Developers sell off land as green building costs soar

Developers are scrabbling to offload land on which it will be difficult to economically construct dwellings that comply with the Code for Sustainable Homes, according to an energy performance specialist.

Don Howard, managing director at Energist, said the cost of energy efficient technology has driven developers to reconsider the financial viability of planned developments.

This cherry-picking of suitable zero carbon sites could have an effect on the industry's ability to deliver on prime minister Gordon Brown's pledge that by 2016 an additional 240,000 homes will be built each year.

Howard said: "Major developers are now looking at their landbanks in order to identify what they have to sell.

"They are conducting financial checks and looking to sell land on which it will be difficult to meet the Code for Sustainable Homes requirements, with the possibility they won't get what they paid for them."

Howard claimed that on tight inner city sites and in depressed areas developers will struggle to integrate renewable technology due to space issues and affordability.

"It depends upon the type of construction, but to achieve level six the most economical way would be to install a ground source heat pump," he continued.

"The problem is that you need an area twice the size of the property. These days this is a rarity."

Developers are already struggling to meet current energy efficiency standards, with 80% of plans Energist receives failing DER (Dwelling Emission Rate) standards.

John Slaughter, director of external affairs at the Home Builders Federation, said the organisation was working with the government to ensure that housing targets could be met both in terms of volume and zero carbon. He added: "At the moment code level three isn't easy to achieve and developers are having to work out how to do it. That's why it's not coming in until 2010 - to give people time.

"We need a sufficiently practical definition of zero carbon so that developers can work out the most cost effective and practical way of meeting the requirements."