Mayor's green housing rules cut carbon equivalent of 17,000 flights

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan’s unwavering commitment to the highest environmental and energy standards for new affordable homes is set to enable a total carbon saving across London of 17,500 tonnes a year. This equates to more than17,000 return flights between London and New York City according to new City Hall analysis (1).

As part of this ambition to make London a net zero carbon city by 2030, the Mayor has set out stringent new environmental standards for developers wishing to use City Hall funds to build affordable housing. These include making all developments of 10+ homes net zero-carbon and air quality neutral. These standards are encouraging the necessary shift towards low carbon heating solutions (such as heat pumps or connections to a heat network) rather than gas boilers, and for any suitable roof space to be used for solar panels.

The Mayor’s new London Plan green standards far exceed national regulations and encourage developers to embrace new technology to minimise their impact on the environment. These measures are already showing signs of success: in 2020, referable developments in London achieved a carbon reduction 46.2 per cent higher than those required by national legal requirements for new buildings.

Some councils are already going even further to deliver green housing for their residents. Today the Mayor visited Agar Grove in Camden, believed to be the UK’s biggest Passivhaus project (2) with all 359 new build units, including more than 180 social rent homes, being designed to world-leading energy efficiency standards. The first phase of the development was the 2019 Overall Winner of the annual New London Awards, organised by New London Architecture.

The Mayor also recognises that London’s existing housing stock is responsible for around a third of all the capital’s emissions and that extensive work will need to be done to turn these houses into warm, affordable and ultra-low carbon homes. To this end the Mayor has declared a ‘retrofit revolution’ in London through a package of measures to create low-carbon buildings, tackle the climate emergency and create green jobs. These include an innovation partnership to connect social housing providers with building firms capable of scaling up deep retrofit work, Warmer Homes to help fuel poor Londoners access energy efficiency improvements, and Solar Together London which has already seen almost 1,000 London households install more than 8,000 solar panels, generating 2.4MW of renewable energy. Next year, the Mayor and London Councils, will jointly-host a retrofit summit to coordinate and inspire action and set a path for retrofit action this decade.

Not only will the green home agenda reduce emissions, it will also help to address fuel poverty – Londoners unable to pay their heating bills - which has left more than half a million Londoners facing the difficult choice between heating and eating.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan said: “Having spent time with world leaders and campaigners at COP26 last week, I know we stand at a landmark moment in the battle against climate change. We must take bold action now or face dire consequences, with catastrophic impacts on our environment, the climate and the air we breathe further down the line.

In London that change begins in our own homes. I am determined to build the genuinely affordable homes Londoners need - but they must be homes that are fit for the future and help to tackle the climate emergency rather than make it worse.

“In Camden, the council and developers have clearly embraced this challenge. Whilst we still have a lot to do, but the actions we take today will have a profound impact on the London we leave for future generations.”

Councillor Danny Beales, Camden Cabinet Member for Investing in Communities, Culture and an Inclusive Economy, said: “In Camden we are proud to be building the first new Council homes in generation, with over 1,000 new council homes planned, and almost 450 already delivered with the support of the Mayor of London. These homes are helping to address some of the most significant challenges we are facing in Camden.

“These larger homes are preventing overcrowding and providing our families with space to grow; and at Agar Grove we are building some of the most energy efficient homes in the UK that are helping residents out of fuel poverty and cutting carbon emissions at a time when bills are rising and action against climate change is urgently needed.

“The Mayor of London shares our view that the climate and housing crisis can be tackled hand-in-hand. We want Camden to be zero-carbon by 2030 but we can’t do it alone – we need the government to back us to build more new, greener council homes and to provide crucial investment for overhauling heating networks and upgrading insulation in existing homes.”

Julie Hirigoyen, CEO at the UK Green Building Council, said: “It’s positive to see the Mayor’s office setting a sustainability criteria for its affordable homes programme that goes well beyond Building Regulations.

"With our homes representing around 16% of total UK domestic emissions, it is critical that we get it right first time and ensure all new homes are equipped to deliver the energy performance levels required for Net Zero, which is why UKGBC are calling for a net zero carbon homes definition that includes actual in-use regulated and unregulated energy demand, and upfront embodied carbon emissions, alongside detailed performance targets for each of these."