The first meeting of the New Towns Taskforce has been held to kickstart the process of delivering hundreds of thousands of much needed new homes for England. As part of the ambitious housebuilding programme, the government has pledged to create new towns on a scale not seen since the middle of last century.
A boost for the use of sustainable timber in England?
Timber frame suppliers will be particularly interested in this news, following on from the Timber Roadmap that was launched late last year by the previous Conservative government. This is a plan to boost the use of sustainable UK timber, and reduce the reliance on traditional building materials such as steel and concrete.
The importance of using more sustainable building materials
It is estimated that around a quarter of the UK’s carbon emissions come from the built environment, contributing to the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that are changing the climate with potentially devastating results. Timber building products generate much less CO2 than most other building materials during the manufacturing stage.
Furthermore, timber buildings can store much larger volumes of carbon than concrete buildings, and this will help to meet net zero emissions targets and work towards slowing global warming and climate change.
What is the current percentage of timber framed homes in the UK?
It remains to be seen how many of the new homes delivered by the New Towns Taskforce will be timber framed. Currently, only about nine per cent of new build homes in England are timber framed, compared to about 90 per cent of homes in Scotland, and the previous government set out intentions to address this imbalance.
One of the New Towns Taskforce members is Bill Hughes, Global Head of Real Assets and Co-Head of Private Markets at Legal & General. He is also a Global Governing Trustee of the Urban Land Institute and is on the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard Governance Board, so it is hoped that the Timber Roadmap plans will be taken forward.
The first New Towns Taskforce Meeting
The inaugural New Towns Taskforce Meeting has taken place with Chair Sir Michael Lyons and various industry experts. It was also attended by Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner who said: “Today marks a momentous step in our journey to deliver the next generation of new towns and transform the lives of millions of working people in every part of the country.”
She added: “We want to see new communities with real character –providing genuinely affordable, safe and secure homes, much-needed infrastructure and well-paying jobs.”
“With a strong team of experts standing by his side, I have every confidence in Sir Michael’s leadership and his Taskforce is working at pace to make sure our long-term ambition becomes a reality.”
The potential locations of the new towns have not been revealed yet, but the aim is to create large scale new communities with high-quality homes that will attract new investment and boost economic growth. It should also ease the historic imbalance between supply and demand in the housing and rental market.
Housing and Planning Minister, Matthew Pennycook said: “I am really pleased that the New Towns Taskforce has held its first meeting. It brings together a wealth of experience from across the industry, and I look forward to engaging with it over the months ahead as it works to identify the most suitable locations across the country for large-scale new communities.”
Chair of the New Towns Taskforce, Sir Michael Lyons said: “I am very pleased to chair the first meeting of the Taskforce today. We have an important agenda to work through over the next 12 months to ensure that the next generation of new towns deliver the government’s plans for economic growth and housing ambitions.”
“I look forward to working with our very experienced Taskforce members to provide the government with robust recommendations within a year.”
The first meeting of the taskforce took place in the symbolic location of Milton Keynes, which was successfully developed as a new town in the 1960s. It sought to bring together several smaller coexisting urban areas into one unified centre, and since 1967, the population has increased from 60,000 to around 249,000.