Matthew Pratt, CEO of Redrow announced as co-chair of Future Homes Standard Implementation Board

2^nd October 2023

The CEO of leading housebuilder, Redrow, has been appointed as Co-Chair of the Future Homes Standard (FHS) Implementation Board. Alongside Catherine Adams, Director of Building Systems and Net Zero at DLUHC, Matthew Pratt will lead the board, bringing together housebuilders and industry partners to anticipate, identify and monitor key issues and actions required to deliver the Future Homes Standard 2025.

 

Over the next three years the Board, which has been convened through the Future Homes Hub, will focus on driving greater collaboration to support successful delivery of the FHS alongside other priorities in meeting the sector’s climate and environmental goals such as water efficiency improvements, biodiversity net gain and improving sustainability metrics.

 

Matthew’s appointment follows Redrow’s commitment earlier this year to install air source heat pumps as standard across all its new developments, two years ahead of the Future Homes Standard deadline, as part of its transition towards net-zero carbon.

 

Matthew Pratt, CEO of Redrow, said: “Transitioning to new, low carbon forms of energy is vital for both the industry and our customers. As housebuilders, we are in a unique position to deliver high quality, more efficient homes for customers, that also respond to the climate needs of our country. It will continue to be one of Redrow’s highest business priorities, and something we actively invest in through new technologies and partnerships. No individual business can achieve the pace of change required alone, and I’m looking forward to driving forward even greater collaboration to deliver homes that are future fit for our people and our planet.

 

Matthew will Co-Chair the Board alongside Catherine Adams, the Director of Building Systems and Net Zero at the DLUHC. Other members include leaders from companies such as Citizens Advice, Homes England, HBF and the NHBC.

 

Catherine Adams, Director of Building Systems and Net Zero at DLUHC, commented: ‘I’m really pleased to be joining Matthew as co-chair of the FHS Implementation Board. The Future Homes Standard is a key part of our shared journey to a net zero future and we all need to work together to ensure that the skills, supply chains and competencies are in place in good time to support our vision. This forum will ensure that the myriad of processes, people and products that go into our housebuilding industry are properly prepared for what is going to be a welcome, but challenging step change in the energy efficiency of our homes.’

 

Ed Lockhart, CEO of the Future Homes Hub, said: ‘The Future Homes Standard will be a major change in the way we design new homes in England with a 75-80% reduction in carbon emissions and moving off the gas grid. Successful implementation, which means building better homes for customers, will depend on a period of intensive collaboration between homebuilders, infrastructure providers, supply chain, software providers, government departments and local government to name a few. It will also require us all to pool knowledge and experience to help all homebuilders to access the right information at the right time and scale up the best solutions. The FHS implementation board will be a vitally important mechanism to bring that collaboration together and I am hugely grateful to Matthew and Catherine for agreeing to lead it.’

 

The Future Homes Standard 2025 (FHS) represents a significant and early milestone in England’s pathway to net zero, with substantial implications for how new homes are built. Successful implementation is therefore critical both for the homebuilding sector and more widely Government and Society.