Building Stock

Lord Stunell Excerpts

Thursday 14th July 2011 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Andrew Stunell)]

I am pleased to announce that I am today laying before Parliament the third 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 and Wales in the preceding two years. It reports on 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.

During the period covered by the report, one of the key legislative changes was the introduction of improved energy efficiency requirements to the building regulations and the publication of updated practical and technical guidance with respect to these requirements in October 2010. The new Government have also initiated a programme of work looking at potential deregulatory changes to the building regulations to be introduced in 2013. It also includes work to deliver the Government’s commitment to further increase energy efficiency through part L (conservation of fuel and power), delivering the next steps to zero carbon for homes and non-domestic buildings, and will consider the wider policy for the retrofit of existing buildings.

The report also notes this Government’s commitment to zero-carbon new homes from 2016 and their announcement as part of the growth review that the 2016 standard would require a 100% reduction of emissions from energy use covered by the building regulations. The report highlights the progress in the last two years in the energy efficiency of dwellings, including heating and insulation measures, as well as providing data on the first year of the Government’s feed-in tariff scheme which aims to encourage deployment of additional small-scale low-carbon electricity generation.

Improving the sustainability of the country’s building stock is critical to tackling climate change. The Climate Change Committee’s recent third annual report reminds us of the size and nature of the challenge. Building regulations have a vital role. The work described in the report which I am publishing today describes the progress which has been made, but we need to take this further, and I expect to return to the House with further proposals in the coming months.