British Woodworking Federation chief executive Iain McIlwee has written to Mr Willliams, parliamentary under secretary of state for communities and local government, on behalf of the Accord, following the government’s recent Housing Standards review.
Mr McIlwee said dropping materials sustainability from future standards would be a “retrograde step” and that market forces alone were insufficient in meeting the government’s aim for all new homes to be zero carbon from 2016.
“With the requirements of the Code for Sustainable Homes set to be sidelined, we still feel that there is a need for a national driver to encourage the procurement of low impact and responsibly sourced construction materials,” he said.
“We feel that more needs to be done to address the enormous embodied impact of the housing sector in its sourcing and construction in a way that is achievable and not a barrier for the market.”
Mr McIlwee suggested the government should establish a specific materials working group to advise on such issues and National Described Standard for embodied impact that would form the verification route for embodied carbon to be an allowable solution.
