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Press Release

Local decision, local impact - the future of zero carbon homes

2 August 2010

UK Timber Frame Association (UKTFA) chairman Geoff Arnold comments on Grant Shapps' zero carbon homes plan.

"Timber frame construction gets a big boost this week with Housing Minister Grant Shapps' announcement. Shapps confirmed that future Building Regulations will concentrate on getting the fabric of the building right; which is great news for timber frame. The Minister is essentially saying that leaky, poorly built homes with fancy renewable energy systems will, in time, no longer be acceptable – the emphasis should be on putting the fabric first. We only need to look at the social housing market to appreciate this point – social housing regularly achieves Code 4 and it's no surprise that these homes, plus homes achieving Code levels 5 and 6, are timber frame.

"The future of house building is firmly in the hands of local decision making and local delivery and this is a very positive move. It gives developers much greater flexibility to try and achieve the 2016 target. It's all well and good central government setting the standards but it's a positive step to see government accept that delivery has to be led by local decision makers if zero carbon homes are to be a reality.

The priority now is for developers to get behind Shapps' vision - forget high-cost retrofits and inflexible design –the path is well and truly laid for timber frame."

Article Comments

And let's not forget that wood stores the carbon that trees sucked out of the atmosphere, making timber frame consturction one of the ways we can help fight climate change.

John White
10th Aug 2010 at 11:45 am



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UK Timber Frame Association

UK Timber Frame Association

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