Future Homes Standard 2027: 6 months until it comes into force

Six months until the Future Homes Standard – do not be fooled by the headline minimum requirements. On face value, almost nothing looks dramatically different. That is exactly why developers, architects, housebuilders and M&E consultants risk being caught out.

This is the first article in our Future Homes Standard series. We have written it for the project teams we work with most often across the South of England: residential developments of roughly 10 to 50 units, where compliance decisions made early tend to save time, redesign and cost later.

• The main commencement date is 24 March 2027, with 24 September 2027 applying separately to relevant higher-risk building work and work to existing higher-risk buildings.

• The one-year transitional grace period applies only where the right notice or application is submitted before 24 March 2027 and the particular building is commenced before 24 March 2028.

• For a new dwelling, “commenced” is a technical milestone: the sub-surface structure and ground-floor structure must be completed.

• The headline minimum standards look familiar, but the compliance risk has moved into the underlying model, targets and verification.

• Solar PV is the practical route on most schemes, even though the legal wording is on-site renewable electricity generation rather than “PV in every case”.

• Early coordination matters. SAP calculations, thermal bridging assessments, air tightness testing, Part O overheating assessments and energy statements all need to align.

Main commencement dates

The general implementation date for the new regulations is 24 March 2027.

The legislation also provides a separate commencement date of 24 September 2027 for regulations applying to relevant higher-risk building work and work to existing higher-risk buildings.

The one-year transitional grace period

For non-higher-risk work, the 2026 amendments will generally not apply where:

• A building notice, initial notice or application for building control approval with full plans was submitted before 24 March 2027; and

• The building work to which that notice or application relates is commenced on the particular building before 24 March 2028.

This is the one-year grace period. It is the mechanism that allows some schemes to continue under the previous requirements.

What “commencement” means for a new dwelling

This point is often misread.

For a new dwelling, building work is commenced only when the sub-surface structure, including all foundations, any basement and the ground-floor structure, is completed. Site clearance, enabling works, demolition, or the start of drainage and groundworks do not count.

The trigger is completion of the sub-surface structure and the ground-floor structure. “Commenced” needs to be read as a technical milestone, not as simply being on site.

Why the transitional test is applied per building

The transitional test applies per building, not per site.

That means an early application for one plot, block or phase does not automatically protect an entire development. It is not enough to have an early approval route in place for the wider scheme if the particular building has not met the legal test.

Higher-risk building work follows a separate route

Higher-risk building work follows a separate route.

A valid building control approval application submitted to the regulator before 24 September 2027 may provide transitional protection, subject to the conditions in the regulations, including the application not being rejected.

A practical rule of thumb for developers

This is not the legal test, but it is a useful programme reality check.

If a development of 10 or more homes is not already in planning now (Sept 2026), the likelihood is that it will need to be built under Part L 2026, which introduces the Future Homes Standard. That is based on typical planning, technical design, discharge of conditions, procurement and mobilisation timescales.

For many developers and housebuilders, especially on sites across the South of England, that is the more useful early warning. The legal test still sits in the transitional provisions and must be checked per building.

Part L now has a wider functional focus

The amended functional requirement ADL1 requires reasonable provision for:

• Conserving fuel and power

• Minimising greenhouse gas emissions

• Limiting heat gains and losses through the fabric and building services

• Providing efficient fixed building services

• Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from those services

• Providing effective controls

• Commissioning systems through testing and adjustment

That is a broader and more joined-up requirement than simply selecting efficient products. The design, installation and commissioning of the complete system matter.

The updated Approved Document L, Volume 1: Dwellings remains the key guidance document for project teams.

As-built verification matters more than many teams expect

Every new dwelling should have an air pressure test.

Testing should follow the approved procedure in CIBSE TM23. The measured air permeability must then be used in the as-built energy calculations. Failed dwellings should be improved and retested, and results, including failures, should be reported to the building control body.

That is why airtightness should be treated as a design and construction issue, not a late compliance check. Drawings should identify the air barrier, penetrations should be planned and sealed, and junctions should be reviewed before they are covered up.

Our air tightness testing service supports this stage by helping project teams verify whether the completed dwelling matches the design assumptions.

Thermal bridging still needs active coordination

A good overall U-value does not remove junction heat-loss risk.

Details at ground-floor edges, wall-to-floor junctions, openings, roofs and structural penetrations should be designed, assessed and checked during construction. On schemes with repeated house types, small junction assumptions can have a disproportionate effect.

Our thermal bridging assessments help teams resolve those details before they turn into site issues or SAP shortfalls.

Building services and handover are part of compliance

The updated guidance also covers:

• Heat pump controls and installation

• Heating system sizing and low-temperature operation

• Insulation to heat distribution systems and pipework

• Minimum building services efficiencies

• Commissioning fixed building services

• Commissioning on-site electricity generation and storage

• Following manufacturers’ instructions

• Competent persons and certification routes

• Information provided to dwelling owners

The regulations also introduce regulation 40C, requiring information given to owners of new dwellings to be provided in an appropriate format.

The Approved Document explains that operating and maintenance information should be:

• Easy to understand

• Specific to the dwelling

• Specific to the installed systems and controls

• Durable

• Available in an accessible format

For new dwellings, the Home User Guide should include practical information about heating and hot water, on-site electricity generation, ventilation, and staying cool in hot weather where relevant.

If you are reviewing a scheme now, focus first on timing and scope.

Check which buildings may fall within the new regime. Then test whether any transitional route is realistic on a per-building basis, rather than assuming the whole site is protected.

After that, review the specification as a joined-up compliance package. On the projects we typically support, this usually means coordinating:

• SAP calculations

• Thermal bridging assessments

• Air tightness testing

• Part O overheating assessments

• Energy statements, where planning or wider strategy requires them

For residential developments in the 10 to 50 unit range, these decisions rarely sit in isolation. Roof layout, services strategy, junction design, programme sequencing and evidence for building control all affect the end result.