The Future Homes Story so far

The UK government’s Future Homes Standard (FHS) is part of its strategy to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050, which is a legally binding target. The standard is also intended to reduce energy bills for occupiers while providing warm and comfortable homes.

The government is currently consulting on its plans to achieve the FHS. It is seeking views on proposals for changes to the building regulations that will come into force in 2025 with the consultation phase closing on 28 March 2024.

Building Regs to Date

As a first stage to meeting the FHS, some amendments have already been made to the building regulations. An uplift to part L and a new part O came into force in June 2022. (Part L covers conservation of fuel and power, while part O relates to overheating in residential buildings.)

The part L uplift introduced new standards for the performance of both building fabric and building services. These included a new maximum flow temperature of 55oC for newly installed wet heating systems.

Underfloor Heating fits the bill

UFH is perfectly suited to this requirement as its large radiant surfaces provide comfortable and economical heating with much lower flow temperatures than a traditional radiator-based system would need. Most of our installations are designed for a flow temperature of around 45oC (although the optimum flow temperature can vary from 35 – 55oC, depending on a variety of factors).

The ultimate low-temperature system is UFH paired with a heat pump, as both are designed to be low-temperature technologies. We work closely with heat pump providers, designing our systems holistically to maximise their efficiency.

Meeting the requirements of the new regulations may seem daunting for housebuilders. But WMS have been designing, supplying and installing low-temperature heating systems since 2003, so we have the expertise to find the right solution for you.

CPD on the future of heating

We also offer a CPD session on the future of heating: low temperature systems and part L & part O updates. If you would like to book a session, please email mark.l@wms-uk.com

WMS – Insights and Foresights

Part O of the building regulations, which took effect in England from June 2022, sets out requirements for mitigating overheating in new residential buildings. We’ve taken a deep dive into how a UFH system can be combined with a heat pump and run in reverse to offer a passive or near-passive means of heat removal, where windows cannot be left open at night.

We are currently gathering evidence to support this approach to mitigating overheating, which is explained in more detail in our paper ‘UFH? That’s Cool’.

Sign up below to receive this report and if you have time to complete our survey we would be really grateful.

REGISTER BELOW & DOWNLOAD OUR IN-DEPTH RESEARCH PIECE ‘UFH? THAT’S COOL’

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