Housebuilding And The Green Economy

The events of the last two years have seen a virtual collapse of much of the housebuilding industry and an observer would be forgiven for thinking that new houses are no longer being built. This is of course nonsense and although the numbers are dramatically down from their peaks of only a few years ago there is still a great deal going on.

Couple that with refurbishment and the very vibrant social housing sector there is still much going on. One of the challenges of today’s housebuilder is conditions in planning consents relating to onsite renewables and the steady move towards the code 6 house being the standard to be achieved by 2016.

Obviously this is not all going to happen overnight but although there is an incremental cost to greening a house developers are realising that in the intensely tricky market green credentials are often the edge needed to make a sale. Discerning purchasers are increasingly interested in houses equipped with eco friendly appliances, ground source heat pumps, rainwater harvesting systems, water recycling and of course double glazing and high spec insulation is now taken for granted.