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 [...]

A technical consultation on offering all new homes access to high-speed wi-fi has been announced by the government. Currently, more than two-thirds of premises have access to gigabit-capable networks, up from one in ten back in 2019 with the government aiming for a minimum of 85 per cent. Media, data and digital infrastructure minister Julia Lopez said: “There are still a significant number of house buyers who miss out on getting the best connectivity in their new homes and therefore [...]

Developers who fail to resolve snagging problems on new homes could see themselves struck off the New Homes Quality Board, NHQB, register. The board has released a new housebuilders code banning high-pressure selling, requiring an after-sale ‘cooling off’ period and protecting the buyer for up to two years after purchase. MP and NHQB chair Natalie Elphicke said the code, which has been five years in the making, would be central to driving up new homes’ standards. “It fills the gaps [...]

Supply chain problems are expected to resurface in the New Year due to Omicron’s effect on production and operations, the Construction Leadership Council, CLC, has warned. The CLC fears SME builders working on improvements, domestic repair and maintenance where clients want price certainty will be most affected. In a joint statement Builders Merchants Federation chief executive John Newcomb and Construction Products Association chief executive Peter Caplehorn said: “It is essential to maintain open lines of communication throughout the supply chain. [...]

All new buildings must reduce their greenhouse gases by nearly a third under new building regulations which will come into force in June. Under the rules, carbon emissions from new build homes must be 30 per cent lower than current standards and other new buildings such as offices and shops must be 27 per cent lower. Housing minister Eddie Hughes said the regulations were an important step towards 2025’s future homes and building standards where all new homes must be [...]