Historically, the standard has set out a legally binding minimum quality of performance for social housing in the UK. This latest announcement updates not only the standard’s criteria, but also its scope, incorporating private as well as socially rented housing for the first time – meaning all rental tenants in the UK are set to benefit.
Key criteria
The Decent Homes Standard requires that:
- A home must be free of the most dangerous hazards, including materials or constructions that increase the spread of fire
- A home must be in a reasonable state of repair
- A home must provide core facilities and services, including adequate external noise insulation
- A home must provide a reasonable degree of thermal comfort, includes meeting Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards
- A home should be free of damp and mould; this ties in with Awaab’s Law , which is already in force in the social rented sector and is expected to be extended to the private rented sector
Timeframes
Whilst the final deadline for compliance with the updated standard is 2035, the government expects to see steady improvement and will be monitoring rates of compliance ahead of the final deadline.
Landlords will also want to avoid last-minute competition for skilled labour, as well as lagging behind competitors in the eyes of reliable tenants.
Solutions
Good quality insulation has a significant role to play in helping to address the requirements of the Decent Homes Standard.
- Addressing fire safety: ROCKWOOL’s stone wool insulation is non-combustible (A1 or A2-s1, d0), meaning it won’t burn or emit significant amounts of toxic smoke. That makes it suitable both as a fire-stopping material as well as for use in sensitive applications including building façades.
- Ensuring adequate noise insulation: Made from volcanic rock, the structure of stone wool insulation creates air pockets within the material that trap and absorb sound waves, reducing noise levels within rooms through acoustic ceiling tiles and wall treatments, and blocking sound from travelling between walls with insulation.
- Providing thermal comfort: ROCKWOOL’s stone wool insulation helps maintain the desired internal temperature by trapping air, thereby slowing down the transfer of heat between the inside and outside of the building. Tests of ROCKWOOL stone wool recovered from old buildings have also shown that it retains its thermal performance for at least 50 years, and probably longer.
- Tackling damp and mould: Our stone wool insulation is vapour permeable, meaning vapour can pass through without condensing and accumulating into moisture. It’s also water repellent and non-hygroscopic, so it won’t attract or absorb moisture from the surrounding environment.
Our online resources are here to help – see our case studies, technical support and tools, and CPDs for more information on the role that stone wool can play in retrofitting.
