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Carbon Challenge
The Carbon Challenge has the principle aim to accelerate the housebuilding industry’s response to climate change. It is being delivered by English Partnerships on behalf of the Department of Communities and Local Government.
The Carbon Challenge will assist housebuilders to develop the skills and technology needed to meet the 10-year environmental goals being set by Government for new housing development. This Challenge will act as a testing ground for the Code for Sustainable Homes and the new Planning Policy Statement on climate change.
Building on the lessons learned on the Millennium Communities programme, the Challenge aims to fast-track the creation of a number of new communities designed to meet the highest level of the Code for Sustainable Homes. However, the communities will still meet English Partnerships’ key requirement for high standards of quality and design and will seek to maintain the cost efficiencies evident through the Design for Manufacture Competition.
Carbon Challenge exhibition
An exhibition and a series of in-depth seminars about the Carbon Challenge was held at the Building Centre in London from 2-30 June 2008.
For more information, please visit the Carbon Challenge exhibition page.
Carbon Challenge requirements
English Partnerships have developed a detailed Carbon Challenge generic brief which includes key standards and submission requirements at various stages throughout the life of the development process.
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Download the Carbon Challenge generic brief from the Publications page. |
Highest level of the Code for Sustainable Homes
Carbon Challenge sites must meet the highest level of the Government’s new Code for Sustainable Homes. The code has six categories, the highest being level 6. This represents an extremely challenging set of performance targets across a wide range of sustainability issues including energy, waste and water.
The energy standard for code level 6 requires net zero carbon emissions for each new home. This means that any energy taken from the grid to facilitate the running of the home, has to be less than or equal to the amount put back through renewable technologies.
Individual homes have to be carefully designed to minimise the amount of energy required for day to day heating, lighting and other uses. This could include highly energy efficient construction and the installation of ‘A’ rated appliances. Subsequent energy demand can be met through the use of low carbon technologies such as biomass combined heat and power and/or renewable technologies such as wind turbines or photovoltaic panels.
Read more about how the Carbon Challenge is testing Level 6 in an excerpt from Entec Bulletin, featuring an interview with Jayne Lomas, English Partnerships’ Carbon Challenge Project Manager.
Download Carbon Challenge testing Level 6 - PDF (107 KB)
Carbon Challenge sites
English Partnerships is bringing forward a number of Carbon Challenge sites. Each site will be marketed individually through the procurement process. They will each have their own set of briefing documents which sit alongside the Carbon Challenge generic brief and which will detail unique local requirements such as affordability and planning issues.
Sites currently in progress:
Further information
To keep up to date with the latest developments of the Challenge, visit the Carbon Challenge e-magazine.
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The Carbon Challenge factsheet is available to download from the Publications page
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Download the The Carbon Challenge Fact Sheet for Local Authority Partners as a PDF (318 KB)
