What is the Future Homes Standard and what does it mean for new homes?
The Future Homes Standard is an update to building regulations that effectively means all new homes will need to be built with “clean heating” in future, along with high standards of insulation and solar PV.
The Future Homes Standard is an update to building regulations that effectively means all new homes will need to be built with “clean heating” in future, along with high standards of insulation and solar PV.
How will it impact new homes?
The changes mean most new homes will:
- No longer be able to connect to the gas network or have a fossil fuel boiler
- Need to use clean heating and hot water technology such as a heat pump or connect to a clean heat network
- Need to be built with high levels of energy efficiency and fabric performance
- Need to achieve minimum levels of rooftop solar (where possible).
When will the changes take effect?
The changes will take full effect in March 2028. Legislative changes were made on 25 March 2026 along with the publication of the new approved Part L document which sets out the detail of how the new standards will be met and the timetable for their introduction.
The government has set out a transition timetable which established a 12-month lead-in time until the new legislation takes effect on 25th March 2027. This is followed by a 12-month transition period, which allows home builders who have submitted initial building notice or planning applications before 25 March 2027 to build under the existing standards. They must begin building by 25 March 2028.
The transition arrangement applies to each individual home rather than a building plot, if developers are building more than one home. Building is taken to have “commenced” once “the sub-surface structure of the building….and the structure of the ground floor level is complete”.
How will compliance with these new standards be assessed?
New homes will need to meet a new minimum standard of total energy performance, which is broken down further into requirements for minimum primary energy consumption, fabric performance and CO2 value. When these values are delivered in a new home, they will result in at least a 75% reduction in CO2 emissions from a home compared to one built under the 2013 building standards.
The assessment of whether a new home meets these targets will be calculated by comparing calculations of the performance of a given new home against calculations of the performance of a theoretical home called the “notional dwelling”. The values of the notional building are set out in Appendix R of the latest Standard Assessment Procedure, SAP 10.3. In due course SAP 10.3 will be replaced by the new Home Energy Model.
This approach, of comparing the overall performance of a house to a notional minimum standard, gives developers and builders flexibility in how the standards can be met. For example, installing a highly efficient heating system like a ground source heat pump could exceed the minimum requirements, which will assume an air source heat pump is used. Developers will be able to use this overperformance to offset lower performance in other areas, potentially saving money. Conversely, fitting a less efficient heating system, such as air source heat pumps or direct electric heating, would need to be balanced out with overperformance elsewhere, such as by adding more solar panels.
Why Kensa has partnered with GTC
With gas being phased out of new homes, developers need practical solutions that work at scale, are delivered on time without complication and won’t overload the electricity grid. That’s why Kensa has partnered with GTC - to deliver the best solution for housebuilders and homebuyers.
What is the GTC x Kensa solution?
Together, GTC and Kensa deliver networked ground source heat pumps for new build developments. This offers highly efficient ground source heat pumps in each home; shared ground infrastructure installed alongside other utilities; no requirement for additional grid capacity; and lower running costs and carbon emissions than air source heat pumps.
This approach also offers peace of mind with service, maintenance and replacement wrapped in. The shared ground infrastructure is designed to last 100 years or more, creating a sustainable, robust heat source for developments and futureproofing homes for generations. A passive cooling option is also available which uses the ground temperature to cool buildings in the summer at a fraction of the running costs of active air conditioning. Given the increasing frequency of heat waves, homes that come with cooling will be increasingly attractive.