housing. In many respects, that is exactly what it should be.
New homes built to the standard are intended to produce at least 75 per cent lower carbon emissions than those built to 2013 standards. Low-carbon heating is becoming the norm – solar PV is moving from an optional extra to an expected feature.
Fabric standards are tightening. Ventilation, commissioning and energy modelling are all under greater scrutiny.
These standards are welcome and long overdue. The homes we build now will still be standing decades from today.
Poorly performing homes create long-term costs for residents, landlords, local authorities and the wider public. They impact people’s lives. How often have we made the case during recent challenges over the state of our housing that we have ‘the oldest and coldest’ housing stock in Europe.
If we are still using that line a generation from now, we have all failed.
Conditions for delivery
What concerns me is the gap between setting a higher standard and creating the conditions to deliver it well.
Some of the conversations around the Future Homes Standard can make it sound like a straightforward specification change. Anyone involved in delivery knows it is more complex than that. The challenge is whether the industry is prepared to deliver homes that perform as intended in practice.
Design teams will need earlier input from sustainability specialists, and late design changes will carry greater risk.
Ventilation strategies will need more space and coordination. Build quality will have to improve if the target airtightness levels are to be achieved consistently. Commissioning requirements are becoming more exacting as well.
None of this is impossible. But it does mean the sector has to stop thinking about compliance as something that can be checked at the end. Performance starts much earlier.
Making it work
At Seddon, this is something we already work through in practice. Across the country, our experience of delivering low-carbon homes has shown how much successful delivery depends on early collaboration, detailed design coordination, build quality on site and maintaining performance intent through to handover.
It must start with the practicalities – the shape and orientation of a building, decisions around glazing, whether enough room has been allowed for ductwork, plant and maintenance access.
It starts with whether the people on site understand the importance of continuity in insulation, sealing and installation quality. It starts with whether a housing provider has enough certainty over product choice and programme to avoid value engineering that weakens outcomes.
Across the Midlands, we have huge housing pressures. We need more affordable homes, lower running costs for residents and progress on carbon reduction. Those aims all point in the same direction. But delivery still depends on local planning capacity, supply chains, skills and the practical ability of teams to work together from the outset.
If any part of that system is weak, standards on paper will not automatically turn into better homes in practice.
Addressing financial pressures
For affordable housing providers, especially, the challenge is sharp. Higher standards can reduce energy bills and improve comfort over the long term.
They can also increase upfront costs through additional materials, more demanding processes, different products and tighter testing and commissioning requirements.
We all know that the sector is already facing financial pressures on multiple fronts.
Seddon’s experience of delivering low-carbon affordable housing has shown that those long-term resident benefits are real, but so too are the pressures around cost, sequencing, technical coordination and supply chain readiness.
Policymakers and the industry need to be honest about what delivery requires. If expectations rise while funding, programmes and procurement models remain unchanged, pressure builds quickly.
Corners may not be cut deliberately, but the system will always push towards compromise where time, cost and technical demands pull against each other. That is the risk the Midlands now needs to confront directly.
Systems approach to delivery
There is another issue here, too. Good outcomes rely on how the whole home works together – fabric, ventilation, heating, layout, controls and resident understanding.
A simpler home delivered well will often outperform a more complex one delivered badly.
If people are expected to live with different heating and ventilation systems, they need homes that are intuitive and clear guidance at handover. Otherwise, the gap between design intent and lived experience will remain.
It should not be normal for a home designed to perform well to fall short because of installation quality or lack of user understanding. If the Future Homes Standard is going to raise expectations, it also has to raise discipline across the delivery process.
That starts with earlier design certainty. The more demanding the performance target, the less room there is for drift later in the programme.
It also requires a stronger focus on build quality. Airtightness, insulation continuity and installation standards are not abstract technical points. They are basic determinants of whether a home will work as intended.
Commissioning and verification need more attention as well. There is little value in a strong design if systems are not properly tested, balanced and handed over.
Skills and training
And there is a wider regional question. The Midlands should be thinking seriously about whether the skills base, subcontractor network and local authority capacity are keeping pace with the standard now being set. Raising standards without strengthening delivery capacity is unlikely to produce the results any of us wants.
For me, we need to ask a tough question. Are we prepared today to deliver at that level the new standards actually demand?
Catching up on any gap will take time. And time is already ticking away.
Policy has moved ahead. Delivery systems now need to catch up.
The Future Homes Standard creates an opportunity to raise the bar. The challenge now is making sure the industry is ready to build to it properly.
This is a personal blog post. Any opinions, findings, and conclusion or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Centre for the New Midlands or any of our associated organisations/individuals.
ABOUT OUR AUTHOR:
Tony Clark joined Seddon Construction in June 2024. He is the Regional Director for the Midlands Housing Partnerships division, he leads the strategic development and operational delivery functions for three workstreams – new build homes, planned/retrofit works and decarbonisation projects.
Prior to that he was at Orbit Group since March 2019. From April 2021 he was the Director of Property Operations and led the Group’s Property Repairs, Property Improvements, Property Safety (including Building Safety), Property Management and Property Charges functions.
40+ years of working in the housing sector, Tony has held various directorships at Housing 21, Viridian Housing, Trident Social Investment Group and The Pioneer Group. Tony’s passion is excellence in customer service and he works hard to instil the same philosophy and drive in both his teams and the partners that he works with.
