Upfront Our last chance to change?

Our world is changing irrevocably and creating ever greater challenges to us in the property management and development sector. Climate change has the potential to affect our economic and social stability, and we can ignore no longer the scientific evidence showing the threat posed to lifestyle, the built environment and the development of sustainable communities. At the same time, rising fuel prices and the finite supply of oil are changing the way we view our lifestyles.

For example, research now shows that 1.7 million people have been plunged into fuel poverty in the past two years. With oil running out and prices rising we have got to find new ways of powering our homes. And with research showing our homes are responsible for generating more than a quarter of the UK’s carbon emissions, it is no surprise that designing sustainable housing is at the forefront of government policy.

It is a challenge we have to meet head on, and the targets set for building carbon neutral homes by 2016 and reducing carbon emissions by 60% by 2050 are tough ones, but ones we cannot shirk away from. We must learn from our European neighbours who have developed eco-friendly projects, and ensure we share expertise across the industry.

Yes, there are cost implications. The communities department estimates that the extra costs could be up to 7% higher than for building a conventional home. At Places for Peoples’ Broughton Atterbury development in Milton Keynes, we built 229 homes to EcoHomes Excellent rating at an additional cost per unit of around £1,880 – about 2%. This is significantly lower than was previously possible and shows that developers can create cost effective eco developments.

Incentives such as dropping stamp duty for carbon neutral homes are limited, to say the least

But we also need better incentives from government. That of dropping stamp duty for carbon neutral homes is limited, to say the least. Maybe a sliding scale that rewards developers that make progress but do not quite reach the 100% carbon neutral level would prove more of an incentive.

We clearly do have some good examples of eco friendly housing in the UK, but we need to move these lessons from the margins to the mainstream. We also need to focus on raising the energy efficiency of existing stock and concentrate on initiatives such as efficient lighting, heating and low emitting boilers that can go a long way to meeting the targets to reduce carbon emissions. We have been heavily involved in the introduction of energy efficiency certificates that will provide us all with an opportunity to assess and improve millions of homes across the UK.

We have a golden opportunity to not only meet the challenges but to create places where people are proud to live and work and are truly sustainable. We must not let the opportunity slip away.