Future Homes Standard: Cutting CAPEX and OPEX with HubbPro

Future Homes Standard 2025: Cutting CAPEX and OPEX With HubbPro

The Future Homes Standard will change how new homes in England are designed, powered and funded. Gas is out, all-electric is in, and performance will be judged using more realistic, hourly energy models rather than broad averages.

For developers, Build to Rent (BTR) funds and Purpose-Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) operators, that is not just a carbon story. It is a CAPEX and OPEX story. HubbPro exists to turn that regulatory pressure into better numbers on grid, plant and long-term running costs.

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Why the Future Homes Standard Is A Cost Problem, Not Just A Carbon Problem

On real schemes, Future Homes Standard requirements tend to show up in four places:

• Higher assumed electrical loads pushing up grid connection quotes.

• Oversized heat pumps, thermal stores and risers specified “to be safe”.

• Late-stage design changes when compliance issues appear at detailed design.

• For BTR and PBSA, rising energy exposure against fixed or capped income.

Conservative assumptions quickly become expensive. Once a Point of Connection is agreed and plant rooms are fixed, there is limited room to correct an oversized strategy. That is why HubbPro focuses on early, evidence-led decisions that right size capacity and plant before you lock in commitments.

If you want a deeper primer on the policy landscape, the Future Homes Standard page sets out how we see the regulatory direction of travel for new UK housing.

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What Changes With The Home Energy Model (HEM)

The government’s Home Energy Model (HEM) will replace SAP over time. Instead of monthly averages, HEM looks at:

• Hourly weather data.

• Occupant behaviour and realistic diversity.

• Interactions between heat pumps, hot water, solar PV, batteries and EV charging.

In other words, the industry is moving towards the kind of dynamic simulation that HubbPro already uses. That is why we have built an HEM-aligned engine into our energy and compliance modelling tools, so project teams can design for real-world performance and then prove compliance, rather than designing only to pass a score.

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How HubbPro Helps Developers Cut CAPEX

HubbPro is built for developers and housebuilders who need schemes to stack up on cost, capacity and compliance. On a typical new build site, we focus on three main levers.

1. Right-Sizing Grid Connections

Traditional rules of thumb often assume very high coincident peaks on all-electric schemes. HubbPro replaces those with time-series simulations that:

• Model heating, hot water, landlord loads and EV charging across blocks.

• Reflect realistic diversity rather than identical homes behaving in the same way.

• Generate demand envelopes that can be used in DNO / IDNO discussions.

This often supports a lower Point of Connection capacity than an initial deterministic view, reducing:

• Connection and reinforcement charges.

• Primary electrical infrastructure sizes.

• The risk that “constrained” sites get written off too early.

We explore these trade-offs in more detail on new build developer optimisation, where the focus is on unlocking sites and trimming unnecessary capacity.

2. Avoiding Oversized Plant And Networks

Because HubbPro simulates how schemes behave over hours, days and seasons, it can show where:

• Heat pumps and central plant are oversized relative to realistic peaks.

• DHW storage volumes and pipework are over-engineered.

• Distribution routes and zoning are adding avoidable cost.

Project teams can then compare alternative configurations of fabric, systems and controls, choosing the lowest-cost option that still meets FHS and HEM expectations.

3. Early-Stage Optioneering, Not Late-Stage Firefighting

We designed HubbPro to be used from early RIBA stages, not as a sign-off tool at the end. Using our energy and compliance modelling engine at concept stage allows you to:

• Test multiple strategies before submitting planning.

• Carry FHS and HEM considerations into land bids and viability work.

• Reduce the risk of costly redesigns once contractors are engaged.

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How HubbPro Reduces CAPEX And OPEX For BTR

For BTR, stabilised yield and investor confidence sit alongside compliance. Energy plays directly into both.

CAPEX: Capacity And System Strategy

BTR schemes typically carry central plant, risers, sub-mains and shared services. HubbPro helps you:

• Avoid over-capacity in central systems and electrical infrastructure.

• Compare individual versus central heat pump approaches.

• Match PV and battery storage to landlord and amenity load profiles.

The result is a system sized for realistic peaks, not theoretical extremes, which directly reduces upfront CAPEX without compromising comfort.

Our Build to Rent energy strategy content explores how this plays through into IRR, ESG and valuation.

OPEX: Bills, Comfort And Asset Performance

On the operational side, HubbPro produces:

• Annual and seasonal energy use by end use and meter type.

• Scenarios showing how different control strategies affect bills and peaks.

• Comfort and overheating indicators that can feed into resident experience metrics.

This supports:

• More accurate service charge or bills-included assumptions.

• Better decisions about where incremental CAPEX (for example more PV) genuinely pays back.

• Stronger evidence for investors that the asset is efficient and resilient over the hold period.

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How HubbPro Supports PBSA Operators

PBSA schemes behave differently to standard residential. They have:

• Highly synchronised morning and evening hot water peaks.

• High plug loads from laptops, consoles and ICT.

• Seasonal and exam-period occupancy swings.

HubbPro’s scenario engine is well suited to this pattern. It helps PBSA teams:

• Size hot water plant and storage for realistic spikes, not worst-case assumptions.

• Optimise distribution and zoning to avoid over-engineering.

• Stress-test “all-inclusive” energy packages so rents and margins remain viable.

We cover this in more depth in our PBSA energy modelling material.

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A Typical HubbPro Workflow For FHS-Ready Schemes

On most projects, a HubbPro engagement follows a simple structure.

1. Input Site And Scheme Data

We start from:

• Plot counts, block layouts and unit mixes.

• Early MEP and energy strategy ideas.

• Connection offers, caps and known network constraints.

2. Define Design Scenarios

Together we shape realistic options around:

• Fabric performance and glazing ratios.

• Heating and hot water strategies.

• PV, battery and EV charging configurations.

• Phasing and capacity strategies for constrained sites.

This can be tied into an Energy Needs Workshop if you want a focused session with your wider team.

3. Run Dynamic Simulations

HubbPro then runs HEM-aligned, hourly simulations for each scenario, generating:

• Demand profiles and capacity envelopes for grid and plant.

• Indicative CAPEX impacts on plant and infrastructure.

• Annual energy use and indicative OPEX.

• Compliance indicators against Future Homes Standard expectations.

4. Compare Outcomes And Select A Strategy

You can then compare scenarios on:

• FHS and HEM performance.

• Grid, plant and network CAPEX.

• Long-term operating costs.

• Investor, lender and ESG requirements.

Once a preferred strategy is chosen, HubbPro can provide outputs that support DNO / IDNO engagement, planning, building control and internal investment committees. The energy and compliance modelling page explains how these outputs are structured.

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Turning Regulation Into A Commercial Advantage

Future Homes Standard and HEM are sometimes framed as extra hoops to jump through. Used properly, they are an opportunity to:

• Right size energy infrastructure instead of over-building it.

• Make constrained sites work where others walk away.

• Prove that BTR and PBSA assets are efficient, resilient and future-ready.

HubbPro is designed to make that shift practical. It cuts CAPEX for developers and housebuilders, and both CAPEX and OPEX for BTR and PBSA portfolios, by bringing proper, dynamic modelling into early project decisions.

If you want to see how this looks on a live scheme, the West Hill Road case study shows how right sizing capacity and plant can protect viability while staying on the right side of regulation.