The Hill Way: Predictions for 2022

What are Hill's plans in response to the environmental agenda and how is the company?tackling climate change, for the end-user, as well as operationally?

The environmental agenda is one of our key focuses at Hill. We have committed to achieving net-zero carbon in our Scope 1 and 2 business operations by 2030 and net-zero operational carbon in the homes we build by 2030, twenty years ahead of the UK's broad 2050 net-zero carbon target. We have also committed to achieving Biodiversity Net Gain on future land-led developments from 2021.

?At Hill, we have already modelled a range of house types and apartment layouts to interrogate CO2 reduction performance standards required for delivering future homes. This will see the phasing out of fossil fuels, with electricity becoming the primary low-carbon energy source powering air source heat pumps. No schemes planned in the last 18 months have had gas as the principal energy source. Photovoltaics and battery storage are likely to be part of the optimal solution too.

Hill's solutions will include improved building fabric performance, reduced embodied carbon of materials, increased off-site manufacture, increased air-tightness, better thermal bridging and supply chain deliverability.

In addition, increased reliance on electricity as the primary energy source, and increased need for electricity for car charging points, is already causing Hill to look at grid capacity and plan additional sub-stations into development layouts.

What are the main challenges for the construction industry in meeting the government's environmental agenda/Future Homes Standard?

There are a number of key barriers.

• Cost is obviously a key concern, particularly in the enhanced electrical capacity required on schemes. This also points to a more medium-term concern as to whether, at a national level, there is enough capacity in the grid to take on all of the other decarbonisation initiatives being undertaken across sectors.
• There is also a legitimate concern with regard to end-users. Customers will need to be educated about how different heating systems work and how to manage them to avoid increased bills.

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What are we planning/what do we have planned to combat labour/supply shortages going into 2022?

At Hill, we are constantly working with our supply chain to be the partner of choice. This helps us secure good levels of labour. Our challenges in 2021, mainly related to materials rather than labour, and we see this as likely to continue into the first half of next year before easing.

We have also invested in MMC, with our factory providing opportunities to alleviate labour shortages.

How is the mortgage environment set to affect Hill and/or the industry over the next year? Help to Buy II continues but only until 2023, and there is the new Deposit Unlock, which is available now to new home buyers.

The spectre of increasing interest rates looms over the market this year. It is important to remember that rates are still incredibly low, and it remains likely that this will continue for the foreseeable, so I expect a continuation of good demand for high-quality products through 2022.

Hill is one of the founding members of the new Deposit Unlock scheme offered to first-time buyers and existing homeowners alike. It will allow a wider pool of people across the country to access the finance they need to purchase a new home. I expect take-up may take a little while to ramp up, much like HTB.

Click here to view our Deposit Unlock brochure.

What other issues are likely to impact the construction industry in 2022?

If not more prevalent than previous years, the inherent planning issues with planning will continue in 2022 as local authorities combat a shortage of planning resources whilst the government attitude to planning remains highly uncertain.

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