UK government brings sustainability closer to home with new mandatory code

10 Mar 2006
London, UK – The UK government has announced that the Code for Sustainable homes is to become mandatory for all new homes and possibly all existing homes, setting new energy and water efficiency standards beyond building regulations.

“For four years WWF has been campaigning for a single national standard for sustainable homes," said Paul King, Campaign Director of WWF’s One Million Sustainable Homes Campaign.

"We are very pleased that the government has listened and responded in the way it has today with a commitment to introduce a mandatory Code, applicable to all new homes. The Code will set out the trajectory and timescale of regulatory change over the coming years. It must go far enough and fast enough to deliver homes fit for the 21st Century.”

Sustainable homes are essential if CO₂ emissions are to be cut in the UK and if increasingly scarce resources such as water are to be used more efficiently. According to WWF, homes currently produce about 30 per cent of the UK’s CO₂ emissions that are contributing to climate change.

"Sustainable homes will also save people money, and with rapidly rising energy prices, people everywhere will need their homes to be as efficient as possible in the future," King added.

"The new Code for Sustainable Homes will set out a direct path to mandatory zero carbon housing development, in a way that meets the needs of industry, people, and the environment.”

For further information:
David Cowdrey, Press Office
WWF-UK
E-mail: dcowdrey@wwf.org.uk