The Energy Utilities Alliance (EUA) has questioned the government's intentions surrounding energy efficiency in new housing following David Cameron's speech to the Conservative Party Conference in which he promised to build 100,000 new starter homes, but relax current building regulations.

The new homes are to be offered to first-time-buyers under the age of 40 at a discount of 20%, with the discount being funded by exempting them from some taxes and the zero-carbon homes standard.

The code for sustainable homes is the national standard for the sustainable design and construction of new homes. It aims to reduce carbon emissions and promote higher standards of sustainable design above the current minimum standards set out by the building regulations.

“We welcome new homes being built, but we are very concerned about them being built on the cheap. Mr Cameron has said that these houses need to be affordable to purchase but he has failed to recognise that without appropriate energy efficiency measures they won’t be affordable to live in.