UK homes unfit for the challenges of climate change

UK homes are unfit and poorly adapted to the challenges posed by a changing climate, new CCC report says

The Committee on Climate Change’s new report is out, and it warns that UK housing stock is not well adapted to the challenges of climate change: variable temperatures, droughts and floods. The CCC makes a number of recommendations to Government to on how to urgently address the issue on new build housing and retrofitting existing stock. In ‘UK Housing – Fit For the Future?’ the CCC outline what a future sustainable house would look like:

• More energy efficiency – carbon emissions need to fall by 24% and only 1% of new homes are built to the highest energy performance standards (Band A)
• Higher water efficiency standards
• Property flood resilience measures incentivised through introduction Flood Protection Certificates
• Better ventilation – 20% of homes overheat even in cool summers
• More greenspace and sustainable drainage
• Higher levels of compliance to existing building regulations through building control and planning

The WSBF’s Bricks & Water report is referenced in the report as we highlighted the building performance gap, where homes that are designed and built to a certain water efficiency standard (e.g. 100 litres per person per day) actually use between 5-25% more than that.

Read full report: The CCC