At a time when new build completions are at an all-time low the Government has put new onus on the social sector to provide more homes. Jody Vincent , from the Commercial Window Group argues that this can’t be at the expense of quality or sustainability.
The current climate of economic uncertainty and the dramatic slowdown in private sector construction, are less than conducive to social housing or private new build starts. This is backed up by figures, which show that the number of new build homes built last year fell to just 217,000 by around 6% on the previous 12-months.
Of these around 38,000 were social housing units, of which 8,000 were delivered by local authorities and 30,000 by registered social housing providers.
Given the Government’s analysis that the UK needs to deliver 300,000 if the UK was to meet its insatiable demand for property and ease the housing crisis, there is clearly work to be done.
The great irony, according to commentators, is that at the very time private and public sector completions have fallen of a cliff, instability in the private sector residential market is making the role of social housing more important than ever.
This has had an inevitable impact on demand, with more than 1.33million households on social housing waiting lists – a three per cent increase from the previous year and the highest level since 2014.
A private rental sector in crisis
This is in part attributable to rocketing rental prices. According to the Office for National Statistics, as of April 2025 the average UK monthly private rent stood at £1,335, reflecting a 7.4% increase over the previous 12 months.
For family homes, particularly those with four or more bedrooms, the average monthly rent in Great Britain was £2,003 as of November 2024. This represents a 9.1% increase compared to the same period in the previous year.
“Private residential property is in flux” says Jody Vincent, Sales Director, at social housing window and door manufacture and installation specialist, the Commercial Window Group.
He continues: “Rental costs are massively outpacing earnings growth leading to an affordability challenge for many households.
“People are having their homes repossessed because they can’t make payments, while repossessions in the buy-to-let market are also leading to eviction of tenants – even where they have been paying their rent in full.
“This ongoing instability is creating not only new demand for social housing but is leading the Government to re-think housing provision and the social housing market in the UK with new emphasis on the role of local authorities and other social housing providers and the rental market more generally.
“The difficulty is that while less exposed, they haven’t been immune from the slowdown. The construction industry is losing capacity, prices are in many cases higher and the ‘flow’ of properties into local authorities through Section 106 agreements, has all but dried up because of historically low levels of delivery in new build more generally.”
A still stuttering new build sector
According to the latest available figures in the 2023-24 financial year only 27,00 homes were delivered under section 106 agreements – a 5.5% drop on the previous year. The six per cent drop in new build completions last year in general, is likely to continue the downward trajectory this year.
This has made a serious dent in Government targets to deliver new affordable homes with a survey by the Home Builders Federation highlighting last year that rising construction costs, higher prices and lower funding levels, had left a shortfall in housing association and local authority funding.
This lack of capital meant that 17,400 affordable homes were stalled, prompting the launch of the Section 106 Affordable Housing Clearance Service in December 2024 to unblock and reassign homes to alternate providers.
Jody argues that this means that target and reality again remain some way off in Government ambitions for UK housing, something that in the current climate is unlikely to be easily rectified. “The Government has acknowledged that the Section 106 agreements can be problematic and will move to what it hopes will be a new and simpler Infrastructure Levy.
“That won’t, however, happen until 2026-27 at the earliest, and then only if the Infrastructure Levy is proven to be a success which means the sector is still heavily reliant on preexisting funding streams”, Jody adds.
This includes the additional £2bn investment in March this year by the Government to effectively extend the Affordable Homes Programme, preventing a delivery cliff edge and supporting the build of a further 18,000 new homes
Sustainability still critical
Jody says: “Whichever way you look at it, whether this year, next year or later, there has to be an acceleration of new build and particularly social housing schemes. What is important is that in the ‘rush’ to deliver new homes gains in sustainability and innovation efficiency aren’t lost.”
Against the backdrop of the Future Homes Standard, which will come into force later this year, the balancing act between delivery and sustainability assumes increased importance for social housing providers and housebuilders.
“If we’re going to cut carbon emissions from new build homes whether their social or for private sale, by 70 or 80 per cent, material selection in social housing new build is going to be critical, with emphasis not just on in-life energy saving and efficiency but also carbon used in production.”
With one of the UK’s most advanced window and door manufacturing facilities, windows and doors supplied by the Commercial Window Group use less carbon in manufacture than any other window frame in the UK.
It follows targeted investment to shrink its reliance on fossil fuels through renewable energy, with plans to generate an additional 183,000kWh of clean energy a year through the installation of 100 additional solar panels at its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, as well as efforts to reduce consumption.
As a result of, the Commercial Group fabrication process now produces less carbon than any other in the UK, with just 3.73kg of C02 generated in manufacture. Against the backdrop of the Future Homes Standard, where energy efficiency is critical in meeting the Government’s net zero targets, this benchmark is even more significant.
“The contribution the building fabric and materials can have in lowering carbon emissions in the built environment through life is enormous”, Jody continues.
“We offer for example, an extensive range of windows and doors which achieve ultra-low u-values of as low as 0.8W/m2K.
“The focus on embodied carbon is just as important, with embodied and Scope 3 emissions within the building products supply chain, making up a substantial contribution to the overall carbon footprint in the delivery of new homes.
“This is how as a Group we can add real value to social housing new build and refurbishment specifications, delivering products which deliver significant carbon savings through life and which minimise them in manufacture.”
Controlling quality and sustainability through the right partnerships
Offering a full specification design and support service, the Commercial Window Group also has one of the UK’s most experienced technical support teams and can support the specification process including maximising value, SAP ratings, wind and barrier loadings, as well as u and g-value calculations.
It’s made up of a network of specialist and expert new build and commercial window and door installers. Members have to hold all relevant accreditation and deliver works to agreed minimum specifications.
The Commercial Window Group also offers a 12-month fixed price from point of contract. This means that quantity surveyors can develop accurate budgets without the risk of unseen costs.
Vertically integrated, the model also brings complete visibility to the commercial window and door supply chain. Windows are manufactured exclusively by the Emplas Group, one of the UK’s largest window and door fabricators, with more than four decades expertise of supply into the social housing specification sector.
Jody concludes: “The social sector faces a number of clear challenges, one to provide more new build homes, to do it quickly and cost effectively but also to deliver long term sustainability both in-life and in product and material specification with the aim of cutting the carbon footprint of housing.
“Choice of building material and individual product can play a significant part in meeting those challenges.
“With decades of expertise in social housing window and door specification, manufacture and installation, delivered regionally but backed with a national service, we can support housing associations, local authorities and house builders, deliver against both agendas.”
For more information on the Commercial Window Group’s next generation high performance window and door ranges and our regional delivery partners call 01234 567890 or email [email protected]
