A New Agenda for Home Building
Sustainability took centre stage at HBF spring policy conference, A New Agenda for Home Building, with high level speakers including the government’s review of housebuilding delivery chairman John Callcutt and HBF executive chairman Stewart Baseley.
Baseley used his keynote address to reiterate his belief that housebuilders could meet the government’s zero carbon targets. “The homes our forbears built a hundred years ago were six times less energy efficient than the homes today. Achieving zero carbon performance will require less of an advance than that achieved to date.”
The other hot topics of the day were planning policy statement 3 (PPS3) and the planning gain supplement (PGS). Baseley urged the government not to adopt the PGS and said the HBF’s opposition to the tax had been heard at “the most senior levels in the Treasury.”
Delegates were given a comprehensive guide to recent and upcoming policy and the challenges they may present. Bill Beyzade of George Wimpey North Thames said "The conference was very informative, giving an excellent insight into the major issues of the day: sustainability, PPS3 & PGS". The conference was sponsored by The Royal Bank of Scotland and several key member of their team attended. RBS Relationship Director David Bruce commented “A very informative conference. Good varied speakers highlighting all the key industry issues”.
