FHS – part of an overall strategy
By Jon Vanstone, chair, Certass.
The Future Homes Standard consultation position aligns with expectations from other areas outside of glazing for which discussions have been ongoing throughout the year.
The running costs come from the Green Book and when you combine this with the move towards low carbon, the need to increase the fabric standards does not make much difference to the efficiency of heating systems.
As our electricity grid becomes greener, increasing fabric standards becomes increasingly less cost-effective to the point where such changes as a drive towards triple glazing costs more than the related carbon savings it brings.
We have to accept that a building is a system and we in glazing are one part of an overall strategy where solar PV and heat pumps will do much more to reduce carbon emissions and consumers bills.
With the launch of the FHS comes the new Home Energy Model consultation which is where we will see some change that does impact our sector, and requiring a much greater use of technology, as we need to measure the actual impact of each window taking us away from standard sizes.
Some are likely to promote that this will still drive the need for triple glazing due to actual sizes, but as this is for new homes, adjustments will be made to negate this.
There is time for our industry to collaborate and agree on a collective response that can then be re-messaged through a number of channels, and I hope we can start 2024 in this vein.