Stewart Milne Timber Systems has issued a statement in response to the Government's pledge to make homes more energy efficient.

Last week, the Scottish Government said new builds in the country would become more energy efficient when changes to building standards come into effect.

From October 2015, improvements to new homes will see carbon dioxide emissions fall by around 21% when compare to current levels. The new, tougher measures will also affect new non-domestic buildings such as shops and offices where the improvements will be greater, with an average reduction in emissions of around 43%.


Responding to the announcement, Alex Goodfellow, group managing director of Stewart Milne Timber Systems, said:

"We support the Scottish Government's decision to extend the deadlines for the introduction of new energy efficiency standards and performance targets.

"While zero carbon remains firmly on the Government’s agenda, the industry requires time to recover from the market downturn and find cost effective solutions to meeting these targets.

"We firmly advocate a fabric first approach, employing sustainable materials in an innovative manner that is both cost effective for our house building clients and easy to implement.

"A fabric first approach enables house builders and construction companies to rely on the fabric of a building to provide the highest energy performance standards. We are already manufacturing systems that reach highest performance standards including BREAAM excellence.

"This legislation provides the construction industry with a challenge and we're working closely with our clients and R&D teams to deliver the means of meeting these new standards while keeping costs down."

(JP/CD)