The Herefordshire Future Homes Report sets out the environmental building design standards for future housing developments on council-owned land and council retrofit schemes.
With a shortage of housing to meet the needs of local communities, we are progressing plans to build homes in the county that are affordable and designed to net zero-carbon standards.
Homes account for over 26% of carbon emissions. Herefordshire is among the first counties nationally to set such high environmental standards which reflects our commitment to tackling climate change.
The homes will be designed to:
- Minimise energy use
- Reduce greenhouse-gas emissions
- Be set in neighbourhoods with open spaces to enjoy
- Have access to sustainable transport options
In particular the standards set out the requirements for Herefordshire Future Homes to have:
- Excellent thermal insulation, so heating costs are greatly reduced
- Carefully designed triple-glazed windows, to benefit from useful winter sunshine (solar heat gains), while avoiding summer overheating
- No gas boilers (which use polluting fossil fuels), but electric heat pumps for heating and hot water, which are highly efficient
- Solar panels, generating green electricity
- Heat recovery ventilation (MVHR), to avoid cold window draughts, save energy and filter the incoming air which will help people with asthma, hay fever etc.