Prime minister Rishi Sunak’s pledge to build the “foundations for a better future” in the King’s speech failed to mention addressing the country’s decline in housebuilding.  The construction industry was dissatisfied the speech omitted legislation to overhaul nutrient pollution laws estimated to be holding up 150,000 new homes in river catchment areas.  Federation of Master Builders chief executive Brian Berry said: “It is disappointing that there was nothing of note to address the alarming decline in housebuilding rates across the [...]

The government’s amendment to ease nutrient neutrality rules for rivers in sensitive areas was rejected in the House of Lords with 192 peers voting against versus 161 in favour. Baroness Willis of Summertown said the Homebuilders Federation’s claim that urban development counted for less than five per nutrient loading was out of date. She said an updated Defra, department for food and rural affairs, report showed that sewage effluent was responsible for closer to 30 per cent of river nutrients [...]

Repair work to soar in wake of RAAC crisis Builders could be overwhelmed with repair work to schools, hospitals, theatres, and other unsafe public buildings due to failing RAAC panels. Earlier this week the government revealed 156 schools contained reinforced autoclave aerated concrete, RAAC, of which 104 required urgent action with 52 already repaired. The Federation of Master Builders, FMB, chief executive Brian Berry said: “Local builders may struggle to cater for the scale of the issue facing schools, as [...]

Construction products could be withdrawn from the country within two years if the government forces all building products to be UK conformity assessed by the 30th of June 2025. The Construction Leadership Council, CLC, co-chaired by business and industry minister Kemi Badenoch, warned there is insufficient testing capacity for the UK mark to go live by then. “We will continue to make the case that there should be a consistent approach across all industry sectors and products to CE mark [...]

Giving Homes England the power to acquire land, masterplan and grant planning approval offers a glimmer of hope for scaling up housing delivery. Housing and levelling up secretary Michael Gove’s speech earlier this week focused on elevating the government agency’s role to one similar of the development corporations of the 80s. He was critical of London’s mayor Sadiq Khan’s failure to build the 52,000 new homes a year which the capital needs. “We’re planning to intervene using all the arms [...]