Banks have warned that without financial incentives such as a stamp duty refund to incentivise people to adopt green retrofits the government won’t meet its 2050 net-zero target. Trade body UK Finance has published a report calling for a national body to deliver retrofitting, grants to upskill tradespeople and improved energy performance certificates. UK Finance chief executive Clive Postings said: “Climate change is upon us and the challenges we face in the 21st century are literally existential. We are no [...]

Nearly 19,000 new homes and more than 65,000 jobs could be created in the West Midlands if its application for a package of investment zones is successful. The region submitted its bid yesterday, October 18, to ministers who have already held discussions with Tees Valley and Liverpool City Region about becoming zones. West Midlands combined authority chair and mayor Andy Street said: “We know that investment zones can accelerate the delivery of tangible outcomes for local residents – including boosting [...]

Housebuilders are urging lenders to factor in bill savings when offering mortgages to borrowers buying new energy-efficient homes. Energy performance certificate, EPC, data shows that those who buy a new build house will save an average of £2,600 a year on bills compared with buying an older property. Home Builders Federation, HBF, executive chairman Stewart Baseley said: “Energy efficiency is a growing priority for house hunters and the financial savings clearly demonstrate why. “In the face of the cost-of-living crisis, [...]

A more diverse construction workforce is at the heart of a new equity and inclusion plan launched in Scotland to give the building industry access to a wider talent pool and tackle labour shortfalls. Currently, women account for 2.7 per cent of Scotland’s modern apprenticeships and makeup 15.4 per cent of the workforce with a 23 per cent pay gap. Just 1.6 per cent of those in the building sector are from ethnic minorities compared with 4.3 per cent across [...]

An opportunity to build a £100m industrial or logistics scheme on land in a prime spot south of the river Thames is up for grabs. The Greater London Authority, GLA’s development arm, Land & Property, is looking for a developer-led team to build on two freehold sites on 75 Bugsby Way on Greenwich Peninsula. London’s mayor Sadiq Khan said: “The site has the potential to deliver three-storeys of industrial accommodation. Soft market testing has demonstrated a strong interest in the [...]

A new development finance fund to help regional SME housebuilders thrive has been launched by Newstead Capital in partnership with the government’s housing accelerator, Homes England. Homes England, Greater Manchester Pension Fund and listed wealth manager Mattioli Woods are among a string of investors who have committed £80m to the new lending facility. Homes England chief executive Peter Denton said: “This partnership is our latest intervention to offer SME housebuilders a route to finance that may otherwise be unavailable through [...]

Large firms should be made to pay SMEs within 30 days of invoice, urges the Chartered Institute of Building, CIOB, in its Covid-19 and Construction report. The professional body wants the government to strengthen the prompt payment code, which requires companies to pay SME suppliers within a month. It has highlighted that ‘a mere’ 3,500 companies are signatories to the code because it’s voluntary. The call follows recent CIOB research showing more than half of the 1,400 SMEs surveyed were [...]

Builders merchants recorded the highest revenue since their building index began in 2014 for the second quarter of this year despite a year-on-year drop in sales volume of 11 per cent. The total value of sales for April to June was more than a quarter higher than the same period in 2019 and four per cent greater than in 2021 due to price inflation of more than 17 per cent. Builders Merchants Federation chief executive John Newcomb said: “The negative [...]

Housebuilders completed 40,289 new homes in the second quarter of 2022 – a 16 per cent year-on-year increase, according to the National House Building Council, NHBC, figures. Private sector completions saw a 23 per cent year-on-year at 29,963 but affordable and rental sector completions stayed flat at 10,326. NHBC chief executive Steve Wood said: “Our latest figures demonstrate that output from the new homes market has made a solid return. “At this stage, we are not seeing evidence that the cost-of-living crisis [...]

The new Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi should make re-introducing tax cuts on diesel a priority if he’s serious about tackling construction inflation, claims the National Federation of Builders, NFB. The trade body said it was renewing its campaign to press for red diesel on building sites where the fuel used to receive a 47 pence per litre rebate. NFB’s housing and planning policy head Rico Wojtulewicz said: “With fuel thefts rising and diesel now at over £2 a litre, the chancellor [...]

Greater Manchester has announced ambitious plans to build 30,000 net-zero homes over the next 16 years through a partnership with the government’s housing accelerator Homes England. The homes are part of a broader social, environmental, and economic vision for the area which covers Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan. Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham said: “Right now we have to be creating homes and infrastructure that are fit for a better future, and our ambition [...]

Boris Johnson’s announcement to insulate more homes to protect people from the cost-of-living crisis has added weight to adopting a national green retrofit strategy claims the building industry. They argue that a proper assessment of householders’ homes first to decide what remedial action is appropriate should happen before insulating a property. “For example, there’s no point rolling out Icynene spray foam Insulation in a property which has a cold roof as this would cause long-term damage and the product itself isn’t [...]