In Alastair Darling’s latest budget, £500m extra support for the housing industry has been given, of which £100m is for local authorities to build energy-efficient housing.  Coupled with the other measures taken, such as commitments to reduce carbon emissions by 35% by 2020 in the UK, the £525m new support for offshore wind power projects, intended to provide enough electricity for 3.5m households, and the £405m new funding for low-carbon technology projects, one has to ask where this leaves us, the home owner.

It would seem as though the British government are determined to change the way we live and think about housing.

All over England environmentally considerate homes are being developed using cutting edge, sustainable technologies such as recycled PFA blocks, enhanced insulation, low energy lighting, ground source heat pumps and zero waste.  Rainwater harvesting may become a prerequisite for all new homes in the UK along with use of timber from sustainable forests and recycled construction materials in our country’s efforts to curb emissions.

New home builders are changing the face of living in the UK to bring construction in line with the new parameters set out by Parliament, combining consumers lifestyle requirements with newly instituted regulations by installing dual flush toilets, aerated taps, rainwater harvesting systems and traffic calming measures along with green spots (parks) and low energy usage lighting and appliances.

If this is the way of the future, what aid will be given to the consumer who has to modify their current property in order to make it saleable?  Will government take this into consideration when passing new legislation or will we simply have to shell out to modify our homes in hope of a reasonable market value?