FutureBuild 2025

Those who know me will know I very much prefer to stay in the Shires, and am rarely convinced to venture into cities.

But I do make a few exceptions, and one of these is the FutureBuild exhibition at London’s Excel.

The FutureBuild exhibition is held at London's ExCeL

And here's the rare proof that I attended an event that was inside the M25

For those unfamiliar with this annual gathering, FutureBuild promotes itself as an event for 'building a better future for the built environment'.

For most attendees, it’s a chance to hear talks from the nation’s leading specialists on how housebuilding can go greener and eventually hit net zero.

For others, it’s an opportunity to see first-hand the latest technological developments, both in terms of new heating and ventilation ideas, and also the latest concepts for reducing the carbon lifecycle of commonly used construction materials.

For me, it’s about networking; It’s a rare opportunity for me to meet up with people I only ever talk to virtually. And there was only one topic on my mind this year... the impending launch of the Home Energy Model.

Thankfully, I wasn't the only nerd in the room who wanted to chat about this. With so many Government consultations published recently aimed at improving the energy performance of new homes, there's a real thirst for knowledge about what the new policies are, when they will impact live building sites, and what will a compliant building look like post-2025.

A lot of these conversations boil down to the latest gossip on the Future Homes Standard and Home Energy Model. My visit was a golden opportunity to unpick common themes from talking to different people from different sectors of the housebuilding industry.

One of the many talks taking place at FutureBuild 2025 was on the latest EPC Reform consultation, and how this will impact homeowners, consumers, energy assessors and mortgage lenders.

Generally speaking, there’s optimism for what’s to come, but also caution about the timeframes for implementation, and how many unknowns we are still having to contend with just months away from the expected publication.

The new Home Energy Model is being welcomed as the replacement for SAP calculations, even though we don’t really know what that means yet in terms of compliance or how complex the final version of software is going to be.

From the manufacturer side, most companies fall into one of two camps: Those who are designing new versions of existing technology with better efficiencies, and those who are creating new ways of providing us with heating, hot water and ventilation.

For the latter, it is essential that HEM can accurately calculate how these new technologies work, and report results fairly. In the past, we’ve seen innovation stifled because SAP can’t handle tech that doesn’t fit in its pre-defined boxes. And if SAP doesn’t understand it, then Part L results won't show any benefit, so housebuilders have no incentive to use it.

The more adaptable HEM is to emerging technology, the better it is for all those R&D teams who are doing their best to push their great inventions into the marketplace.

And there’s no shortage of great ideas out there, form thermal energy stores to smart hot water cylinders, heated skirting boards to ambient loop systems.

A cluster of SunAmp thermal stores - an example of technology that doesn't fit into the standard dropdown options available in the SAP calculator

I’m looking forward to seeing how HEM deals with all these potential new scenarios, and more crucially, how much of an improvement they will deliver on the final Part L and EPC figures.

It’s not just building services that are on the road to net zero; there are also some impressive looking innovations in the world of fabric.

And while some ideas - such as walls made of solar PV - will have limited appeal to the UK market, other products, like concrete blocks manufactured without the carbon impact of concrete, will be.

It’s also interesting to hear the calls for mandating carbon lifecycle ramping up. Some parts of the world now target lifecycle on new builds, but in the UK it’s only required some major projects via schemes like BREEAM. Once the current upheaval of Part L 2025 has died down, this has surely got to become the next focus.

Latest research suggests the carbon emissions calculated by SAP are just 5-10% of the total carbon produced, when you consider the manufacture of building products and end-of-life recycling.

The upcoming version of Part L and the launch of the Home Energy Model will take us into a whole new era of deep-dive analysis, multi-metric EPCs and compliance results offering a truly granular level of detail.

And after that, our attention will need to shift from in-use carbon emissions to whole carbon lifecycle. I'll be interested to see how the Approved Documents and the Home Energy Model evolve in the coming years to deal with this.