NaCSBA member The Modern Builder is an online marketplace bringing together architects and house manufacturers who use Modern Methods of Construction (MMC).
As a new marketplace, The Modern Builder streamlines the process for self builders, giving them access to extensive expertise and intellectual property at the planning stage of a project. This helps them to make informed decisions, providing the architects with an opportunity to showcase their work while building links with the experienced MMC companies that can construct the houses.
Put simply, repurposing existing designs enables architects and MMC house builders to share designs and specifications for homes that have previously been built. Reusing these past projects makes good use of years’ of expertise, paving the way for greater efficiency and effectiveness in the construction process.
The existing designs can then be tailored for new sites, a strategy designed to simplify the self build process, reduce project risks and unlock new opportunities for builders of all backgrounds. This can result in greater manufacturing efficiency, reduced costs, and increased confidence in the self-build process.
The process lends itself to multi-plot projects, which often have greater design freedoms in comparison to a single self-build opportunity, and the emphasis is on the self-builder to do due diligence in terms of whether a design would be permissible for their site. Thanks to the Right to Build legislation, more and more multi-plot sites are emerging, evidence that the self build registers do have an impact. Find and sign your self build register here.
“Design repurposing has the potential to create a lean self-building structure by making proven designs accessible to a wider audience, empowering self-builders and offering a new route to market. But it goes beyond the mere recycling of old designs – it’s about extracting the valuable insights and lessons learned from previous projects and incorporating them into new designs.
“From feasibility assessments to planning acceptance, and cost analysis, architects can leverage their wealth of experience to streamline the self-build journey for their clients,” says Rhys-Evans Edet, Director and Co-founder of The Modern Builder.
Image: Storyboard Designs
The Right to Build Task Force has published new data that illustrates that not only are self build homes more sustainable than the average new build, but they have a greater beneficial local impact in terms of spend on materials and labour.
This is welcome news that adds weight to the case for a site when it is submitted for planning, contributing to the argument about a site’s impact versus its harm locally.
The National Custom and Self Build Association (NaCSBA) has long known anecdotally that individuals invest more in their own homes in terms of green tech and sustainable methods than mainstream builders, but welcomes the news that for the first time there is data-based evidence to support this.
In terms of building greener, this is mainly due to the fact that self builders invest more than a mainstream builder would as they want a home that’s more energy-efficient and in which they intend to live in for a long time. Equally, they don’t need to factor in a profit margin, unlike speculative builders.
NaCSBA also welcomes the news that the model contributes more locally than speculative building does, as it feeds into local economies – boosting SME businesses and offering training opportunities.
The analysis was conducted by Chamberlain Walker Economics, which used five local authority areas for the research, chosen as they represent a range of types and sizes. These were Breckland Council, Durham Council, Folkestone and Hythe District Council, Herefordshire Council and South Gloucestershire Council.
The Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) of self build homes in the five areas were reviewed to compare energy usage, in comparison to new builds in these areas.
The research looked at two metrics: average energy consumption and average CO2 emissions. This found that the average energy consumption of custom and self build homes was significantly lower, by 8-42%, while CO2 emissions were also lower, by 7-43%, in comparison to new build local averages.
This adds to the growing evidence of custom and self build as a greener route to housing, such as the survey that showed that more than 50% of self builds have a renewable energy source as their primary heating system.
Using the same five areas, the research examined the economic factors around the local impact of labour and materials for custom and self build. It found that these homes roughly doubled the economic impact of mainstream housebuilding, as self builders buy more materials locally, and also source SME trades for their project.
This equated to self build spending nearly double, at £45 in every £100 spent, as opposed to mainstream housebuilders, who spend £22 on local materials and labour.
This is good news for local authorities, as well as providing a pool of work for SME housebuilders, a group that government is keen to see grow.
The Building Performance Network (BPN) has published three free modules to support a range of stakeholders, including self builders, to help them get sustainability right. The guides are designed to support stakeholders to understand the gap between planned energy performance and the actual reality of living in the home.
At NaCSBA we know self builders often become semi-professional in the level of knowledge they develop as they pursue their own build. As such, while these guides won’t be relevant for all, there will be many self builders researching sustainability who will find them insightful as they work to create an energy home that performs as well as promised.
BPE refers to the performance of a home and its systems. Understanding around this area can be complicated, drawing on various data sources, but is necessary to support the emergence of more homes better able to reduce their carbon footprint.
The Building Performance Evaluation modules:
The guides , the first three of five, will support your understanding of what it’s like living in buildings where sustainability has been factored in, in comparison to their predicted performance. This in turn will help you when it comes to making decisions about fabric and systems for your own build, helping you to cut through the greenwash.
The new guides are available at the BPN’s Resource Hub, which is sponsored by Ecology Building Society, and are designed to be entry level for those who are new to BPE and want to understand how to avoid building inefficient homes.
Scotland is leading the way in the UK with a trailblazing piece of legislation that requires all new homes to meet a new Scottish passive standard by 2024, including owner-commissioned or self build homes.
Similar to the Passivhaus Standard, the new regulations set a minimum standard for environmental design standards, meaning all new build homes must meet set levels of airtightness, insulation and energy standards.
Doing this will offer a better lived experience for residents, delivering high levels of thermal performance and energy efficiency that should help manage energy costs, as well as meet wider climate challenges.
The change is set out in the new Domestic Building Environmental Standards Bill, and it is expected that secondary legislation will be passed in Scotland to ensure the standard is being me by 2024.
Alex Rowley MSP introduced the change through a private member’s bill calling for all new housing to meet Passivhaus standard, or a Scottish equivalent, a direct response to the Scottish Climate Assembly Recommendations for Action around homes.
Jon Bootland, CEO, Passivhaus Trust said, “It is a truly forward-thinking approach by the Scottish Government and a positive response to the 2021 Scottish Climate Assembly recommendations.
“They are to be applauded for taking this crucial step towards meeting their Net Zero/ Climate Emergency goals. Now we must ensure that the Bill is well developed and implemented to deliver the greatest impact on the actual performance of new homes in Scotland.”
The Construction Leadership Council (CLC) recently announced that the shortage of construction materials crisis, which had been significant since the pandemic, is easing.
The CLC’s product availability working group tracks the issues around production and supply of materials, many of which were affected by the pandemic, shipping costs, and the energy crisis, leading to shortages and long lead times.
This was a problem for all construction, pushing up prices and causing delays, with smaller builders – and of course self builders – often most affected.
So NaCSBA welcomes the news that shortages are easing, with improvements seen in most of the construction materials, with the exception of Northern Ireland, where local issues around transportation continue to be an issue.
Over the summer the picture has improved especially for aircrete bricks and blocks and softwood, but the energy crisis is adding additional pressure. On one hand it will lead to price increases for energy intensive items, such as glass, with transport costs further impacting price. Equally, the wider energy crisis has led to increased demand – and costs – for renewables, such as solar photovoltaics.
One by-product of crisis is that SME housebuilders and trades are suffering as people postpone renovation and extension work, but this can create additional availability that self builders can take advantage of as their projects, once commenced, cannot be delayed.
The Building Regulations have been amended to secure a 30% reduction in CO2 emissions for all new build homes, which comes into effect in June 2022.
The changes represent government’s response to the consultation to the Future Buildings Standard, which examined new homes in relation to energy efficiency, ventilation and overheating. Its response sets out a vision for construction to support the country to deliver its climate change ambitions.
With heating and power in buildings contributing to 40% of the UK’s entire energy usage, the new regulations require a 30% reduction against current standards for new homes, with other new buildings reducing output by 27%.
NaCSBA knows that self builders are, typically where finances allow, ahead of the curve in creating more sustainable homes, frequently building above Building Regulations – which are a set of minimum standards. As such they are pioneers in low carbon technology, including solar panels and heat pumps.
In previous decades heat retention was a major driving factor behind regulations, but increasingly overheating has become a topic of debate, with many new buildings creating uncomfortable living environments that fail to respond to climate change.
Consequently, building design must take overheating and improved ventilation into account to meet the requirements of the updated Building Regulations.
The regulations are an important step in the preparing to meet the Future Homes and Buildings Standard in 2025, which will mean all future homes are net zero ready and will not need retrofitting.
Housing Minister Eddie Hughes said: “Climate change is the greatest threat we face and we must act to protect our precious planet for future generations. The government is doing everything it can to deliver net zero and slashing CO2 emissions from homes and buildings is vital to achieving this commitment.
“The changes will significantly improve the energy efficiency of the buildings where we live, work and spend our free time and are an important step on our country’s journey towards a cleaner, greener built environment.”
Credit: Arron Beecham
In an effort to meet the climate challenge, all new homes will, from 2022, need to include an electric vehicle charging point, including self builds.
Announced by Boris Johnson in a speech to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) last month, the regulations – which have been billed as world-leading by the government – calls for a revolution for electric vehicles.
Under the new legislation, new homes, supermarkets and workplaces, including those undergoing major renovation where there are over 10 spaces upon completion, will be required to install electric vehicle charge points from next year – although it’s not clear at what point in 2022 these will be required.
Government believes that the new measures could lead to the installation of 145,000 extra charge points across England annually, helping to meet demand as we reach 2030 when the sale of new petrol and diesel cars will be phased out.
Boris Johnson said: “The force driving that change won’t be government, it won’t even be business…it will be the consumer. It will be the young people of today, who can see the consequences of climate change and will be demanding better from us.”
While the news was welcomed in general, The Guardian reported that this new legislation must be just one approach to change, but one that needs additional measures to ensure that charging needs are fair, in socially disadvantaged and rural areas as well.
Image: Pixabay
The National Custom and Self Build Association (NaCSBA) welcomes today’s launch of the £150 million Help to Build equity loan fund. Research in October found that 1 in 3 British adults were interested in a self build, and this new fund will help make this dream possible.
Announced by Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick, Help to Build will transform the sector, and reflects Government’s confidence that more custom and self build homes can be delivered.
Help to Build will help those with smaller deposits access a self or custom build home, and will provide access to additional funding and a lower mortgage rate than would otherwise be the case. A dedicated scheme was necessary because almost all custom and self builders were unable to access the existing Help to Buy Equity Loan Scheme.
In addition to the benefits of having a home built to your own designs and specifications, the scheme is based on the cost to the customer of building their home, and not the price for which a completed home is being sold.
Andrew Baddeley-Chappell, NaCSBA CEO said: “There has been a long-recognised need for greater diversity in our new homes market, and the Help to Build scheme is an important step towards greater customer choice for those with ambition, sound plans and smaller deposits. Help to Build is about increasing choice for the homebuyer.
“Contrary to common perception, in most cases custom and self build is not about people undertaking the build themselves. Rather, it is about the homeowner having control over the design and specification of their project – enabling them to create the home they want, rather than the one someone else believes they would like. It means that new homes will now be part of the solution for the large numbers of people whose cultural, ecological, physical or emotional needs are not currently met by the new-build market.
“In addition, there are many areas where speculative builders are choosing not to build at the speed and scale that is needed, that will benefit from the new housing that Help to Build will facilitate. Custom and self build is common everywhere else in the world. Were we in this situation we would be delivering over 100,000 homes each year via the route.
“This scheme is all about delivering more and better homes, that more people aspire to live in and that communities are happier to see built. This is part of a wider set of changes from the Government to improve diversity and access in our new homes market including the Right to Build. This is an important day for the sector and an important part of building better and beautiful.”
For anyone thinking of self building, NaCSBA has this advice:
Sign up to your local self build register in the area where you would like to build – find yours at www.righttobuildportal.org
For help with plots, check out:
• PlotBrowser from the team at SelfBuild & Design magazine
• Plotfinder.net from the team at Homebuilding & Renovating magazine
• PlotSearch from BuildStore
Image: A self build by English Brothers Limited, built using pre-insulated timber frame panels and includes an insulation ‘wrap’ which makes for a cost-effective way to achieve a u-value of just 0.14 W/m2k.
Anyone considering a community led homes project will be interested to know that the clock is ticking for proposals to be submitted for a 0.10acre site in Waltham Forest, London, with submissions due 11.1.21.
The land is available to deliver affordable housing in the London Borough of Waltham Forest, and the council is keen to hear from community led housing groups in the area who are looking for a site.
The land in question is a former garage site in a residential area of terraced housing, which is currently partly being used for parking. There is a range of site investigations already undertaken, that bidders will want to see.
You can also contact the council’s community led housing team.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has created a new website for selling small publicly-owned sites as a pilot for providing plots for the capital’s small- and medium-enterprise builders.
Find out more about community living with Community Led Homes and Community Led Housing London.
For small developers and groups, the Greater London Authority hosts a Small Sites webpage, with links to small, publicly-owned parcels of land that are suitable for delivering housing. The sites are available for developers, housing associations and communities.
An initiative of Mayor Sadiq Khan, the site was originally piloted in 2018 to market 10 small sites for London’s small- and medium-enterprise (SME) house builders. Since then, the site has grown offering SMEs and groups a route to publicly-owned land, making it a valuable resource.
There are currently 40 sites available through the Small Sites, Small Builders programme, details of which are available on the website or via the newsletter. Sites to look out for are Tower Hamlets which is release a series of small sites to self builders as part of its Affordable Self Build Programme.
As well as sites owned by local authorities, some land is owned by Transport for London. The site also includes resources for small builders, including links to development finance.
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The National Custom and Self Build Association (NaCSBA) has partnered with UK Cohousing Network, National Community Land Trust Network and the Federation of Master Builders to create a new group called Housing Diversification. It’s aim is to persuade Government to create more opportunities for more people to live in custom build, self build and community-led housing. These are houses are typically built by small- to medium-enterprise (SME) housebuilders.
Together, the groups believe that this type of housing could result in an extra 130,000 homes being built by 2025. These homes would be additional units, in that they would be extra to the homes built by the major housebuilders in this period, and therefore help government in its ambition to build 300,000 homes a year.
Housing Diversification knows that the homes built by SME builders for self build and community-led projects are typically more sustainable, beautiful, innovative and of higher quality than many open market homes. In addition, these homes also boost the local economy, providing local jobs and training opportunities.
The number of SME housebuilders has fallen significantly since the 1980s, and halved following the last recession. These SME companies are vital for the supply of local houses, and opportunities must be created to allow them to operate on a level playing field with volume housebuilders, which have very deep pockets.
Housing diversification has three asks of Government:
Andrew Baddeley-Chappell, CEO, National Custom and Self Build Association and spokesperson for the group said: “Despite the importance of houses to our lives and the scale of their cost, there is currently too little choice when it comes to new homes in this country.
“We have come together as Housing Diversification to deliver more passion, quality, and care into the new homes and the new communities that we, as a nation, need to be creating. Just like any other market, increasing diversification will improve quality, innovation, and value. We will deliver homes more people want to live in and that more welcome being built.”
