Building Regulations: Energy
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps the department is taking to ensure building energy standards are kept up to date in line with technological advancements in energy-saving technology.
Answered by Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
The Government published the Future Homes and Buildings Standards (FHBS) on 24 March 2026. New homes built to these standards will have high levels of energy-efficiency, excellent insulation, and low carbon heating, such as heat pumps and heat networks. They will also be zero-carbon ready, meaning they will become zero-carbon in operation as the electricity grid decarbonises without the need for further retrofit.
The FHBS includes a functional requirement for all new homes to have a system of on-site renewable electricity generation, subject to practical site constraints. In most cases, we expect this will be met with the installation of solar panels. The FHBS sets energy efficiency requirements for new homes in performance terms, without prescribing specific technologies to be used. This allows developers to innovate and select the most practical and cost-effective solutions appropriate for the site.
The FHBS comes into force for most non-higher risk building work on 24 March 2027, followed by a further 12-month transitional period to give industries, such as the solar installation industry, time to prepare to meet the demand.
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