The Code for Sustainable Homes

This page gives you quick and easy access to information and background on the Code for Sustainable Homes, a new national standard for sustainable design and construction of new homes. The Code measures the sustainability of a new home against nine categories of sustainable design and provides valuable information to home buyers and a tool for builders. We will update the page as and when further information becomes available.

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The Code for Sustainable Homes

This section gives the latest information on the Code for Sustainable Homes.

Publications

• Greener Homes for the Future (Communities and Local Government)
  This leaflet highlights what the Code for Sustainable Homes is, how it works and what it means to have a mandatory rating for new homes.
• Code for Sustainable Homes: Technical guide - October 2008 (Communities and Local Government)
  This technical guidance sets out the requirements for the Code for Sustainable Homes and the process by which a Code assessment is reached. The guide comes into effect on 3 November 2008.
• The Code for Sustainable Homes: Setting the standard in sustainability for new homes (Communities and Local Government)
  This document sets out the assessment process and the performance standards required for the Code for Sustainable Homes. The Code will improve the overall sustainability of new homes by setting a single national standard within which the home building industry can design and construct homes to higher environmental standards.
• Sustainable Buildings Research Newsletter 2007-08 (Communities and Local Government)
  This newsletter contains details of the new projects in Communities and Local Government's sustainable building regulations research and development programme for 2007-08.
• A Guide to Energy Performance Certificates for the Construction, Sale and Let of Non-dwellings: Second edition - July 2008 (Communities and Local Government)
  This guide provides an introduction to energy performance certificates for non-dwellings. It describes the scope and requirements of the Regulations that apply on construction, sale or let and provides guidance on how these are applied in practice.
• A Guide to Generating Energy Performance Certificates for Similar Dwellings Owned by the Same Landlord (Communities and Local Government)
  The guidance will help landlords with multiple properties understand how to produce energy performance certificates for similar dwellings within their portfolio.

Related links

• Code for Sustainable Homes (Communities and Local Government)
  The Code for Sustainable Homes is the national standard for the sustainable design and construction of new homes. It is a voluntary star rating system that shows the sustainability of a new home as a complete package. It is a flexible framework that enables developers to demonstrate the sustainability of new homes. For consumers it is a mark of quality, giving them information they can trust. It sets minimum standards for energy and water use at each level and, within England, replaces the EcoHomes scheme, developed by the Building Research Establishment.
• Code for Sustainable Homes (Planning Portal)
  This page gives information on the Code for Sustainable Homes, which is a national standard for sustainable design and construction of new homes. By integrating elements of this voluntary Code into new homes and obtaining assessments against the Code, developers will be able to obtain a star rating for any new home, which will demonstrate its environmental performance.
• The Code for Sustainable Homes: Code training and accreditation services - BRE (Guest contributor)
  This page gives information on BRE's accreditation role in the enforcement of the Code for Sustainable Homes. A Code assessment can only be carried out by a licensed and accredited Code assessor. This ensures the rating is independent and trustworthy.
• The Code for Sustainable Homes: Videos (Communities and Local Government)
  This page links to two short films on the Code for Sustainable Homes. The first one explains what the Code is, its benefits and how it contributes to other policies, in particular zero carbon development. The second film features the first Code homes in the country and highlights some of the sustainability features that you can expect to see in homes built to Code standards.

News 

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• Experts challenge developers to raise their game on eco-towns (Communities and Local Government)
• New housing and jobs for Yorkshire and Humber (Communities and Local Government)
  
  

Other useful information

This section gives background and other useful information by subject.

Developing the Code for Sustainable Homes

• Code for Sustainable Homes: A step-change in sustainable home building practice (Planning Portal)
  This booklet explains what the Code for Sustainable Homes is and how it works. It also includes tables showing the criteria that assessors will use to measure achievement of sustainability performance under the Code.

Eco-towns

• Eco-towns: Living a greener future - Consultation paper (Communities and Local Government)
  Eco-towns offer the opportunity to achieve high standards of sustainable living while also maximising the potential for affordable housing. This consultation seeks the public's views on the vision for eco-towns and the shortlisted locations proposed.
• Eco-towns Prospectus (Communities and Local Government)
  This prospectus outlines the Government's eco-towns strategy. Eco-towns will be small new towns of at least 5,000 to 20,000 homes. They are intended to exploit the potential to create a complete new settlement to achieve zero-carbon development and more sustainable living using the best new design and architecture.
• Eco-towns Assessment Summaries (Communities and Local Government)
  This document summarises the assessments of several eco-town proposals, focusing on transport and environment issues.
• From Rust-belt to Eco-city (Improvement and Development Agency)
  Robin Hambleton, Professor of City Leadership in the Faculty of Environment and Technology at the University of the West of England, Bristol, examines the bold steps taken by Malmö, Sweden, to respond to the challenges of climate change. 

Energy and water efficiency

• Energy Assessor Qualification and Accreditation (Communities and Local Government)
  This page gives information on energy assessor qualification and accreditation. To protect consumers, accredited assessors must be suitably qualified or competent to produce energy assessments.
• Impact Assessment: The next steps - Energy performance certificates and the establishment of the Green Homes Service (Communities and Local Government)
  This document looks at the impact of measures to widen access to energy performance certificate registers.
• Consultation: The next steps - Energy performance certificates and the establishment of the Green Homes Service (Communities and Local Government)
  This consultation seeks views on a number of practical steps for making energy performance certificates more accessible to help drive changes in behaviour.
• Energy Performance Certificates for Dwellings in the Social and Private Rented Sectors: A guide for landlords (Communities and Local Government)
  This publication provides guidance to landlords in the social and private rented sectors to help them understand their responsibility for making energy performance certificates available when renting a property.
• Buildings in England and Wales score an average ‘C’ energy rating (Communities and Local Government)

Household CO2 emissions

• News release: Green ratings to benefit all home buyers (Communities and Local Government)
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Planning, building and the environment

• Planning Policy Statement: Planning and climate change - Developing practice guidance (Communities and Local Government)
  This page gives information about the development of guidance based on the planning policy statement on climate change.
• Planning Policy Statement: Planning and climate change - Supplement to planning policy statement one (Communities and Local Government)
  This supplement sets out how planning, in providing for the new homes, jobs and infrastructure needed by communities, should help shape places with lower carbon emissions that are resilient to climate change.

Sustainable development

• Sponge Sustainability Network (Guest contributor)
  This website gives information on Sponge, which is a network of individuals who share a particular interest in sustainable development. These individuals generally work on the development of the built environment.
• Building Sustainable Transport into New Developments: A menu of options for growth points and eco-towns (Department for Transport)
  This document is aimed at all those involved in the planning, design and construction of new housing developments. It sets out advice on how to build an effective sustainable transport system in new developments, from the planning to the implementation stage. It recommends a variety of transport options to integrate and adopt according to the location and needs of the individual development.
• The Green Home: Speech by Caroline Flint (Communities and Local Government)
  This is a transcript of the speech given by Housing Minister Caroline Flint at the opening of the Barratt Green House at the Building Research Establishment on 15 May 2008. She says that England is now a world leader in green building.
• Selling Sustainability: A report from the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA)
  This report examines how the UK can bridge the gap between recognising responsibility and taking action on climate change, especially in the realm of the built environment.

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