As house builders aim to meet the zero carbon homes target, the Good Homes Alliance (GHA) has teamed up with leading academics and other industry experts to launch a joint-venture to help improve the performance and sustainability of new homes.

The project draws on pioneering, six-year analysis of over 700 units at Stamford Brook near Altrincham, undertaken by Leeds Metropolitan University and University College London (UCL). According to this analysis, disjointed regulations, inadequate architectural tools and poor project management were cited as some of the main reasons for failure to deliver low-energy housing.

The joint venture, known as the LowCarb4Real project, part of the UrbanBuzz programme, will allow members throughout the industry to feedback on design, construction practices and production processes, to help identify and overcome the challenges ahead as we move towards the Government’s target for zero carbon new homes by 2016.

Regulation is identified as a key area for improvement, with failures in the system of regulatory advice and disjointed legislation currently causing problems for house builders. Project management on the building site is another major area that requires reform. This includes the assimilation of building services into designs, better integration of the different trades involved and ensuring the sequence of the construction process is logical.

The scheme is also producing detailed guidance, in the form of posters and case studies, about aspects of delivering low carbon homes, including how to achieve air-tightness standards, how to avoid thermal bridges and bypasses, and details of energy-efficient services strategies.

Neil May, chairman of the Good Homes Alliance, said: “Meeting Levels 3 and above of the Code for Sustainable Homes is extremely complex and, ideally, we need to orchestrate a culture change in the way we approach the entire construction process. Although the houses at Stamford Brook were successfully constructed to use 60% less energy than the average UK home, they still recorded significant heat losses.

"The findings clearly highlight an urgent need to improve training and education at all levels and we hope that LowCarb4Real will contribute significantly to this aim."