UKREiiF 2026: Newly elected Green mayor insists environmental standards don’t make new homes less affordable

Lewisham’s newly elected Green mayor has said that prioritising the environmental performance of new housing will not negatively impact affordability.

Speaking at UKREiiF 2026, Liam Shrivastava insisted that “the two things don’t necessarily have to be mutually exclusive.”

He used “no bills” developments as an example of how energy efficiency can save residents money and said that building homes to high standards in the first instance will make them more resilient to rising utilities costs in the long-term.

“We have estates that haven’t had their windows replaced for decades and our working-class residents are already up against it, having to spend thousands of pounds each year on heating their homes that goes directly out of these single glazed windows,” he added.

Last year, global consultancy Arcadis reported that meeting the government’s new future homes standard (FHS) for energy efficiency increases costs for developers by between £5,000 and £8,000 per home compared with 2021 building regulations.

The FHS, which will come into force in March 2027, requires all new homes to be built with low carbon heating and high energy efficiency through the use of heat pumps and solar PV systems.

Also speaking on the panel, Reform UK’s director of local government, Jaymey McIvor, emphasised green belt protection to “keep this country beautiful” despite pushing back on environmental protections for bats and newts and clean air zones.

“We’ve got to stop [this] obsession with all these crazy things that are delaying and frustrating the [housebuilding] process. This bureaucracy and red tape has got to go out the window,” he said.

Meanwhile, Una O’Halloran, Labour leader of Islington Council, said that the authority is “determined” to combat the “climate emergency” by retrofitting its ageing stock but acknowledged that “it’s going to take a lot of money.”