What are you discussing at the conference and why is this an important issue?
MAST Architects' workshop will discuss the proposed new changes to the building regulations in October 2022 and October 2024, these changes are going to impact on what we build and how we build. The push towards net zero will change the way tenants live and how they use their property, with increased airtightness levels, mechanical ventilation and heat recovery, battery storage and air source heat pumps all adding a next level of complexity to how they live to achieve lower energy bills and carbon savings.
The ever-increasing regulation will add additional cost and maintenance responsibilities to affordable housing stock. With the rapid increase in energy bills, it is vitality important that we take a fabric-first approach to allow new technologies to be retrofitted in the future. Will the current increased grant levels cover this? What extra burden on your cyclical and yearly maintenance will new technologies require and how much could the introduction of heat pumps, photovoltaic (PV), batteries, mechanical ventilation and heat recovery (MVHR), sprinkler systems, linked smoke detectors and electric charging points (EV) all of which will be need serviced, once or even twice a year, add to annual maintenance costs? Lastly, how will these be monitored so that you know they are all working as they are meant to and have not been turned off, if all equipment is not working correctly the property can quickly turn into a sick one, with poor air quality and mold not to mention high energy bills.
What do you think our homes will look like by 2040?
That is a very interesting question, the way we build housing has not really changed much since civilization began, nearly all building is done on site, in the rain or shine, and we rely on multiple trades arriving and working together on site which can be a logistical nightmare. There have been pushes over the last 70 years to make building easier and faster – interwar tenements, non-trade (Wilson Block) and non-trade construction systems –none of which ever took off or are fit for purpose today.
There will be a big push for off-site manufacture in the coming years, and, by 2040, this will be the norm, if not the only way, we will be building. Unlike nearly all other manufacturing industries, the housing market has not taken on modern methods of construction – look at how cars are produced, why can’t houses be produced the same way, on a factory floor, with zero defects and in a controlled environment? Automation will become paramount to the industry, and I believe we will be using new, and lightweight, materials to clad housing.
Following the pandemic there has been a seismic shift towards working from home, and this will be the biggest change to the internal layouts of properties, with a greater provision for home working space. Lastly, and maybe a bit more controversial, will housing have a shorter shelf life and be designed for 15 to 20 years? At present, when you finish a project on site, it is virtually out of date.
