Building the future: how the Future Homes Standard enables net-zero homes

The landscape of residential construction in the UK is undergoing a radical transformation. With the recent release of the Future Homes Standard (FHS), the industry has a clear roadmap for delivering net-zero-ready homes that are fit for a sustainable future. This standard represents a significant leap forward, aiming for a 75–80% reduction in operational CO₂ emissions compared to the 2013 baseline, a stark increase from the 31% reduction required under Part L 2021.

A shift from carbon reduction to carbon elimination

The most fundamental change introduced by the FHS is the shift from reducing carbon emissions to delivering homes that are net zero ready. This means, for the first time, the use of fossil fuels will be prohibited in all new homes. Instead of traditional gas boilers, the new ‘notional dwelling’, used as the benchmark for regulatory compliance, will use low-carbon heat pumps for heating and hot water and benefit from solar PV panels providing renewable electricity. 

This improvement to the notional systems will ensure that, as the national grid continues to decarbonise, these homes will automatically reach net zero without the need for expensive future retrofits.

Enhancing the building fabric

Although significantly increased as part of the Part L 2021 update, the FHS also places a heavy emphasis on the ‘fabric first’ approach. While still maintaining the strict notional fabric values of the previous update, new homes will require improved air-tightness (3m²/hm³) and high-performance glazing, which, in practice, will often mean triple glazing. This is to ensure the building envelope is efficient enough to significantly minimise heating energy demand. 
As always, the fabric-first approach is a key part of energy performance. However, fabric improvements alone can no longer deliver the carbon savings, and low‑carbon heating is essential to the FHS to succeed.

New standards for building services

To complement improvements in building fabric, the FHS raises minimum performance requirements across key building services, ensuring homes operate efficiently in real-world conditions.

•    Heat pumps, minimum efficiency and COP requirements. 
•    Comfort cooling, higher seasonal energy efficiency ratio (SEER) thresholds.
•    Ventilation systems, tighter SFP limits for MEV and MVHR.
•    Lighting, increased minimum efficacy reflecting LED performance.

The Home Energy Model (HEM)

In addition to the notional building being updated as part of the implementation of FHS, the way we measure compliance is also changing. The established SAP10 will eventually be replaced by the HEM, a new primary compliance tool that uses more dynamic modelling and half-hourly local weather data to provide a more accurate and realistic assessment of a home’s energy performance. 

During the transition process, the newly released SAP 10.3 will be available and will use the Future Home Standard notional dwelling, revised primary energy and carbon factors to calculate compliance with the Future Home Standard. Once there is clearer guidance for the use of HEM, we will continue to train our staff to ensure there is no gap in our expertise in compliance tools, enabling us to maintain accurate, high-quality assessments while preparing for the future transition to HEM.

The road ahead

The Future Homes Standard is set to be implemented through the Approved Document L and will come into full effect in March 2027. As with previous regulatory updates, a 12-month transitional period will apply to allow the industry to adapt to these rigorous new requirements. For developers, designers and homeowners, early engagement with the Future Homes Standard is key to delivering compliant, comfortable and future-proof homes, without costly retrofits later.