Sustainable and Secure Buildings Act 2004
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Stephen Williams)
I am pleased to announce that I am today laying before Parliament the fourth report required under the provisions of the Sustainable and Secure Buildings Act 2004.
The report considers the progress towards the sustainability of the building stock in England over the preceding two years and Wales up until the end of 2011 when the setting of building regulations was devolved to the Welsh Assembly. The Welsh Government will be publishing their own report for 2012.
The report covers changes made to building regulations over the period and their expected impact, plans for future legislation, and proposals for the setting of targets in relation to sustainable buildings. The report also covers changes in the energy and carbon efficiency of the building stock, the extent to which buildings have their own facilities for generating energy, and the recycling and reuse of construction materials over the period.
This Government have, during the period of the report, continued to work to improve the energy efficiency of the housing stock, with the introduction of the green deal and changes to building regulations, most recently the strengthening of the requirements for new buildings in part L (conservation of fuel and power) of the building regulations.
The average energy efficiency rating for homes in England has continued to improve steadily during the period of the report and carbon dioxide emissions from the domestic sector are estimated to be 6 million tonnes lower in 2011 than 2009.