The industry body representing Scotland's home builders has called for "breathing space" on the implementation of new building standards which it says will only marginally reduce Scotland's overall carbon footprint and may, in the process, delay the provision of essential new housing to meet both private and social needs.

With new homes already leading the way in this area, generating over 60% less CO2 emissions than older properties, the equivalent of driving 10,000 miles a year less per household, Jonathan Fair, Chief Executive of Homes for Scotland, whose members together build 95% of new homes built for sale each year, as well as an increasingly significant proportion of affordable housing output.

He said: "According to the Scottish government's own research, the new home building industry is currently achieving very high standards and has already made significant progress toward low carbon policy targets in comparison to almost all other industry sectors.

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"Whilst we remain fully supportive of the sustainability agenda, the Scottish government must take account of the dramatic impact the credit crunch has had on our industry. Though early signs of stability in the market may now be appearing, we are by no means in recovery mode and will, for the foreseeable future, simply be focusing on re-growing baseline supply and meeting consumers’ expressed core needs in a trading environment where affordability, in its widest sense, is significantly constrained.

"At present, most builders are still to construct houses which comply with even the current 2007 regulations. As such, we have yet to test what impact these proposed extra costs, which are predicted to add approximately £3000 - £8000 on to every new home, will have not only on sales but also entire project viability.

"It has yet to be proven whether consumers are willing to incur a premium for low carbon living or ‘bolt-on renewables’ which seem to offer little in the way of pay back, may prove difficult to understand and operate, or are untried with regards to long term performance and maintenance. Property valuations undertaken for mortgage lenders confirm the view being taken that energy saving equipment at present does not add value to the property."

Given the fact that annual new build supply is likely to remain constrained below 1% of the existing built environment for a considerable time to come, Mr Fair called for much greater emphasis to be placed on systematically improving the carbon performance and energy efficiency of existing dwellings and mooted a potential alternative strategy.

(CD/KMcA)