Did you know that 98,345 heat pumps were sold in the UK in 2024? While this figure marks a 52% rise from the same statistic in 2023, does it mean that the UK is well on its way to its net zero 2050 ambitions?
I suppose the answer, as it is for most ‘big’ questions, is yes, and no. It can’t be denied that this number marks a huge improvement from previous years. Indeed, a look at a graph displaying the figures presents a steady rise peaked off by a sharp leap up to where we are now. While there’s likely a multitude of factors at play in uptick here, both the Boiler Upgrade Scheme for retrofitters and housebuilder anticipation of the Future Homes Standard 2025 are likely the biggest causes. The mood is certainly starting to change in the UK. It’s clear to all that the way we heat our homes needs to change if we ever want to have any hope of saving our planet. Heat pumps do make a lot of sense for the housebuilding market. Being in control of insulation levels, air tightness and heat loss limitations means that a carbon-friendly, smaller heat pump model can be specified, and in turn actually save some money for the eventual homeowner.
The same can’t really be said across the board for retrofit at the moment. If my experience moving into my first house (an ex-council 1970’s build) is anything to go by, you really have no idea what’s behind the four walls that surround you. Inconsistencies on-site are part and parcel of the building experience. Add to that the treatment a home has seen from its years of owners, and each home will undoubtedly be different to the next. With that, insulation gaps, drafty lots and literal wall make up will mean behemoth sized heat pumps for some UK homeowners. With current electricity prices, the cost to heat your home this way becomes astronomical.
The reality is that even if we build 1.5 million homes in the next few years and continue on with mammoth sized output levels, a huge portion of homes that are currently inhabited now will still be standing and inhabited by 2050, let alone when an inevitable boiler ban comes into play. How do we expect these homes to operate carbon neutrally? Sure, 2050 may sounds like a long while away, but it represents a larger problem with regulation roll out.
In the past few years alone, lumps of regulations have come into force that are forcing builders up and down the country to adapt and change the way they work. From building safety regulations, to BNG requirements, to part L heating changes, there’s an inexhaustive list of updates and rule shifts to stay on top of, all with minimal assistance from government. The issue isn’t in these updates themselves, but the lack of support provided to those that it affects. Despite being the ones to set down these new laws, successive governments have seemed almost surprised and caught off guard by the very changes they are enacting.
As we’re now almost halfway through 2025, my mind is drifting to the Future Homes Standard that’s set to come out this year. What sort of measures will be in place to help guide housebuilders through this change? I can’t shake the feeling that this new standard will just suddenly appear without any meaningful strategy or consideration for those that it affects, be that through education or dedicated assistance.
Something needs to be done about our carbon emission output. But if big policy change, particularly where the environment is concerned, comes out without them necessary measures to help it become a reality, it’s hard not to see it as virtue signalling.
If boilers are to be replaced by these impressive alternatives, renewable energy production must continue to grow, electricity prices must come down and much, much more must be done to help and guide manufacturers, installers and specifiers.
