Figures released today (13 June) from construction data providers, Barbour ABI, reveal that up to a third of new homes could be exempt from meeting the government's zero-carbon homes standard, following plans outlined in the Queen's Speech last week.

In last year’s Budget, the government declared that every new home in Britain would have to be constructed to a zero-carbon standard by 2016. But in the recent Queen’s Speech, it was announced that homes built on ‘small sites’, which could apply to schemes of up to 50 homes, will now be exempt from this standard.

While the government is yet to give its definition of ‘small sites’, 12.4% of all residential planning applications submitted last year were for sites of fewer than 10 homes, or ‘minor developments’. Sites of 50 or under, which the Home Builders Federation believes could be the upper limit for the exemption to kick in, accounted for 36.4% of all residential planning applications.

Michael Dall, lead economist at Barbour ABI, said: “There are still many questions to be answered about the zero-carbon exemption, such as how a 'small site’ is actually defined and how many new homes will fall under this category.