01 / Introduction

Recent announcements by the UK government, promising greater spending in the construction and infrastructure sectors, together with substantial future planning reforms to kick-start the post-covid economy, are encouraging news. In the rush to get projects up and running, the potential impact on carbon emissions must not be forgotten. The UK’s net zero carbon emissions target for 2050  means developers and their clients will need to work harder to ensure their schemes eliminate or mitigate negative environmental impacts. And if more authorities follow Greater Manchester’s example and bring that net zero target forward (to 2038 in this case), the need for new ways of thinking about planning and delivery across urban and rural areas will be urgent.

In the housing sector, the challenge is stark. The delivery of high-quality, energy-efficient homes to a sufficient scale is a priority to which most current funding models are ill-suited. There are not enough homes being built, and those that are delivered are usually not up to scratch.

Recent announcements to spend £12bn on housebuilding over the next eight years should improve the situation. Prime minister Boris Johnson’s focus on brownfield sites is positive from an environmental perspective  but these sites cannot deliver the hundreds of thousands of homes required. While brownfield sites should always be the first choice for sustainable residential projects, greenfield schemes such as garden communities can offer a lower-density alternative, offering access to green and blue spaces that improve wellbeing and encourage low carbon living. More than 400,000 new homes are set to be delivered by 2050 within 49 new garden communities – alleviating pressure on congested city centres where space is scarce.

Rural development also offers opportunities for innovation in infrastructure, for example through a site-wide renewable energy infrastructure that could mitigate the embodied carbon of the development, and in housing systems by choosing offsite volumetric solutions that provide high-quality, Passivhaus standard, energy-efficient homes at pace and scale.

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