An independent ‘Zero Carbon Hub’ has been set up to work with the UK Government, councils and industry to help implement the 2016 target for zero carbon new homes.

“Building all new houses to zero-carbon standard from 2016 is one of the toughest timetables in the world, and to achieve this we need leadership from the industry as well as from Government. Establishing the Zero Carbon Hub is a critical step in this process and will provide a real focus and resource for coordinating activity, identifying and sharing learning,” said Housing Minister Caroline Flint.

The public-private partnership will set up and manage a series of work groups that will help develop a delivery programme, as well as a practical and workable definition of ‘zero carbon’. The Zero Carbon Hub will also identify a showcase of exemplar buildings to help SMEs in the building sector.

“Many organisations [are] already active in the delivery of Zero Carbon homes but there is significant risk of overlap in some areas and important gaps in others. It is vital that we rapidly develop an overall program and time line to coordinate effort across all sectors, private and public, and track progress,” added Jefferson.

The Zero Carbon Hub will be led by chief executive of the UK Green Building Council Paul King as chairman and Neil Jefferson as chief executive, currently general manager at NHBC.

For further information:
www.ukgbc.org/site/news/showNewsDetails?id=77