Timber frame housing development

From the start of 2025, all new buildings constructed in England must comply with the new Future Homes Standard. The Standard will transform how new homes are built and will help to protect the environment and maximise energy efficiency.

The purpose of the Future Homes Standard is to ensure that new homes and non-domestic buildings will:

Make significant carbon savings – 75% to 80% reduction in carbon emissions
Be built to a high quality and are affordable to run using low-carbon or renewable heating technology
Achieve building fabric efficiency with improved insulation to minimise heat loss and reduce energy bills.

The new Future Homes Standard coincides with the new government’s goal to build 1.5 million homes over the next four years. This equates to around 300,000 new homes per year. While this is challenging for the construction industry, it is achievable through the use of modern methods of construction and the most sustainable building material – prefabricated timber frames.

Fabric first means timber frames first

Timber is widely recognised by the construction industry as the most sustainable building material for structural building. Trees naturally absorb and lock in carbon for life and of course, timber is renewable, environmentally friendly, and 100% recyclable.

Timber is also naturally warm, making is an ideal home insulator. Target Timber’s factory-insulated wall panels have a built-in vapour control layer that achieves and exceeds the U-values required to meet Part L Building Regulations – down to 0.16 W/m2/K.

Timber frame buildings improve energy efficiency

Carbon reduction, energy efficiency, and lowering consumer energy bills are among the main aims of the Future Homes Standard.

Timber frame wall panels are hand-made and tightly sealed, helping to retain warmth during colder months. This high-quality building fabric complements low or zero-carbon heating technology, meeting the Future Homes Standard.

In addition to keeping homes warm, pre-insulated timber frame wall panels help keep out the heat during summer, further reducing energy needed for heat pump cooling.

Timber frame homes designed for renewable technology

To comply with the Future Homes Standard, low or zero-carbon technology must be installed in all new homes to deliver efficient, low-cost heating and hot water. This means that new homes need to be designed to accommodate heat pumps and solar technology, and they need to allow for technology to be upgraded and maintained.

Prefabricated timber frame homes can be designed to provide space and accessibility for heat pumps, hot water tanks and solar batteries.

Timber frame apartment blocks are also designed to provide access to energy-efficient heating and hot water technology.

We can build 100,000 timber frame homes a year

At the government’s recent Labour Party Conference an expert panel debated the use of structural timber to accelerate housebuilding to meet the Government’s 1.5 million new homes target.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Structural Timber Association (STA), Andrew Carpenter, said, “There are two things that the STA are inextricably linked with – the building of 1.5 million homes throughout the next Parliament – we can contribute as a sector a third of those. The second thing is growth – decarbonisation has got to be one of the planks of the growth strategy”.

Andrew went on to say, “It’s time for timber. The opportunity of a lifetime has to be grasped in the lifetime of the opportunity. And that opportunity is now.”

Timber frames will forever change how we build and how we live

The change in how we build homes has been a long time coming. Timber is an extraordinary material – it’s sustainable, renewable, and has the lowest carbon impact of any building material available.

In addition to the lifelong benefits that it offers generations of people, it’s also helping to speed up construction times and reduce building costs by up to a third.

Target Timber is proud to play a significant role in the output of prefabricated timber frame buildings to help achieve the goal of up to 400,000 new homes over the next four years.