Row over scrapping new-build eco rules could cost buyers later

The Conservative Party used its party conference in Birmingham to propose scrapping the Future Homes Standard, according to the End Fuel Poverty Coalition. The standard is due to come into force in England on 24 March 2027, with a 12-month transition period, and would require new homes to have low-carbon heating (in practice heat pumps or heat networks), rooftop solar panels and better insulation.

What the standard was meant to do

According to the coalition, the policy was designed so that every new home is cheap to heat in winter, stays cool in summer, and avoids the costly retrofit that millions of older properties now need. It cites modelling for the MCS Foundation suggesting a typical new-build semi-detached home with a heat pump and solar panels would save up to £1,040 a year on energy bills, rising to £1,342 a year with a battery added.

On cost, the coalition says the Conservative Party has put the price of installing these measures at over £50,000, while official estimates put the figure at just over £5,000 in extra build costs. A spokesperson for the coalition argued that scrapping the rules "may let profiteering developers build homes more cheaply, but the families who move in will pay for it through higher bills."

What it means for your costs

Whatever happens to the standard for new-build homes, the gap the coalition highlights — a few thousand pounds to build it in versus tens of thousands to add it later — is one we see constantly in existing housing stock. Fitting a heat pump, solar panels and insulation to a home after it's built is a bigger job than designing them in from day one, because it means disturbing finished walls, roofs and gardens rather than working from bare foundations.

For context, retrofitting a typical UK home with an air source heat pump now runs to £12,900 typically, with most jobs falling in the £10,100 – £16,800 range once you include the cylinder, pipework and any radiator upgrades — see our Air source heat pump for a full breakdown. Solar panels add roughly £12,600, and external wall insulation on an older solid-wall house is the single biggest-ticket item, at around £26,000 for a typical semi.

Two things currently soften that retrofit bill. First, 0% VAT applies to installing energy-saving materials — heat pumps, insulation, solar panels and batteries — until 31 March 2027, so our figures above already reflect that saving where it applies. Second, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme offers £7,500 off an air source or ground source heat pump in England and Wales (installer must be MCS certified), or up to £7,500 from the Home Energy Scotland grant, plus an optional £7,500 interest-free loan, for homes in Scotland. The Warm Homes Plan, published in January 2026, sets out £15bn of funding to 2030, including grants for low-income households and loans being phased in, though we don't yet have confirmed figures for how that money will be allocated.

If the Future Homes Standard is scrapped or delayed, buyers of new-build homes would lose the guarantee that these measures come fitted as standard, and would instead face the same retrofit costs and decisions that owners of older homes already weigh up — alongside the ongoing running-cost difference between a heat pump and a gas boiler. Whether you're buying new or upgrading an existing home, it's worth getting more than one quote and using our "is my quote fair" tool to check installer pricing against local rates before committing.

We build these estimates from labour hours multiplied by local trade rates plus materials costs, then check the result against market prices and real quotes — so the figures move with wage and material costs rather than staying fixed over time.