About Futurebuild 2025
Join Futurebuild from 4th – 6th March 2025 at London’s ExCeL, the most impactful event in sustainable innovation for the built environment. Discover the latest products, solutions, and insights that will help you achieve your sustainability goals and drive meaningful change.
As Futurebuild celebrates its 20th anniversary, the theme for 2025 is Impact—marking two decades of driving positive change in the built environment and the communities we serve. Be part of this milestone event and contribute to shaping a more sustainable future.
The GHA has curated three seminars at this year’s show on housing standards, water efficiency and building performance. Please see below for further information.
Find out more at www.futurebuild.co.uk and register now for your free ticket.
GHA seminar sessions
Tuesday 4th March 2025, 13:30-14:15 – Buildings stage
Housing in a climate emergency – Why we need to go further and faster on housing standards
The housing sector is at a crossroads. The new Labour government has pledged to build 1.5 million new homes over the next 5 years and has set out planning reforms and the reintroduction of mandatory housing targets to help facilitate this. However, imminent updates to the building regulations following the Future Homes Standard consultation are not expected to go far and fast enough in addressing the urgent need for change to meet our climate commitments, or to deliver the healthy homes with low bills that we need. 250 prominent industry organisations have supported a letter to Government calling for a better standard to be adopted. In tandem with this, progressive local authorities are adopting their own ambitious net zero planning policies that set higher standards above and beyond national levels. Join this session to find out the latest updates from those striving to further and faster on standards in order to meet our climate commitments.
- Julian Brooks, Programmes Director, Good Homes Alliance (Chair)
- Lewis Knight, Director of Sustainable Places, Bioregional
- Julie Godefroy, Head of Net Zero Policy, CIBSE
- Kirsty Girvan, Policy and Public Affairs Advisor, UKGBC
- Rosalie Callway, Policy and Project Manager, Town & Country Planning
Tuesday 4th March 2025, 15:30-16:15 – Placemaking stage
Best Practice Water Efficiency and Reuse in Housing – in partnership with the Good Homes Alliance
The challenge of water availability is well documented, and the UK faces a potential major water deficit. Many areas are water stressed, and some local authorities now require developers to demonstrate and robustly evidence a move towards ‘water neutrality’. Housebuilders, architects, contractors and their supply chains have a key role to play by delivering housing developments that are increasingly more water efficient and where appropriate maximise water reuse.
The Future Homes Hub’s Water Ready report for Defra proposes a roadmap towards water efficient housing, setting out proposed actions for government and industry to take to achieve 90 litres per day consumption in new homes by 2035. However, there are a number of organisations within industry, including Good Homes Alliance (GHA) members, who want to move faster, and water companies are likely to encourage this through their Environmental Incentives programmes. There is currently however a knowledge gap and an urgent need for concise and current guidance.
Find out more about the GHA’s new project, funded by the Enabling Water Smart Communities (EWSC) project and the UK Water Efficiency Collaborative Fund, which will create practical guidance for those who want to go further and faster, and deliver new housing developments and retrofitted homes which meet best practice water efficiency targets and reuse outcomes, now.
- Rory Olcayto, Writer & Critic, Pollard Thomas Edwards (Chair)
- Tom Dollard, Partner – Sustainability and Innovation, Pollard Thomas Edwards
- Saffron Corcoran, Environmental Engineer Graduate, Thames Water
Wednesday 5th March 2025, 12:30-13:15 – Buildings stage
The vital role of building performance evaluation (BPE) in ensuring high quality outcomes in new homes and retrofit
Studies have shown that the “performance gap” in housing is significant with actual energy use in some cases over four times what has been predicted. There is an emerging market for building performance technologies and evaluation techniques, and it is becoming faster and more cost efficient than ever to measure the “as-built” performance of new and refurbished homes. However, there is still a way to go before performance measurement is commonplace. Join this session to find out more on the latest BPE research findings, technological advancements and next steps for the industry.
- Dr Tom Dollard, Partner – Sustainability and Innovation, Pollard Thomas Edwards (Chair)
- Luke Smith, Managing Director, Build Test Solutions Ltd
- Prof Rajat Gupta, Professor of Sustainable Architecture and Climate Change, Oxford Brookes University
- Dr Kerry Mashford OBE CEng, FIMechE, Chair and co-author of BS 40101
- Dr Kate van Someren, Senior Consultant & Relationship Manager, ARUP