Future homes: what skills are needed?

New materials, heat pumps, modular solutions and energy efficiency are set to be some of the key elements of the environmentally friendly homes of the future.

The race to decarbonise homebuilding is providing opportunities to innovate and push boundaries – but it’s also presenting a challenge in the need to upskill the workforce that will deliver new homes.

Sustainability in the built environment is a topical issue, particularly given the UK’s sustainable development goals and the target to reach net zero by 2050.

As such, in October 2023, the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) launched a sustainability guide for professionals, offering practical strategies to embrace sustainable practices during the planning, construction and operation of a building.

So, what could homes look like in the years to come and what skills will be needed to deliver them?

In terms of exterior design, Rico Wojtulewicz, head of policy and market insight at the National Federation of Builders, says the organisation hopes innovation is supported.

He adds that onsite biodiversity solutions can help “not only biodiversity, but add energy-efficiency solutions”.

“This has been seen with green roofs,” he says. “It can be more difficult to achieve when policies prescribe beauty.”

When it comes to how a home functions, Wojtulewicz sees electrification as “a clear direction”, while smart systems are also “increasingly popular”.

However, he adds: “What will be most important are homes that do not need to use much energy for heating or hot water.

“Onsite energy generation is growing in popularity, but this should not be specifically achieved on individual homes. Instead, roads or whole estates should benefit from larger solutions.

“This would ensure new and old homes can be part of the electrification and renewables revolution.”

National House Building Council (NHBC) standards, innovation and research team senior technical specialist Alex Taylor also believes the homes of the future will be focused on energy efficiency, with green credentials “at the heart” of their construction.

“Heat pumps will certainly become more common, but we may see other technologies being widely adopted, such as infrared heating,” he says.

“The likes of solar photovoltaic technology may also become widespread, particularly if it’s brought forward by the Future Homes Standard.”

Taylor believes other green measures are likely to be considered too, such as larger scale, development-wide water recycling schemes.

Housebuilders are also likely to consider biodiversity net gain “more carefully”, he says, with environmental legislation driving greener developments and homebuyers becoming more environmentally aware.

Research is already under way to look into different options. Salford University’s Energy House Labs is home to environmental chambers where technologies, products and services are tested on homes under controlled conditions.

Meanwhile, the Salford Smart Home is the first home in the UK that takes sustainability beyond the current Future Homes Standards.

Its features deliver a 125% carbon reduction compared with the average existing property. This includes an air-powered shower, infrared panels providing zero-carbon heating, plaster that eliminates pollutants and a smart fridge that reduces food wastage by 60%. 

Last year also saw the launch of a zero-carbon development of five innovative homes in Suffolk. The properties are 100% electric and feature enhanced building fabrics that reduce heat loss.

They also test different low-carbon technologies, including heat pumps, smart cylinders and mechanical ventilation heat recovery. 

According to Wojtulewicz, to deliver such homes, many of the existing skills of today’s workforce will be needed.

Breathable materials, such as those made with lime, can also play an important part – and homes will need to be maintained or renovated using the methods they were built with, he says.

It is also feasible that more homes will be built entirely in factories, so assembly will play a “large part” in the skills challenge.

However, Wojtulewicz believes it is more likely that in the medium term, modular components will support traditional methods, so it will be necessary to “retain the traditional skills, while adding assembly knowledge”.

He adds: “With 16.5 million homes built before Building Regulations and 12.5 million built with historic [pre-1919] construction methods, it would be foolish to not ensure the traditional skills base is retained.”

However, there will be a need to upskill the workforce.

According to Jenny Herdman, director of the Home Builders Federation’s Home Building Skills Partnership, skills are at the heart of delivering sustainability goals across the sector.

There is “no denying that considerable progress has been made in improving the energy performance and environmental credentials of new housing stock”, she says.

Government data shows that more than 85% of new builds achieve an A or B Energy Performance Certificate, compared with less than 5% of older homes.

Attracting fresh talent and upskilling the existing workforce is “fundamental to maintaining this momentum and delivering environmentally friendly homes at the required pace and scale”, Herdman says.

Taylor adds that technical advances should be welcomed.

“As housebuilding progresses, new disciplines will be adopted into the industry. We are already seeing this in off-site manufacturing, another example of innovation we are likely to see more in tomorrow’s homes,” he says.

Homebuilders will need “to understand the new technologies being introduced, not just in isolation, but how they work together too”, according to Taylor.

“A broader view of each home and the wider development will need to be taken. Some teams, right from the planning stages, will need to be upskilled to achieve this.”

In terms of upskilling teams, the design and installation of low-temperature heating, window fitting and air tightness are key areas.

“These three elements can be crucial to ensure that the way we build modern homes remains in step with technological changes,” Wojtulewicz says.

As the government looks to phase out gas boilers in a bid to reduce carbon emissions, air and ground source heat pumps will also become more common in residential development.

As it stands, the UK needs nearly eight times more registered heat pump engineers by 2025 to meet the government’s Future Homes Standard.

Herdman says: “It is widely accepted that the current training and education system is not producing enough new recruits with the necessary knowledge and skills to address the growing skills gaps and talent shortages.”

She believes investment in skills programmes, retraining and apprenticeships are “essential” to meet carbon targets.

With the built environment said to contribute 40% of the UK’s carbon emissions, Herdman sees the homebuilding sector’s role in supporting net zero goals as “significant”.

And she feels the sector is stepping up to the challenge, with “increasingly nature-friendly, sustainable homes being delivered across the country”.

From 2025, new homes must be built in line with the Future Homes Standard and, therefore, zero carbon ready.

This means that properties must produce 75% to 80% less carbon emissions than homes built to existing building regulations.

“This will call for a step change in the delivery of residential properties, as advanced building fabrics and technologies we may now consider to be cutting edge become the norm,” Herdman says.

According to Wojtulewicz, environmentally friendly homes are crucial because “we should always strive to use fewer resources or deliver more with our actions”.

Taylor adds that the “financial efficiencies” in heating and running such homes make them “an attractive choice for consumers”.

“But they are also more resilient. Futureproofing and thinking ahead has never been so important,” he adds.

“Homebuyers are aware of this and will expect more from their new build.”

There are, inevitably, challenges ahead – affordability being one of them.

Wojtulewicz explains: “A housebuilder or homeowner may find the costs of such homes prohibitive because technology and solutions remain expensive.

"And the onerous planning system and required service upgrades make many ambitions unviable.”

Delivery may also be difficult because of the “major skills challenge”, he says.

Similarly, Taylor adds that investment in wide-scale training in new techniques and practice “can be both costly and take time”.

In addition, “unlearning” how things have been done for decades will inevitably present challenges.

“Housebuilders simply keeping up with changes and new requirements can be difficult, particularly if some seemingly conflict with one another,” Taylor adds.

For Wojtulewicz, the main lesson to date has been “not to look for silver bullets and assume solutions are easy”.

Herdman adds that the future of development is “exciting”, but the challenges “considerable”.

“Investment in attracting fresh talent to train in the necessary disciplines and upskilling the existing workforce is fundamental,” she says.

“But bubbling beneath this is the need for increased education and awareness – to encourage the next generation to consider roles in the sector and to signpost to career entry points; to motivate the existing workforce to invest in futureproofing their skillset; and to support the public to embrace homes of the future and the technologies that come with them.”