Surveyors predict a positive net balance of housing sales of plus one per cent over the next 12 months, according to March’s residential market survey. This is the first time this measure has been out of negative territory since March 2022, but it is set against a current backdrop of weak demand. Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors chief economist Simon Rubinsohn said: “Significantly, there is a sense that the medium-term outlook is looking a little more settled, helped by the [...]

Housebuilders have branded Bath and North East Somerset council’s decision to ask for all new homes to be net zero as ‘unaffordable’ and ‘undeliverable’ at scale. They argue the council’s decision cuts across work between industry and the government for all homes to be ‘zero carbon ready’ under future homes standards to go live by 2025. A home is ‘zero carbon ready’ when it can rely on heat pumps and solar panels rather than gas boilers and has an efficient [...]

Scottish housebuilders claim new design standards based on the German Passivhaus system will hamper meeting the country’s housing needs. Homes for Scotland has said the country has a 100,000 shortfall of new homes accumulated since 2007 and that the government should have prioritised retrofitting existing ones. Public affairs director Jennifer Kennedy said: “New homes are only a small proportion of the overall housing stock and are already highly-energy efficient with further improvements to come through building standards.” She added: “If [...]

The construction supply industry has won a major victory with the 30-month extension of the CE mark for building products. The government had planned to scrap the European system by the end of the year in favour of its own regime, the UKCA mark, which goes live in January 2023. However, the lack of UK testing labs would have meant a massive delay in products gaining approval. Earlier this week the department of levelling up and housing agreed with business [...]

Housebuilders have hit out at plans to buy ‘nutrient credits’ for building on protected wildlife sites where pollutants such as nitrogen and phosphorus have leached into rivers. They claim many smaller developers will go out of business when the new nutrient mitigation scheme goes live early next year. National Federation of Builders, NFB, housing and planning head Rico Wojtulewicz said: “It’s farcical. We are paying for someone else’s mistake.” The building industry claims intensive farming is the real culprit with [...]

Banks have warned that without financial incentives such as a stamp duty refund to incentivise people to adopt green retrofits the government won’t meet its 2050 net-zero target. Trade body UK Finance has published a report calling for a national body to deliver retrofitting, grants to upskill tradespeople and improved energy performance certificates. UK Finance chief executive Clive Postings said: “Climate change is upon us and the challenges we face in the 21st century are literally existential. We are no [...]

Nearly 19,000 new homes and more than 65,000 jobs could be created in the West Midlands if its application for a package of investment zones is successful. The region submitted its bid yesterday, October 18, to ministers who have already held discussions with Tees Valley and Liverpool City Region about becoming zones. West Midlands combined authority chair and mayor Andy Street said: “We know that investment zones can accelerate the delivery of tangible outcomes for local residents – including boosting [...]

Housebuilders are urging lenders to factor in bill savings when offering mortgages to borrowers buying new energy-efficient homes. Energy performance certificate, EPC, data shows that those who buy a new build house will save an average of £2,600 a year on bills compared with buying an older property. Home Builders Federation, HBF, executive chairman Stewart Baseley said: “Energy efficiency is a growing priority for house hunters and the financial savings clearly demonstrate why. “In the face of the cost-of-living crisis, [...]

A more diverse construction workforce is at the heart of a new equity and inclusion plan launched in Scotland to give the building industry access to a wider talent pool and tackle labour shortfalls. Currently, women account for 2.7 per cent of Scotland’s modern apprenticeships and makeup 15.4 per cent of the workforce with a 23 per cent pay gap. Just 1.6 per cent of those in the building sector are from ethnic minorities compared with 4.3 per cent across [...]

An opportunity to build a £100m industrial or logistics scheme on land in a prime spot south of the river Thames is up for grabs. The Greater London Authority, GLA’s development arm, Land & Property, is looking for a developer-led team to build on two freehold sites on 75 Bugsby Way on Greenwich Peninsula. London’s mayor Sadiq Khan said: “The site has the potential to deliver three-storeys of industrial accommodation. Soft market testing has demonstrated a strong interest in the [...]

A new development finance fund to help regional SME housebuilders thrive has been launched by Newstead Capital in partnership with the government’s housing accelerator, Homes England. Homes England, Greater Manchester Pension Fund and listed wealth manager Mattioli Woods are among a string of investors who have committed £80m to the new lending facility. Homes England chief executive Peter Denton said: “This partnership is our latest intervention to offer SME housebuilders a route to finance that may otherwise be unavailable through [...]