From 24 March 2027, England’s benchmark new home has a heat pump and most new houses need solar on the roof. When each building actually changes depends on a set of transition rules that builders, trades and suppliers are now planning around.
From 24 March 2027, the benchmark home in England’s building regulations has a heat pump instead of a gas boiler, and most new houses will need solar panels on the roof. The rules were made in March 2026, and builders now have just over four months before they start to apply.
It will not reach every site on the same day. Transition rules and a later start for the tallest blocks spread the change over several years, and a new compliance tool is still awaiting approval.
The rules were set a year ahead
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government published its response to the Future Homes and Buildings Standards consultation on 24 March 2026, alongside The Building Regulations etc. (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2026 and a new Approved Document L.
The regulations come into force on 24 March 2027 and apply only to building work in England. For higher risk buildings, the main energy changes start on 24 September 2027.
Higher risk buildings are those at least 18 metres or seven storeys tall that contain at least two residential units or are care homes or hospitals.
The government ties the standard to its target of 1.5 million new homes during this Parliament. Its final impact assessment sets an objective of cutting operational energy use and carbon emissions from new homes by at least 75% against 2013 standards.
A heat pump sits at the centre of the benchmark home
England tests each design against a notional building. Under the new standard, the notional home has a heat pump, wastewater heat recovery, better airtightness and decentralised mechanical extract ventilation.
The regulations do not ban gas boilers by name. The benchmark is set so that low carbon heat is the practical route, and the consultation response says boilers are “unlikely to be present in new buildings”.
Heat networks are the other route. Homes connecting to one have two ways to show compliance, and temporary heating before connection must be low carbon, ruling out a fossil fuel stopgap.
There is one controlled exception. Regulations made on 14 October 2026 let building control bodies relax or dispense with the carbon emissions requirement for new buildings from the standard’s start dates. The government’s building charges reform response of 16 October 2026 says this should happen only where compliance would not be reasonable in the specific circumstances.
Solar becomes its own legal requirement
Solar is handled outside the benchmark. A new requirement, L3, calls for a renewable electricity system on a new building containing a dwelling, or within its curtilage, designed so residents can use what it generates.
The guidance treats L3 as met with panels equal to 40% of each dwelling’s ground floor area. Less is accepted where architectural or design features get in the way. If the roof cannot produce 720kWh a year, no panels are needed, which the government puts at less than two panels’ worth.
Buildings with a storey at least 18 metres above ground are exempt. Separately, terraces can no longer average the emissions, energy and fabric targets across a row.
What is the Future Homes Standard?
The Future Homes Standard is England’s updated energy standard for new homes under Part L of the Building Regulations. It applies from 24 March 2027, uses a notional home with a heat pump as the compliance benchmark, and adds a separate legal requirement for renewable electricity, usually rooftop solar. The government says homes built to it will not need retrofitting to be zero carbon in use once the grid is fully decarbonised.
Each building gets its own transition
Under regulation 5 of the amending regulations, a building can still be finished to the previous Part L if a building notice, initial notice or full plans application was given before 24 March 2027, and work on that building commences before 24 March 2028.
Both tests apply building by building, not to a whole estate. A few developers warned this could leave sites already planned around gas with oversized gas infrastructure and electricity connections to upgrade.
Both tests apply building by building, not to a whole estate.
Higher risk buildings need a valid Gateway 2 application submitted before 24 September 2027. There is no separate start deadline, because construction must already begin within three years of a Gateway 2 submission.
The government chose the longer of its two transition options. Respondents who favoured it raised the readiness of the compliance software, heat pump installer shortages, supply chains and grid connections.
The impact assessment expects a gradual climb
The impact assessment assumes 10% of new homes outside higher risk buildings are completed to the new standard in 2027, 35% in 2028, 80% in 2029 and all of them from 2030. For higher risk buildings, the same climb runs from 2031 to 2034.
Heat pumps are already part of the mix. Its analysis of energy performance certificates found air source heat pumps in 25% of new homes in 2023 and 2024 under the 2021 rules, and it assumes 30% from 2025 without the new standard.
It puts the extra build cost at £4,350 per home on average in 2025 prices, ranging from £5,690 for a mid terrace house to £1,550 for a flat in a block above 18 metres. It assumes heat pumps fall to around 70% of their initial cost, and solar to around 60%, by the end of the first 10 years.
Design work moves earlier and trades pick up new scope
For designers, more is settled at the drawing stage. Roof layouts carry a solar target, heat pump positions can affect planning, and the guidance says a chimney or flue should not be provided unless a secondary heating appliance is installed.
Compliance runs on SAP 10.3 for now. The government’s Standard Assessment Procedure guidance, last updated on 8 June 2026, says the Home Energy Model’s launch was delayed and SAP 10.3 is the sole approved method.
Once the new model is approved, either tool can be used, with SAP 10.3 kept for at least 24 months from when the regulations were laid.
Heat pump installers become a standard trade on most new homes. The guidance asks for a commissioning checklist as evidence, citing MCS and Heat Pump Association documents as examples, and stresses correct sizing and following manufacturers’ instructions.
Roofers and electricians pick up solar work on most new houses. Respondents also flagged grid connection queues and possible new substations on large sites first planned around gas.
Suppliers get a dated demand curve, with the phase in figures and cost assumptions setting out a timeline for heat pumps, solar and ventilation.
The standard also lands less than six months after England’s new Building Safety Levy began applying to building control applications, so many larger schemes will be pricing both.
None of the technology in these homes is new. What England has added is a date, a paperwork test that decides which rules each building falls under, and its own published estimate of how quickly completions will turn over. For anyone who builds, installs or supplies, that turns a policy direction into a programme.
THE GOOD BUILDER TAKE
The most practical detail in England’s approach is where the line falls. It is drawn at each building’s paperwork and start date, not at the site boundary or the planning consent, so the switch arrives plot by plot.
The open questions are about readiness rather than direction: when the Home Energy Model is approved, how often building control bodies use the new relaxation power, and whether the installer workforce keeps pace with the uptake curve the government has published.
Frequently asked questions
The Future Homes Standard comes into force in England on 24 March 2027 for most building work. For higher risk buildings, the main energy changes apply from 24 September 2027. The regulations were laid before Parliament on 24 March 2026, a year ahead of the start date.
The regulations do not ban gas boilers by name. The compliance benchmark assumes a heat pump, and the government says boilers are unlikely to be present in new buildings under the updated guidance. Separate regulations made in October 2026 also let building control bodies relax the carbon emissions requirement from the same start dates, where compliance would not be reasonable in the specific circumstances.
Most will. A new legal requirement, L3, requires renewable electricity generation for new buildings containing dwellings, and the guidance treats it as met with panels equal to 40% of each dwelling’s ground floor area. Less is accepted where design features limit it, no panels are needed if the roof cannot produce 720kWh a year, and buildings with a storey at least 18 metres high are exempt.
A building can still be completed to the previous Part L if a building notice, initial notice or full plans application was given before 24 March 2027 and work on that building commences before 24 March 2028. The tests apply to each building, not a whole site. Higher risk buildings instead need a valid Gateway 2 application submitted before 24 September 2027.
Not yet. The government’s SAP guidance, last updated on 8 June 2026, says the Home Energy Model’s launch was delayed and SAP 10.3 is the sole approved methodology. Once the model is approved, either can be used during a dual running period, with SAP 10.3 available for at least 24 months from when the regulations were laid.
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Last updated 10 November 2026. Figures current to the MHCLG consultation response, S.I. 2026/335 and final impact assessment (24 March 2026), the SAP guidance page (last updated 8 June 2026) the building charges reform government response (16 October 2026) and S.I. 2026/1094 (made 14 October 2026).
General Information Only: The information in this article is general in nature and does not constitute legal, financial, tax or professional advice. It does not take into account your particular circumstances. Laws, regulations and market conditions change, and overseas rules discussed here do not apply in Australia. Independent professional advice is recommended before acting on any information in this article.
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