This week’s exclusive is with Chris Nelson, at the helm of developer egg Homes, with his thoughts on the increasing importance of sustainability in new homes design and on how his and other small developers can help tackle the UK’s housing supply problem.
Please tell us a little about yourself and egg Homes.
I am one of the founding partners of egg Homes, along with my long-term friend Ashley Reece. Together we want to build egg Homes into one of the biggest sustainable development companies in the UK. As a company we’re passionate about the research and development of homebuilding and how homes can be built to last longer, that are better to live in and have as little impact on the environment as possible. Ultimately, our vision at egg Homes is to lead the way in sustainable development.
How does your company ethos affect the design and specification of your homes?
The difference in how we work is very tangible. A careful, considered approach is key to every aspect of the construction phase as we aim to create a sustainable product. There is a lot of focus on how we can save energy, for example, we use high-spec insulation to create low U values, which leads to our homes being assessed by SAP as ‘A’ rated for efficiency.
The average electricity costs for heating and hot water at our Viver Green site are only 71p per day, totalling roughly £255.60 per year. That’s a 75% improvement on a standard house.
We also use a number of sustainable technologies to help heat and power our homes, such as air source heat pumps, solar photovoltaic panels, air recirculation systems and a high level of superior glazing, which helps create cleaner homes that are healthier to live in.
Are buyers choosier these days about the sustainability of the new homes they are buying, the use of technology and things like running costs?
For homeowners, sustainability is a higher priority than you might first think. A survey conducted by BRE’s Home Quality Mark (HQM) found that low-energy costs were rated as ‘very important’ by 46% of respondents, environmentally friendly building standards were also rated as ‘very important’ by 29% of those surveyed and smart features were considered of the same importance by 20% of people. A high percentage of people also stated preferences for those conditions. So for us it’s a no-brainer, the entire industry needs to make a more concerted shift to using sustainable materials that makes homes healthier, cheaper and nicer to live in.
Are the principles you follow able to make an impression on building more affordable homes in urban environments?
We’re very happy with our current development model and believe it could be replicated with relative ease anywhere. In fact, plans are already at an advanced stage to roll out an egg Homes custom-build scheme, which will allow individuals and small developers to follow our very easy-to-use system.
As a small housebuilder, what do you find frustrating about current planning/funding/regulation issues?
Local council planning departments are extremely understaffed and overstretched due to numerous cuts, so it would be great to see the government direct additional funding to employing more professionals to help progress applications with greater speed, the emphasis for better-quality homes has to be put upon the developer, building regulations should be tightened and planning permission times reduced.
Additionally, the government should be encouraging businesses to relocate to areas with high levels of unemployment and affordable housing. In turn, this could reduce the strain on large cities and the inevitable rise in house prices. Sharing these issues more evenly across the nation could provide a longer-term solution. We believe the huge investment in a super-fast HS2 rail network isn’t the right way to encourage growth in areas of high levels of unemployment. The money should be spent on better internet through 5G and beyond, which entails much lower infrastructure costs as well as better local rail networks directly into these areas. Perhaps more businesses investing in these areas could form a longer-term strategy, which would require a more connected and integrated approach.
Did the government White Paper on housing do enough to address any of these issues, and if not, what would you like to see happen?
I was happy with a lot of the measures introduced, but the £3bn fund to help smaller housebuilders is open to abuse, I hope that the remit for these loans is based on higher-quality homes, and that the loans have limited lifespan so that the homes are actually built, as opposed to land-banking available land. It should, however, help prevent the market from being dominated solely by a few large firms. As mentioned before, building regulations need to be improved to encourage a higher quality and more robust standard of homes. This will, in turn, help home owners financially by reducing ongoing costs with energy bills and life cycle costs, whilst also providing some security to lenders. The Home Quality Mark by BRE is a fantastic building standards model that the government should look at closely, it will help set a standard, that if nationalised, will see better quality homes built faster and more sustainably.
There are a lot of potential buyers in the UK and the appetite for a housing increase is becoming insatiable. I would support a system that allows an increase in house building, while bearing in mind that this is not to the detriment of the environment. The market is saturated with inefficient building solutions that do not stand the test of time, and in turn, become a financial burden to those who live in those homes.
Did last year's Brexit vote subsequently affect buyer behaviour and do you think it will bring major changes to industry supply of materials and skilled labour?
The immediate impact of Brexit is a big gamble and may affect buyer behaviour in ways we cannot predict with certainty. In terms of the skill gap in construction greater investment in training a new generation of workforce is paramount and as an industry we have very little time to address this issue. Brexit could cause any number of issues in regards to foreign employment, so the gap could become even greater and we could see a serious problem arise.
In terms of supply of materials we try to source everything from as close to site as possible, with only a few specialist materials imported from overseas. As a business, we’re also governed by the World Trade Organization, which operates in a similar manner to the EU, so from a supply freedom of movement point of view, we’re in a fairly strong position.
Are there enough opportunities for home-grown talent to train and build a career on construction-related skills, and what can be done to bring enough young people into the industry to meet the new homes targets widely aimed for (200,000 to 300,000 per year)?
Opportunities are plentiful, the issue is training and understanding from a young age. We need to be engaging with younger age groups to inspire them to want to carve out a career in the construction industry, be it a master builder, project manager, chartered surveyor and so on.
Without addressing this issue, the government will struggle to reach its housebuilding targets and I think it needs to step in and introduce training initiatives to encourage more youngsters to enter the industry.
What are the ambitions of egg Homes, in terms of its pipeline of developments and how your practices/workforce/build spec may change?
We are looking to expand the business significantly and continue to invest in suitable sites, with a strong adherence to our ethos of delivering high-quality, sustainable homes. Ultimately, we want egg Homes to be a leading light in the research and development of sustainable homes. We will produce homes that are good for the end users’ health and wellbeing, the local surroundings and the environment.