Press Release
Entec Study in Support of the Government's Response to the Barker Review Published

Issue date: 7 December 2005

The government has this week published its response to the Treasury sponsored Barker Review of Housing Supply. To support this, an Entec-led team has completed a substantial Sustainability Study to assess the social, economic and environmental implications of a variety of house building scenarios. These scenarios were based on those proposed in the Barker Review to lower the trend in real house price increases. This study, along with the government's response is now available at http://www.odpm.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1162086.

The study assessed, quantified and, where possible, monetised a range of potential pressures and impacts between 2001 and 2031, including the demand for land, construction materials, water and energy, as well as the generation of waste and the implications for the regional and local economies and the local communities.

The impacts on a range of environmental factors including landscape, biodiversity, flooding, noise and land quality were reviewed. T he study required the development of a pioneering approach, responsive to different scales of house building, which considered the construction and occupancy impacts of dwellings with differing environmental performance standards.

The study (along with a parallel Affordability Study) shows that there are a number of nationally significant benefits that could accrue to society by promoting a real change in housing affordability through a step change in housing growth. These benefits include the improved accessibility to decent housing and the opportunity to build communities at much improved levels of sustainability in order to develop a more inclusive society and improve regional economic growth.

There are however, environmental consequences associated with any additional house building scenario and the study highlights that the magnitude of these challenges will depend not just on the scale of housing supply growth, but also on the pattern and distribution of development. However, the study also highlights that the scale of these impacts can be reduced through a variety of measures including the specification and enforcement of higher dwelling environmental performance standards and the use of higher densities in appropriate circumstances.

In completing the report, Clive Harridge, Entec’s project director said " Achieving a step change in housing growth brings the opportunity to achieve major benefits for society. This innovative study has identified the range and scale of impacts and demonstrated the considerable sustainability advantages that can be achieved through building to higher environmental performance standards and at higher densities. For the first time ever impacts of housing growth have been measured at a national level, providing the government with valuable information to inform decision making."

 

Enquiries about the report and the government’s response to the Barker Review should be addressed to:

Kate Fisher

Email: Kate.Fisher@odpm.gsi.gov.uk

Tel: 020 7944 4618

Fax: 020 7944 4609

 

Enquiries about Entec should be addressed to:

Victoria Logan

Email: logav@entecuk.co.uk

Tel: 0191 272 6337

Fax: 0191 272 6592

 

Notes to Editors

 

 

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