FHS could pose viability challenges as landlords trial new technology and act on overheating

He added: “The hill a scheme has to climb to prove its viability got a bit taller and a bit steeper.”

Mr Slade also noted RPs will need to make sure new risks around the technology involved in the FHS are managed well in relationships with developers and the terms of deals.

But in his view, this will be easier than it has been historically.

“Registered providers have got much better over the last 20 years in managing the risks arising from building homes with new technology in them,” he told Inside Housing.

“In most RPs, the days of exotic fittings that are difficult or impossible to maintain [or] replace are in the past.”

One example of emerging tech landlords will need to deal with is plug-in solar panels, which can be installed by residents in their homes.

In its FHS announcement last week, the government revealed the panels will be available to buy in supermarkets in the next few months.

Asked for his thoughts on this, Tom Fountain, who oversees retrofitting at Places for People (PfP), said the landlord is “watching it with interest” and will be investigating it in detail across its innovation, sustainability and building and fire safety teams.

On whether there is a potential fire safety concern with the technology, he said: “I think it’s something we’re looking to manage. I don’t want to set hares racing. 

“At the same point, we are doing some work ourselves to understand what we think the extent of that concern could be.”

Mr Fountain said heat pump technology has “improved massively” in recent years and the sector has learned lessons about ensuring residents know how to use them.

Solar PV and battery technology is also being installed at scale and Mr Fountain says PfP sees a “real opportunity there”.

“There is proven technology that we know absolutely helps support customers to live in a home that is more affordable for them to live in, so it keeps their bills lower,” he said. 

“Our monitoring shows us customers are really, really benefiting from that.”

Alongside developing renewable technology, energy companies have also been looking at how to make tariffs attractive to social landlords.

Mr Fountain believes there will be more partnership working with energy providers, and reveals the landlord has worked with several to explore new financing models so there is “mutual benefit”, but will only agree to team up if this will bring tenants’ bills down.

He acknowledges the FHS will require “long-term investment” from PfP, but says in the short term better data on how it will impact homes and customers is key.

On the financial cost to residents, he says that currently, if gas heating is swapped out for non-gas and no other changes are made, people’s bills tend to go up – which is why, when switching a home to electric, the landlord will do other work such as installing panels or improving the home’s fabric.

Others also agreed that heat pumps and solar panels are established technologies and that the certainty of the FHS is welcome.

For Matthew Scott, policy manager for net zero and sustainability at the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH), it provides the “final details” landlords need to increase their new build programmes and put together bids for the Social and Affordable Homes Programme (SAHP).

But he warned that the government must make sure supply chains are there to meet the likely uptick in demand for maintenance.

He also said the group is disappointed with the outcome of a call for evidence on overheating regulations, which was published alongside the FHS regulation changes last week.

The rules, introduced as ‘Part O’ in 2021, are not being revised but will undergo a further technical review.

But Mr Scott said evidence suggests homes built to this standard are still at risk of overheating, citing a policy brief from the CIH last year which highlighted the need for stronger standards and enforcement as the climate crisis drives temperatures up.

He told Inside Housing: “We would like to see more urgency around the need to update Part O, which is necessary to ensure that homes we build now can keep their residents safe during hot weather in the future.”

The group was also disheartened to see building regulations will not be tightened for homes that are created through Material Change of Use (MCU), despite support for this from 80% of the consultation respondents.

The CIH argued for a whole-building standard for this housing in its feedback to government on the FHS, citing research and case studies of overheating and fuel poverty risks in homes created through change of use.

While the government now plans to run a further consultation on how to improve standards in this housing, the CIH stressed this should be progressed without more delays.

Mr Scott said: “Homes created through MCU, especially via permitted development rights, tend to create poorer-quality homes that can negatively affect the health and well-being of residents.”

Sovereign Network Group (SNG) is another landlord familiar with heat pumps and solar panels, as it has been installing these in its homes for over five years. Richard Young, SNG’s technical director for the built environment, reflected that building zero-carbon homes from scratch is easier than the alternative.

He said: “Delivering low-carbon technologies in new homes is generally more straightforward than in existing homes, as the absence of an in-situ customer and the benefits of a controlled construction environment allow for greater flexibility in design and delivery.”

But he also highlighted an issue with a stipulation in the regulations that solar panels should cover 40% of the ground floor of a new house.

“While some flexibility exists within this requirement, the volume of solar PV specified appears excessive relative to the typical energy demand of a home,” he said.

“During consultation, we had advocated for a more tailored approach, with solar PV provision more closely aligned to individual household energy requirements.”

Richard Cook, chief development officer at Clarion, said its development arm Latimer has been “actively preparing” for the FHS over the last few years and more than 95% of homes it completed over the past year do not use fossil fuels.

The landlord is confident it can meet the regulations, though it will likely have to reprioritise some of its long-term investment schemes and ensure its current work plans meet the standard’s goals.

For the London-based landlord, there is still work to be done to see how the change affects high-rise flats, which will be subject to slightly different rules under the FHS – they will not have to include solar panels and the standard will take longer to apply.

Mr Cook said: “For most of our low-rise projects, the only difference will be the additional solar PV panels required to meet the new functional requirement, though further work is needed to understand the full impacts on mid-rise and high-rise apartment blocks.”

Dan Nicholls, chief product officer at SNRG, said: “The Future Homes Standard is a positive step forward. "Mandating solar on new homes will play a key role in reducing emissions and bills and increasing energy security, so clarity from government is welcome. The test now is delivery.

"Developers will need to significantly adapt their operational models to meet the new requirements. They are being asked to build more homes, more quickly, and to higher environmental standards, while navigating ongoing challenges around grid capacity, in turn bring made more difficult by the shift to electrified heating and transport.

"This creates a growing gap between policy ambition and delivery – meaning that the cost of compliance with the FHS risks being pushed onto developers and therefore homebuyers."