Achieving Zero Carbon New Built Homes in the UK: Demonstrated through a Case Study

The need for sustainable development, the near zero tolerance to carbon emissions and the rise in global house prices have necessitated the provision of affordable and energy efficient housing projects by governments in most developed countries. In the United Kingdom, same is true and almost half the total amount of carbon dioxide emissions is building-related with housing contributing approximately 27% of the overall emissions. This study investigates how low energy, zero carbon and affordable housing can be achieved through an early design evaluation using the Barnsley College’s Demonstration Houses project as a case study. In the study, an extensive review of various methods and techniques have been followed for pre-design evaluation, building performance simulation and cost estimation. Both analytical case study approach using DesignBuilder software for energy performance simulation and the Building Cost Information Services for cost analysis have been adopted. Moreover, the study demonstrates the role of early building performance and cost evaluation could play in delivering affordable and energy efficient homes through evaluation of housing typologies against the UK policy set benchmark for assessing new built and zero carbon housing. Furthermore, some guidelines on future research on delivering affordable and energy efficient new built homes were recommended.