Housing: Standards
[Official Report, 25 January 2010, Vol. 504, c. 564W.]
Letter of correction from Mr. Ian Austin:
An error has been identified in the written answer given to the hon. Member for Peterborough (Mr. Jackson) on 25 January 2010. Code Level 6 was omitted from the final sentence.
The correct answer should have been: (312009)
Level 6 of the Code for Sustainable Homes (the Code) is a zero carbon home with very high sustainability standards and is an incredibly high standard to build to. However, we now have a growing number of homes been built to this higher level of the Code.
It takes between 18 months and two years to design and build a Code home. The Code came into operation in April 2007, but we did not start seeing homes built to the Code standard until late 2008. The number of Code homes are increasing every month. At the end of December 2009, there were a total of 2,434 homes with Code certificates spread across all Code levels at post-construction stage (i.e. completed Code homes), 10,319 at design stage and over 300,000 registered homes on over 3,000 developments. Most of these homes are built to Code Level 3—which represents for energy a 25 per cent. improvement on the current building regulations and is a demanding building standard. Homes funded by the Homes and Communities Agency are required to meet Code Level 3 standard.
There are two stages in the assessment process for the Code and 110 Code Level 6 homes have been certified.