For over 20 years the housebuilding sector has been challenged at regular intervals by regulations targeting carbon emission reductions from heating and lighting new homes. The latest regulatory salvo – the upcoming Future Homes Standard – will cut operational emissions to zero once the electricity grid has been decarbonised. Yet the carbon emissions generated by the materials and products and construction operations needed to build the homes in the first place have barely been discussed.

A handful of builders have tried to reduce the upfront carbon impacts of new home construction, but these initiatives have largely passed the major housebuilders by, even when they were trying to meet the 2016 zero carbon homes mandate which was scrapped before it could be implemented. Contrast this with the work being done by the commercial development community, which has become acutely aware of the carbon impacts of redevelopment and invested considerable effort into reusing existing buildings rather than demolition.