Will Government deliver 1.5m homes this parliament? How much greenbelt will be released? These are the questions which dominate the housing debate in the UK. Yet, the airtime given to them does not provide enough focus on the priorities of the people that are going to live in – and ultimately buy and rent – new homes. 

So to get under the skin of what people really feel about housing, UK Concrete commissioned Opinium to conduct an in-depth research about public attitudes to their homes, how they are built, and what they value in them. 

The findings in UK Concrete’s report ‘Homes 2025: A National Conversation’  take on board the views of 5,000 homeowners, private and social renters across the UK including residents living in medium to high rise buildings.

The report findings underline the value that people put on the fabric quality and performance of their home to deliver energy efficiency but also to protect against damp, mould, flooding and fire.

What are the headline takeaways for government, registered providers and housebuilders?

The findings indicate that fire resilience is a key issue for the public, with 87 percent saying that having their home constructed from fire-resistant materials was important.

And in a changing climate, 90 percent of people rate construction of their home from materials that protect against water ingress as important. 

Asked what they most feared happening to their current home, a quarter of respondents said “leaks or escape of water.”

Yet while people place a high value on the building materials that make up their homes, only 14 percent of people polled received information about the materials their home is made from when they moved in.

My personal take on this is that prospective buyers want to make informed purchasing decisions. So educating people about the fire safety and climate resilience of the materials used to construct their home should be a requirement for the next generation of housing.

With 63% of respondents reporting that build quality should be right at the top of the government’s agenda when planning out the homes being built over the next five years, new homes must be delivered with a focus on quality construction.

I believe that industry can do this by prioritising masonry materials that can provide both energy efficiency but are also non-combustible and can protect against water ingress and fire, so that the UK can create homes that are fit for the future and actually wanted.

The report also provides housebuilders and registered providers with insight on other sustainability measures. In general, the findings appear to indicate that residents view sustainability primarily through the lens of energy efficiency and its consequent ability to reduce energy costs.

According to the research, the cost of living crisis has made 68 percent of homeowners and renters in the UK more aware of how energy efficient their current home is compared to two years ago, but only 26 percent of people said they were motivated to retrofit their home to save carbon. I was surprised, and concerned that to read that 68 percent of owners have no plans to retrofit their homes or install a heat pump in the next five years.

This latter may well be a result of the cost of living crisis. In the survey 64% of prospective buyers ranked the affordability of new homes built in the next five years as the top priority for government and housebuilders.

From the cost of living and saving money on the running of a home, to the threat of fire and a changing climate, these are the issues of importance to homeowners and renters in 2025, and all are impacted by the fabric of construction of new homes. As government drives its growth mission through housing delivery, this report serves as a timely reminder of what matters most to people…