Current projects

Water efficiency

Purpose

Develop an industry-led approach for improving the water efficiency of new homes and inform the Government's water efficiency roadmap. Support the sector on future water-efficiency measures.

Context

The Environment Agency (EA)’s publication ‘Meeting our Future Water Needs: a National Framework for Water Resources’ set out that there will not be enough water to meet the projected demand for the UK if nothing further was done.


In response, on 1st July 2022 the Secretary of State at Defra (George Eustice) announced that in 2022, Government would develop a roadmap towards greater water efficiency in new developments and retrofits, including the exploration of revised building regulations and how the development of new technologies can contribute to meeting these standards.


The Future Homes Hub has been asked to provide input to that Roadmap by collating a call for evidence and bringing together industry stakeholders to inform the shape of the Roadmap.

Delivery board

A cross‑sector Water Smart Growth Board (WSGB) has been established to support the delivery of sustainable housing growth through better, more integrated water management across England. 


The Board builds on the foundations laid by Ofwat’s Enabling Water Smart Communities(EWSC) project and responds to the growing national need for collaborative solutions to tackle water scarcity, infrastructure capacity challenges and climate‑related pressures.


The WSGB brings together senior leaders from government, the housing sector, water industry, regulators, environmental bodies, academia and practitioners to provide strategic oversight and coordination to ensure that new homes are ‘water smart’: resilient, water‑efficient and supported by the right infrastructure and water management solutions that work for housing delivery, people and nature.


The Water Smart Growth Board is linked to the Government’s Water Delivery Taskforce with a view to:


  • the creation, maintenance and oversight of a national roadmap for integrated water management in new housing developments.
  • supporting policy development and implementation across water and housing that both contributes towards, and removes barriers to, sustainable housing delivery.
  • strengthening knowledge and skills among all stakeholders involved in building new homes
  • establishing a Community of Practice to share good practice and feedback on policy and implementation challenges and opportunities.

Delivery themes

Four specialist Implementation Groups are addressing:


  1. Delivering Infrastructure for Housing Growth - identifying the barriers and solutions to planning for and securing water and waste-water connection, to enable sustainable growth and addressing approaches and solutions in water-constrained areas
  2. Water Efficiency - securing successful implementation of changes to Part G of the building regulations to improve water efficiency
  3. Water Reuse - developing recommendations on the practical approach, steps and timeline for incorporating potable and non-potable water reuse within new developments
  4. Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) - securing successful implementation of the new SuDS standards, including the SuDS hierarchy and informing long-term maintenance

Participants

An oversight group is being established to investigate and report findings to DEFRA.  The group is to be chaired by Louise Clarke from Berkeley Homes with first meeting w/c 19th October 2022.