Shapps ditches plans to implement HCA core building standards

The Housing Minister is to scrap proposed core building standards for developments funded or on land owned by the Homes and Communities Agency.

Grant Shapps argued that the new standards would have represented “gold-plating”, placing additional costs on developers and making projects less viable. The government claimed that the standards would have cost developers an extra £8,000 for every home. The HCA will instead continue to apply existing standards.

The minister also said he would get rid of the “alphabet soup” of local building standards.

The housebuilding industry will be invited to work together to develop “a simple and transparent ‘menu’ of costed standards that will not place unrealistic burdens on developers”.

This Local Standards Framework will be implemented through the National Planning Policy Framework that will be introduced by April 2012.

In a speech to the National House Building Council, Shapps said: "There's no good reason why homes built on public land should be built any differently to those of high quality on private land. So I'm getting rid of this unnecessary requirement, and I'll be working hard to make sure that, in the long run, the standards that apply to private and public housing are exactly the same.

"I'm also calling time on the cocktail of local building standards that developers have to meet, some of which are directly contradictory. House builders are the experts at building homes, so I'm inviting them to be in charge of developing a new framework for local building standards – one which enables communities to get the high quality homes they demand, but without causing unnecessary costs and delays for developers."

The minister also revealed in his speech that the recent review of Building Regulations would be published shortly, and will keep the regulations as the mechanism to set national minimum standards.

Shapps’ announcement was welcomed by the House Builders Federation. Its executive chairman, Stewart Basely, said: "Having campaigned for a reduction in the 'regulatory burden on new homes' for many years it's great that the government has recognised the impact the cost of excessive regulation has on the supply of the homes the country desperately needs. We look forward to working with local and national government to create a simpler, less costly system which will go a long way to helping solve our housing crisis."

However, the President of the Royal Institute of British Architects, Ruth Reed, described the minister’s announcement as “a deeply troubling decision that will have profound implications for communities across the country”.

She said: “The proposed HCA standards were designed to raise the overall quality of publicly funded housing and ensure that new homes meet the most basic of lifestyle needs – reform was desperately needed.

“We agree that there is too much regulation in the housing sector, but the HCA standards were designed to harmonise regulation and provide clarity for industry. The government needs to ensure that it provides strong, clear guidance which underlines the importance of design quality, and we are concerned that the proposed menu of options for local authorities may lead to further confusion and lower standards.”

The RIBA president also pointed out that UK house builders had delivered the smallest homes in Europe, and had built homes which have been consistently judged to be of a poor quality by the government’s own design watchdog. “The government should be putting the interests of communities first,” she said.