The construction industry is waiting with bated breath to see if Stuart Andrew – the eleventh new housing minister in 12 years – will embrace SMEs as a vital tool for building more homes. Deputy chief whip Stuart Andrew, who grew up on a North Wales council estate, assumed the role yesterday in the prime minister’s mini-reshuffle as part of the clear out of the whip’s office. The National Federation of Builders chief executive Richard Beresford said: “He has a [...]

Improving housing affordability in the southeast of the country is to be ditched in favour of pouring resources into building new homes in the midlands and the north. The 80/20 rule where 80 per cent of Homes England funding went to parts of England that were expensive to live is to be scrapped, the government has announced. Levelling up secretary Michael Gove said: “For decades, too many communities have been overlooked and undervalued. As some areas have flourished, others have [...]

Leaper Land Promotion is looking for a delivery partner for up to 49 custom and self-build homes on 6.5 acres next to Framlingham village in East Suffolk. The company has gained outline planning for a phased development of up to 33 open market homes, made up of 27 custom-build and six self-build homes. Leaper director Ben Marten said: “We are open to dialogue with potential buyers and delivery partners for part or all of the site, but specifically a developer [...]

A swathe of councils could follow two Hertfordshire authorities who rejected their local plans in the wake of the government’s decision to reverse proposed planning reform. The construction industry fears Conservative-run Hertsmere and Welwyn Hatfield borough councils’ move to revise their local plans because too many homes were to be built on green belt land could set a trend. National Federation of Builders housing and planning head Rico Wojtulewicz said: “The decision of two home counties to reject building homes [...]

A £1.5bn home building fund offering loans to SMEs to help them deliver 42,000 new houses across the country has received a lukewarm response from the construction industry. The National Federation of Builders, NFB, has said the loan scheme would only be of any use if smaller housebuilders could borrow prior to gaining planning permission. NFB housing and planning policy head Rico Wojtulewicz said: “The government has promised this level of funding previously but as it has not understood the [...]

The UK’s second biggest brick maker Forterra warned of further price hikes this year in its latest trading statement. The company said it was reviewing costs before deciding whether to charge more following double-digit increases over the last few months due to higher energy costs. Chief executive Stephen Harrison said: “We remain watchful of further inflationary cost pressures, and we will apply further price increases as necessary.” He added 70 per cent of the company’s energy costs had now been [...]

Nearly a third of England’s local authorities failed to meet their housing delivery targets last year, according to government figures. Out of 321 local councils 93 failed to hit their targets, 29 per cent - a modest improvement on 2020 figures where 34 per cent failed. Head of housing and planning policy at the National Federation of Builders Rico Wojtulewicz said: “The problem is there are no real consequences for not meeting the targets. If you are constrained by the [...]

Bricks and roof tiles are in short supply with demand outstripping supply against a backdrop of rising inflation, the Construction Leadership Council, CLC, has warned. Imports of bricks from the EU and globally are set to continue until three new UK brickmaking plants come on stream next year and in 2024. The new factories are predicted to boost UK annual capacity by about 150m bricks per year. The CLC’s product availability group co-chairs John Newcomb and Peter Caplehorn said: “We [...]

The capital’s mayor Sadiq Khan is pressing the government to create a new 12-month visa for construction workers so London can meet its goal of 66,000 new homes a year. Mr Khan warned there is a risk affordable homes targets will be missed because building firms can’t find staff in the wake of Brexit and the pandemic. “Tackling London’s housing crisis has always been one of my top priorities. We’ve worked tirelessly over the last five years to get London [...]

Reducing planning risk by making decisions more predictable and quicker would benefit SME housebuilders, the House of Lord’s built environment committee has concluded. In its Meeting Housing Demand report released this week the committee has urged councils to support SME builders by creating a speedy planning process. “The government should work with local planning authorities to create a fast-track planning process for SMEs,” said the report. It recommends a ‘master developer’ model, where larger sites are built by different housebuilders [...]

Artificial intelligence should be harnessed to work out biodiversity net gain for sites of 50 homes or less, urges the National Federation of Builders, NFB. The call follows the government’s consultation released today on restoring ecological loss during housing construction and delivering a ten per cent boost on biodiversity post-development. NFB head of housing and planning Rico Wojtulewicz said: “On small sites of up to 50 homes, we need an automated calculation process which takes into account local species and [...]

More than nine out of ten smaller housebuilders have said planning is the biggest obstacle to increasing their housing delivery, according to a survey out this week. Respondents expect planning delays to get worse in 2022 in many parts of the UK because of local elections for all the London boroughs, Scottish and Welsh authorities in May. Homebuilders Federation, HBF, executive chairman Stewart Baseley said: “SMEs are literally having to put their businesses on hold whilst local authorities delay the [...]