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Construction products could be withdrawn from the country within two years if the government forces all building products to be UK conformity assessed by the 30th of June 2025.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 [...]

A major scaling up of custom and self-build homes has failed to materialise due to insufficient publicity and available land, claims Conservative MP Richard Bacon. He is disappointed at the lack of progress since the 2016 housing and planning act where the government pledged to double the number of self-commissioned homes over two years. “Too many local authorities are yet to fully engage with the benefits to them and their communities of enabling more of this approach to housing delivery. [...]

The construction industry has breathed a sigh of relief that political pressure to make the installation of solar panels on all new-build homes has been rejected. Net-zero and energy security secretary Grant Shapps rejected calls by Conservative MP and environmental audit committee chair Philip Dunne for photovoltaic cells to be fitted as standard. Mr Shapps said it was up to developers to find the “most appropriate and cost-effective solutions” for making new homes energy efficient. The National Federation of Builders, [...]

The UK’s focus on increasing habitats for wildlife could hinder housebuilding on smaller sites warns the National Federation of Builders, NFB. The trade body is concerned that rules which go live in November to increase biodiversity net gain, BNG, by ten per cent on all new housing developments will prove tricky for small sites. NFB chief executive Richard Beresford said: “The UK’s biodiversity strategy is one focused on habitats, rather than biodiversity.” The trade body warns that this means smaller [...]

A call for evidence to look at successful nutrient mitigation schemes in areas where river phosphates and nitrates are too high, has been cautiously received by the housebuilding industry. Currently, an estimated 120,000 proposed new homes are on hold because they are in areas where nitrate levels in rivers are regarded by Natural England as too high. The government has offered funding for quality proposals to support clearer routes for developers to deliver in areas affected such as The Solent, [...]

Housebuilders want chancellor Jeremy Hunt to get cladding and insulation product manufacturers to contribute to the estimated £3bn bill to make hundreds of risky flats safe. The trade body, in its Spring budget representation, is arguing for a levy, or a corporation tax surcharge, so that they can contribute to the post Grenfell remediation bill. Home Builders Federation, HBF, executive chairman Stewart Baseley said: “It is only the private home building industry which has been repeatedly targeted for contributions, which [...]

Up to 77,000 fewer new homes are likely to be built a year for the rest of this decade, slumping to the lowest level since the second world war, according to a new report. Lichfields’ Making a Bad Situation Worse, calculates by 2030 more than a million fewer homes will have been built than anticipated with annual output dropping to 120,000 a year. This would leave the government’s 300,000 new homes a year housebuilding target in tatters. Homebuilders Federation, HBF, [...]

SME developers are bracing themselves for huge extra costs when new rules requiring a housing or commercial project to increase biodiversity by ten per cent go live in November. The National Federation of Builders, NFB, had hoped the government would raise the limit of nine to 39 new homes for defining a small site allowing greater use of a digitised habitat metric. NFB housing and planning policy head Rico Wojtulewicz said: “We believe the government has missed a trick by [...]

More than 20,000 new homes are expected to be built in the capital over the next decade on land owned by Transport for London, TfL, and Network Rail. TfL’s commercial property company TTL Properties and Network Rail have formed a partnership to deliver homes and commercial properties across nearly 14,000 acres of land they own across the capital. Network Rail group property director Robin Dobson said: “This is a landmark moment for the capital, to see our two organisations build [...]