A timely new report, 'Volume - Delivering Sustainable Housing', has been published by the National Trust, Redrow Homes and Bryant Homes.

The report highlights the major obstacles which need to be overcome to make high environmental standards on volume housing building standard practice across the UK and ultimately reach the target of zero carbon new homes by 2016.

•  Delivering Sustainable Housing (PDF/2MB)

The findings of this report are based on the pioneering Stamford Brook housing development on National Trust land in Cheshire which has shown how traditional house building on a large scale can deliver high environmental standards, such as big reductions in water and energy consumption.

There is no renewable energy at Stamford Brook but through good quality design and construction techniques this project has demonstrated that traditional volume housing can be energy and water efficient, saving homeowners money as well as reducing their carbon footprint. 

Rob Jarman, Head of Sustainability and Environmental Practices at the National Trust, says:

'Stamford Brook is proof that a housing development can work when it combines the reality of commercial needs and a vision of better building in terms of environmental standards.

'The effectiveness of the partnership between a conservation charity, developers, a research body and the community has been the key to making this development work; something that we urgently need to see happening across the UK, in the rush to build new homes.'

Stamford Brook shows that it is possible to build energy efficient homes on a large scale. However, the results of monitoring work, led by Leeds Metropolitan University, highlights the need for the house building industry to make improvements in the way houses are designed and built.

Malcolm Bell, Professor of Surveying and Sustainable Housing at Leeds Metropolitan University, who led the research team, comments:

'If the Government’s low carbon housing targets are to be achieved where it matters, on the ground, we must improve the whole production process and continually check that what we design in theory, is realised in practice. This will require considerable effort not only in design and construction but also in education and training so that the lessons from research are continually fed back to the industry.'

Mark Mainwaring, Director and General Manager of Bryant Homes North West, says:

'Stamford Brook has opened many people’s eyes to the energy efficiency gains that can be achieved with traditional cavity wall construction. A great deal can be achieved by the industry appreciating what is needed to deliver high standards of energy efficiency. In this way we can become a lot better at combining traditional building methods with innovative use of materials and practices.'

For more information please visit the National Trust website.