New residential schemes encouraging people to exercise are at the heart of design guidelines backed by government housing accelerator Homes England.   Building for a Healthy Life covers the priorities for fitter stronger communities through travelling on foot or by bike or public transport and improving air quality by cutting emissions.   Co-author and Design for Homes chief executive David Birkbeck said: “A lot of developments don’t come with useable footways or if they do you get to a major [...]

Developers north of the border have slammed Scotland’s poor performance over planning decisions for the six months from October last year to March 2020. The latest stats show decision times for applications of more than 50 homes rising to 37.5 weeks – two weeks longer than the previous year and more than double the 16-week statutory timescale. Decision time for smaller applications also increased from 9.1 weeks in the previous year to 9.2 weeks despite an 11.5 percent drop in [...]

Developers will be able to build homes on disused commercial and retail sites without going through the full planning process from September. The government announced new legislation to extend permitted development rights for commercial buildings to be knocked down and replaced with homes without submitting a planning application. The new rules would also allow for empty commercial and retail properties to be turned into houses and for homeowners to add two storeys to their properties to create more homes or [...]

Plans to build 600 homes close to a medieval castle on the outskirts of King´s Lynn have been given the go-ahead. Housing secretary Robert Jenrick has supported the planning inspectorate´s decision to allow the scheme at Knights Hill, between the A149 and Grimston Road. Mr. Jenrick said this was because it would help with the area´s five-year housing supply targets. He agreed with the inspector´s view that ´this was a matter of significant importance considering the 2019 housing delivery test [...]

Housebuilding in Ireland is bouncing back with the purchasing managers´ index posting a buoyant 55.8 for June. The figure was a ten-month high for the sector - well above the 50 breakeven level and a sharp improvement on May´s reading of 21.4. Ulster Bank chief economist Simon Barry said: “Overall, the June index is an encouraging sign that the construction sector is now more clearly in recovery mode following the easing of restrictions which took hold during May.” The headline [...]

Vouchers of up to £5,000 for homeowners to make their properties energy efficient will encourage more builders to go green, claim leading figures in the industry. The chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced a £2bn grant scheme, as part of a wider a £3bn plan to cut emissions, which the treasury claims could support more than 100,000 jobs. Construction trade bodies have welcomed the grants for retrofits such as insulation, double-glazing and heat pumps. They are optimistic this will encourage more [...]

The deadline for making a start on an affordable housing scheme has been pushed back to March 2023, the government has announced. Housing secretary Robert Jenrick said the original deadline of March 2022 will be extended by 12 months to give housing associations and councils more flexibility. “Building the homes´ the country needs is central to the mission of this government as we prioritise uniting and levelling up the country,” he said. It´s estimated the building of 53,000 affordable homes [...]