ROOFING
SOCIAL HOUSING SECTOR RUNNING OUT OF TIME TO MEET SUSTAINABILITY TARGETS , SAY INDUSTRY EXPERTS
Nine in ten social housing construction professionals believe the sector is in urgent need of new government guidelines if it is going to successfully meet sustainability targets , new research has revealed .
In a survey of 150 decision makers , including architects , involved in the specification of building materials used for social housing developments , 88 % agreed that the sector cannot wait for the pending Decarbonisation Fund and Decent Homes Standard review to define how it is going to become more sustainable – it needs this detail now .
In addition , almost a third of architects ( 28 %) said that the government is yet to adequately define what constitutes the design and build of a sufficiently sustainable home .
Over half ( 57 %) of the architects surveyed believe that there is still time , but only if the government provides further guidance in the first half of this year .
Not only must the UK build more sustainably , but it also needs to increase the rate at which new homes are built to reach the government ’ s target of 300,000 new homes by 2025 . 56 % of social housing experts said that , like with sustainability , significantly more guidance and support is required from the government if it ’ s to meet this target .
The research by Wienerberger , a leading provider of wall , roof and landscaping innovations , explored several key social housing issues , including the housing shortage , sustainability and building quality . It found that the sector was in desperate need of support and guidance if it is to overcome the challenges it ’ s facing . This guidance was expected to be included in the Social Housing Whitepaper which was released late last year , but it failed to clarify a number of key details the sector was waiting on .
When it came to when the sector would need guidance by , a quarter said that it was too late and that further detail was required in 2020 if it was going to adapt in time to meet the government ' s sustainability targets .
As well as building greater volumes in a more environmentally friendly manner , the UK ’ s social housing stock needs to maintain a high standard of build quality . 71 % of architects said that to improve standards without exceeding costs or being non-compliant the sector needs to improve how it collaborates and communicates so that it can share best practice methodologies , technologies and innovations .
To better understand the standard that housing needs to meet , more than half ( 57 %) of the architects Wienerberger questioned said that the pending review of the Decent Homes Standard must provide clarity on building quality .
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