Bringing together the principal stakeholders delivering a climate and environment plan for new homes.
Meet Will Hall, the Future Leaders Project Assistant working on Future Homes. A final year computer science student at the University of York with a passion for sustainability, especially de-carbonisation through electrification. This summer Will is working with the Future Homes Hub, using data to support the incoming Future Homes Standard and zero-carbon homes.
Following recommendations from a joint Government and industry Task Force, the Future Homes Hub is the established and widely recognised means for the sector to collaborate to achieve the Government’s legally binding net zero and wider environmental targets.
A major step on the journey to net zero is ensuring that all new homes are zero-carbon-ready — meaning they can operate at zero carbon once the electricity grid is fully decarbonised. The Government is expected to publish the Future Homes Standard in early 2026, introducing new regulations that require low-carbon heating systems and rooftop solar photovoltaics in new developments.
While recent years have seen improvements in building fabric efficiency and heating system performance, there is still a significant evidence gap around how these all-electric homes perform in real life. In particular, there is limited in-use data on actual energy consumption and running costs. Demonstrating these real-world financial benefits will be critical to building confidence and encouraging widespread adoption among homeowners and tenants.
Working alongside experts at the Future Homes Hub and across the housing sector, the Project Assistant will build on a proof-of-concept trial carried out in 2025. That trial brought together government published postcode-level metered energy data, building data from the Energy Performance Certificate register, and development timeline data from homebuilders. The 2026 phase of the project will focus on developing more robust data integration, management and visualisation processes to enable large-scale analysis. Work will also include exploring the use of additional datasets — including potential inputs from multiple energy suppliers and network operators.
Alongside this core project work, the Project Assistant will contribute to wider Future Homes Hub activities, gaining exposure to a broad range of sustainability topics and engaging with senior stakeholders across the sector. These topics include water efficiency, nature recovery, embodied and whole-life carbon assessment, and building physics.