The National Housing Federation (NHF) is calling on the government to redouble its efforts to encourage sustainable house building.

According to the federation, the government's Code for Sustainable Homes will have little impact unless all developers are compelling by law to adopt the eco-friendly techniques.

It noted that while housing associations are being obliged to meet Level 3 of the code as of next April, for private developers the code is entirely voluntary until 2010.

"There is little point in asking builders to rate themselves against the Code for Sustainable Homes if they are not going to be compelled to meet it," said NHF chief executive David Orr.

"A voluntary code lacks teeth," he added. "We need an industry-wide push towards greener building, kick-started by the government."

Last month the federation revealed that just two per cent of privately-developed new homes currently meet minimum sustainable standards.

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Author:  Joanne McCabe

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