Greener homes for the future
Domestic homes account for around 27% of the UK’s carbon emissions, a major cause of climate change. The Department for Communities and Local Government laid the foundations for greener housing when it launched the Code for Sustainable Homes in 2007. Since May 2008 all new homes are required to have a Code rating against the Code and for a Code certificate.
What is a Code Home?
Code homes are built to the standards set in the Code for Sustainable Homes (the Code). They are more energy and water efficient, produce fewer carbon emissions and are better for the environment.
Code homes also encourage their owners to live a more sustainable lifestyle and are built in a more efficient way, using materials from sustainable sources. This creates less waste and also means Code homes have lower running costs.
There are nine categories in the Code covering energy, water, the materials used in the home through to health and wellbeing and pollution with points assigned to each category.
When a builder chooses to incorporate a specific feature they are awarded points, which when added together, form the basis of a hotel-style star rating system.
The Code sets minimum standards for energy and water use at each level. The rating a home receives depends on how it measures up in nine categories:
- Energy and CO2 Emissions
- Water
- Materials
- Surface Water Run-off
- Waste
- Pollution
- Health and Wellbeing
- Management
- Ecology
How the Code works
The Code uses a 1 to 6 star rating system to communicate the overall sustainability performance of a new home. A home assessed as 6 stars will have achieved the highest sustainability rating. The results of the Code assessment are then recorded on a certificate assigned to the dwelling which can then be used as part of the Home Information Pack (HIP).
A Code assessment can only be carried out by a licensed and accredited Code assessor. This ensures the rating is independent and trustworthy. In order to build to the Code, a builder needs to hire the services of a Code assessor. They can advise what features need to be installed to achieve different levels of the Code.
The rating ranges from 1 to 6 stars:
- 1 star homes will be 10% more energy efficient and 20% more water efficient than most new homes.
It may also have some of the other features in the Code such as providing office work space with communication links within the home, secure cycle storage or greater security features. - 3 star homes would be 25% more energy efficient and have many more sustainable features than a 1 star home.
- 6 star homes would be highly sustainable and over the course of the year their net carbon emissions would be zero.
Needing over 90% of the points available, a 6 star home would include most of the sustainability features in the Code.
For further details on the Code for Sustainable Homes please visit the Communities & Local Government website - www.communities.gov.uk
* Subject to transitional arrangements. These provisions only apply to those new homes where a local authority has received a building notice, initial notice or full plans application after 1st May 2008
** Source for text is Communities & Local Government Publication Greener Homes For the Future
