Letters

Letter: Confirmation of no gas grid connections for new homes under the Future Homes Standard

Share
New build homes in Kings Heath, Birmingham, UK. The Future Homes Standard will set out requirements for newly built homes to ensure a high energy performance, with electric technologies such as heat pumps. Photo by Jack Barton on Unsplash.
New build homes in Kings Heath, Birmingham, UK. The Future Homes Standard will set out requirements for newly built homes to ensure a high energy performance, with electric technologies such as heat pumps. Photo by Jack Barton on Unsplash.

A coalition of architects, housing organisations, energy companies, financial institutions, installers, manufacturers, aviation firms and civil society have written to the UK Minister for Housing to seek confirmation that there will be no new gas grid connections permitted under the Future Homes Standard, in line with the UK’s energy security and climate goals.

This is a key policy decision to ensure that new homes are fit for the future, alongside high fabric performance, to position the UK as a leader in clean heat. 

Read the letter here.

A clear, long-term signal helps spur investment in British clean tech supply chains, skills and training 

The Future Homes Standard will set out requirements for newly built homes to ensure a high energy performance, with electric technologies such as heat pumps anticipated to be the primary heating source, as well as low carbon heat networks. Heat pumps are an established technology, with approximately 59 million installed across Europe and over 190 million worldwide.

Heat pumps support energy security as they are 3-4 times more efficient than gas boilers, and significantly reduce household fossil gas usage. The UK has a target to install 600,000 heat pumps per year by 2028. However, we continue to lag far behind the rest of Europe on installation rates, having only installed 40,000 in 2022.

The new build market will be key for decarbonising heat and getting on track for energy security and climate targets. Clear policy signals through the Future Homes Standard are vital to spur private investment, boosting British manufacturing and skills by providing the clean heat market confidence to grow supply chains. 

Ensuring no fossil fuel loopholes  

It is critically important that the Future Homes Standard does not allow new homes to be connected to the gas grid, and we seek confirmation from the government that this will be the case. There is a risk that allowing ‘hydrogen-ready’ boilers to be installed under the Future Homes Standard could create a loophole which would allow new homes to be connected to the gas grid and burn fossil fuels for years to come.

100% hydrogen for heating is not yet a tried and tested technology, and unlikely to be available for decades – and even then, unlikely to be economic as a nationwide solution for domestic heat decarbonisation.

While hydrogen will be essential for decarbonising sectors including power and aviation, the House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee has concluded hydrogen will have a limited role in replacing gas in heating homes.

Allowing hydrogen-ready boilers and new connections to the gas grid could lock new homeowners into polluting fossil fuels, and put them at risk of costly retrofits in the likely case that the domestic gas grid is never fully converted to green hydrogen.  

Signatories

E3G 

Nationwide Building Society 

Abundance Investment  

Coventry Building Society 

E.ON 

Octopus 

Sustainable Aviation  

Good Energy  

Principality Building Society  

Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors 

Energy UK  

Ecology Building Society 

UK Green Building Council 

Airlines UK 

ADS Group 

Ground Source Heat Pump Association  

Kensa Group 

Ambue 

Nesta 

ECD Architects 

Solar Thermal UK 

End Fuel Poverty Coalition 

Friends of the Earth 

Power for People 

ep group  

Green Alliance 

Uplift 

Global Witness 

Heat Pump Federation 

Regen 

Greenpeace UK 

WWF UK 

ICAX 

MCS Charitable Foundation  

Positive Money 

Environmental Justice Foundation 

Chartered Institute of Housing  

Architects Climate Action Network 

NATIVE STUDIO 

Transition by Design 

Parents for Future UK 

Related

Subscribe to our newsletter