Rush towards zero carbon is ‘out of control’ says top housebuilder

Residents of a flagship development in Upton, Northamptonshire, have been warned not to activate the photovoltaic tiles on their roofs in case they catch fire.

A letter from Europe-wide roofing manufacturer Lafarge cites a scheme in Germany where the same tiles had been used and had malfunctioned causing the “wooden roof structure… [to be] scorched” (see letter, right).

The situation has led the chief executive of the housebuilder that has built 123 homes on the Upton site to slam the government drive to make all new homes zero carbon by 2016.

Tim Hough, chief executive of Miller Homes, which sold 4,000 homes in 2006, told Regenerate that he was concerned the supply chain was not ready to deliver the goods and that the government was “forcing us down this route too quickly”.

He said: “We are not anti-green. We are prepared to experiment and innovate. But to me this is all out of control just now. We need to get a proper grip on the process of moving towards zero carbon homes.”

Hough added that he was considering writing to communities secretary Ruth Kelly about the “current vogue” for wind turbines, solar panels and other sources of renewable energy being “held up as the answer to everyone’s prayers”.

He said this was wrong and that the focus should instead be on the fabric of the building. “You can do a lot towards zero carbon with that before you go anywhere near wind turbines or photovoltaic tiles,” he said.

The comments came just weeks after Kelly unveiled plans to, as she put it, “slash planning red tape to make it easier for people to put green technology on their homes”.

Hough added that Upton was the first site on which Miller had installed photovoltaic tiles. The site was masterplanned by architect EDAW in partnership with the Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment, of which Prince Charles is the patron.

All of the 5,000 homes that are scheduled to be built on it have to adhere to the strict design code laid down by the prince’s planners to ensure a “high standard of urbanism”. This includes the use of green technologies.

Hough said residents had been about to move into the five homes where the photovoltaic tiles had been installed when Miller received a letter from Lafarge warning of a potential fire hazard with its PV80 photovoltaic roof tile.

In a statement Lafarge said that there had been a problem with a particular component made by BP Solar and that as a “precautionary measure” it had asked its customers to “switch off all Lafarge PV80 systems” across Europe in September last year pending repairs. This affected 86 sites – 54 of which were in the UK. It declined to say how many units were involved.

The fears are being voiced as it emerged that the industry standard warranty issued to all new homes by the National Home Building Council would not cover green technologies for more than two years.

The Buildmark Warranty runs for 10 years and covers structural defects. The NHBC said that only if renewable energy systems formed part of the structure of the home, would they be covered for the whole 10 years.

Regenerate can also reveal that the NHBC and Building Research Establishment have responded to calls from the housebuilding industry and have begun working on accreditation schemes to test green energy products.

Ian Davis, NHBC operations director, said: “[We] remain committed to pursuing a programme of research to ensure that consumers do not end up as guinea pigs for technologies which are not tried and tested.”

Referring to the guidance launched this month on how the government expects housebuilders to reach the 2016 zero carbon housing target, a spokeswoman for the DCLG said: “We do appreciate the timetable that we have set is challenging, but the industry and the HBF have worked very closely with us on this. That is why we have set down staging posts between now and 2016. We have made it clear that we are not setting out the technologies that people have to use to get to these stages.”