All new homes must be carbon zero ready by 2025 and existing ones must meet higher energy standards, the government has announced. Gas-fired boilers are to make way for energy heat pumps in new housing and existing home repairs and replacements are to be more energy efficient. For example, the specifications of extensions, replacement of windows, new lighting and cooling systems are to be raised. Housing minister Christopher Pincher said: “The radical new standards announced will not only improve the [...]

A MasterChef reality TV show for green building projects is being floated by house builder and developer trade association Build Europe. The trade body believes such a programme would counteract perceptions that building renovation is ‘old-fashioned and outdated’. “An increasing number of young Europeans are interested in craft professions such as cooking, baking…., occupations that were previously neglected,” said the organisation. The proposal is one of 21 flagged up in its Green Deal and Renovation paper released this week aimed [...]

UK Builders are being advised to liaise with their supply chain much earlier than normal as the end of the transition period for leaving the EU looms. Trade body Build the UK has estimated that in the case of a ‘no deal’ Brexit duty and other costs could increase from two to eight percent. Build UK chief executive Suzannah Nichol said: “The overriding message from all businesses is the need for much earlier engagement across the whole supply chain, along [...]

Featured on e-architect. New order volumes in November grew at its fastest rate in six years with housebuilding a star performer, according to the UK purchasing managers’ index. The survey pointed to the strongest degree of business optimism across construction since January. Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply group director Duncan Brock, said: "The sector is moving back to strength with another solid rise in output and gaining more momentum as new orders rose last month at the highest rate [...]

Nearly a third of people thinking to move are doing so to be close to a park or have a garden, according to the building society’s latest market research. Nationwide is predicting properties within the new national parks the government is planning over the next 25 years would command premium prices. Chief economist Robert Gardner said: “Our updated research suggests a property located within a national park attracts a 20 percent premium over an otherwise identical property. This is around [...]

Market expectations and perceived building standards are holding back the country’s progress to construct net-zero buildings, according to the UK Green Building Council, UKGBC. The organization would like to see developers adjusting investor and owner-occupier expectations about green buildings and this should be set out early in a development’s narrative. It said often buildings were completely fitted out to maximize appeal during the leasing stage resulting in over-provision and waste as typically incoming occupiers removing final fit-outs. UKGBC head of [...]