These are the words of Mark Allan, chief executive of Landsec in this comment piece for EG. 

Here, Allan identifies four levers that the government, at least in his view, can pull to accelerate the pace of change in the built environment, supporting voluntary carbon reduction targets: 

(1) accelerating the introduction of the Future Homes Standard and Future Building Standard, with possible revised benchmarking to reflect "the very latest industry practices and achievements"; 

(2) a move away from EPCs to an in-use performance-based rating system; 

(3) regulation of embodied carbon; and

(4) regulation of the use of sustainable building materials e.g. timber. 

There is no doubt that the above all have merit. However, on a practical level, will/ when will we see the government act on such measures? As Allan states: "It has been disheartening to see such little discussion of the environment and the UK’s commitments to achieve net zero during the Conservative party leadership contest". A fair point, and in a cost of living crisis, are we at the risk of any such government regulation dropping down the legislative to-do list? 

As Allan alludes to, in relation to (2) above, the government consulted in early 2021 on the prospect of a "next generation EPC", linking to a performance based system, as well as the prospect of "EPC B by 2030". In both cases, there has been no apparent progress, despite the significant effect that such steps are set to have on the industry. How much longer is the industry set to wait? If only the government could move with the apparent urgency it has exhibited on regulating overseas ownership of UK real estate...