Since the publication of the Future Homes Standard (FHS) consultation in December 2023, developers have been working to identify likely specifications that will enable their house types to achieve Part L (operational carbon) requirements cost effectively and to be delivered at scale. The Future Home Hub’s Ready for Zero report helped to inform government about some of the factors that may be important considerations ahead of this consultation, however specifically excluded embodied carbon from the Terms of Reference.
This study aims to begin the conversation that mitigates the risk of homebuilders developing their house types to meet the FHS without ever thinking about embodied carbon.
Report objective
With embodied carbon now representing an increasingly large part of the carbon impact over a new home’s life span, it is important for developers to be able to get a sense of the potential trade-offs between operational and embodied carbon for different options they may be considering.
This study investigates the embodied and whole life carbon implications of building fabric and services specifications that developers are considering to meet the Future Homes Standard. It compares:
- Outputs from the One Click LCA model with the Future Homes Carbon Assessment Tool for an example archetype.
- Upfront and whole life carbon for three example Future Homes Standard specifications and three dwelling archetypes, broken down by building element and by lifecycle stage.
Click here to find out more about the Future Homes Hub’s work on embodied and whole life carbon.