Postcard from Chesterfield in 2035 (inspired by the Zero Carbon Britain Making It Happen report)

Homes and buildings

Thanks to changes to national building standards in 2020 all new buildings are all now required to be zero carbon ie ‘Passive House or equivalent’ standards, giving everyone – whether they’re home-owners or in the social and rented sectors – homes that are warmer and cheaper to run. Fuel poverty is a thing of the past.

The Council and registered social landlords have built a new generation of zero carbon social homes, developing award-winning districts of high-quality homes which are easier and cheaper to maintain. The Council has even invested in its own innovative factory to produce the modular low-carbon homes, creating a new manufacturing base and jobs. New homes are built to higher densities and because of better public and active transport and local car-sharing schemes there is no longer need for so much carpark space.  The additional space is used to create areas for tree planting, wildlife, food growing and play. Because the roads are safe from traffic children play in the streets and explore their neighbourhoods independently, with benefits for their mental health and cognitive development.

While many of Chesterfield’s buildings look the same, their performance has dramatically improved thanks to comprehensive energy efficiency retrofitting. This has come about through a mixture of minimum energy efficiency standards for buildings, incentive schemes managed by local authorities to ensure secure financial returns, and the provision of low-cost finance as part of a national New Green Deal.

Methods and technologies for achieving these super-high efficiency standards have spread throughout the construction industry, with retraining of local tradespeople to take advantage of the boom in refurbishment. With their wider implementation, costs have reduced significantly and further innovations have been developed.

The materials used in building new buildings and in retrofitting existing ones have changed. Knowledge and information about the embodied energy and carbon of construction materials, as well as the health and well-being benefits of ‘natural materials’, have become widely available and well understood.

The materials used in building new buildings and in retrofitting existing ones have changed. Knowledge and information about the embodied energy and carbon of construction materials, as well as the health and well-being benefits of ‘natural materials’, have become widely available and well understood.