The knowledge is there. The will is the question. 

The built environment does not have a knowledge problem. We know what net-zero homes look like. We know how to build them. We have the technologies, the frameworks, the case studies and the evidence. What we have lacked - and what is now becoming impossible to ignore - is a systemic approach to making it the norm rather than the exception. 

There is a difference between just doing sustainable things and being systemic about sustainability. The first gives us exemplary projects, celebrated at conferences, and quietly regarded by the mainstream as admirable but not really scalable. The second changes the rules entirely - reshaping policy, business practice, procurement and planning, so that doing the right thing becomes the default, easier option. 

That is the shift this industry needs to make. And it is what Bioregional is planning to bring to Futurebuild this year. 

Acknowledging real progress - and its limits 

Before anything else, let me acknowledge what is working. The Future Homes Standard, while certainly not perfect, will effectively end new homes connecting to the gas grid, driving a decisive move to low-carbon heating. This is a genuine landmark - those of us who have spent decades arguing that fossil fuels must be designed out of new homes, know how much this matters.  

The Future Homes Hub, which brings together over 40 of the UK's largest homebuilders alongside supply chain, finance and government partners, has done exceptional work helping the sector prepare for this transition, including developing the Whole Life Carbon Conventions for New Homes and the Future Homes Carbon Assessment Tool. There is real momentum here, and it should not be underestimated. (Check out all their resources here.) 

But momentum is not the same as systemic change. And the gaps in our current policy landscape make that plain. 

The Future Homes Standard addresses operational energy - how a home is heated and powered once people move in. But it does not address embodied carbon - the carbon locked into the materials used to build the home in the first place. According to research cited by the Good Homes Alliance, embodied carbon accounts for 20% of UK built environment emissions. It is entirely unregulated - a systemic approach to net zero in the built environment cannot leave that gap open. 

This is why Bioregional, alongside the Good Homes Alliance, LETI and the UK Green Building Council, convened an open letter to government calling for a more ambitious standard - one that, in a future iteration, would regulate embodied carbon alongside operational performance. We were joined by 250 prominent industry organisations. That breadth of support matters: it is itself a systemic signal, the industry speaking in one voice about what the policy framework needs to become. 

What being systemic actually looks like 

It operates at several levels simultaneously - and that multi-level quality is precisely the point. A single organisation doing the right thing is commendable. An entire sector moving together, underpinned by coherent policy, is transformational. 

At the policy level, it means creating a genuine level playing field - where developers who embed whole-life carbon thinking, social value and nature-positive design are not commercially penalised for doing so, but where those who don't begin to feel the friction. That requires government to act, and the industry to keep making the case clearly and collectively. 

But it also means not waiting for government. And this is where local authorities come in - in a way that is often underestimated. 

Local authorities as leaders 

At our Futurebuild session "Local Authorities leading the way: Policies and metrics to build new homes within our national carbon budget", we will explore how planning authorities are filling a genuine policy vacuum - not by ignoring national government, but by doing the evidence-based work that allows higher standards to be adopted in local plans. Planning Inspectors are accepting this where the evidence base is robust. Leaders in this space are rightly pushing for those standards to become national.  

Bioregional's Net-zero Spatial Planning Tool is designed to support exactly this kind of systemic local action, helping councils demonstrate how new homes can be delivered within the UK's national carbon budget, with the rigour to withstand scrutiny. Our Director of Sustainable Places, Lewis Knight, will be joined by sustainability and planning leads from Essex County Council and Greencore Homes to share what this looks like on the ground. 

Organisations leading from within 

At an organisational level, being systemic means embedding sustainability into the DNA of an organisation, not treating it as a bolt-on. Our second session that afternoon - "Systemic approaches to mainstream sustainability in new build" - will hear from two organisations doing this seriously. 

Muse Places, one of the UK's leading mixed-use regeneration developers, has developed an industry-leading Sustainable Development Framework - built with Bioregional and aligned to the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard - that sets clear metrics and targets across their entire portfolio, from embodied carbon to circular economy and social value. Syreeta Bayne, their Head of Social Value and Sustainability, will share what it means to embed that framework across a mainstream business, not just on flagship schemes. 

Richard Lankshear, Programme Director at the Future Homes Hub, will speak to the systemic approach the Hub is taking at sector level - coordinating across developers, government and supply chain to move the whole industry forward together, not just the pioneers. 

We hope to see you there 

The pattern connecting all of this is the same: systemic thinking works across - local plans, corporate frameworks, and sector-wide coalitions. It doesn’t wait for the perfect moment. It builds the conditions for change rather than simply responding to them. 

The knowledge is there. What this industry needs now is the will to act at a systems level - and the relationships to make it stick.  

Beyond our two curated talks mentioned above, our Senior Consultant, Zoe Watson, will also be joining a panel discussion on how regenerative approaches can reshape the built environment - and the challenges involved in moving from intent to delivery. 

We hope you can join us at Futurebuild 2026. Come and find us at stand N64, and join us for our sessions on the afternoon of 13 May. 

Register for a free ticket at futurebuild.co.uk. https://register.visitcloud.com/survey/00jckvxw5jvn9?actioncode=3379