Letwin Review: SMEs are crucial to solving the housing crisis

The Letwin Review rejects criticisms of landbanking and welcomes calls from industry bodies to diversify the housing market and speed up house building on large sites. Small and medium-sized (SME) house builders have previously told the Government on repeated occasions... View Article

Bonfire of the planning rules?

Will the London Mayor’s promise to tear up planning help tackle the housing crisis and what does this mean for population density? James Parker investigates. At the end of 2017, London Mayor Sadiq Khan announced he was “ripping up planning... View Article

London councils offered more funding for planning

The Mayor of London has announced £10 million for ambitious councils that want to boost their role in building new homes in the capital. Building on previous positive announcements this year – small sites and SME house builder initiatives, increased... View Article

Brownfield land map tool will help tackle the housing crisis

The National Housing Federation (NHF) has identified and mapped more than 17,000 brownfield sites, totalling around 27,700 hectares, which could provide space for more than 961,000 homes. The National Federation of Builders (NFB) thinks that this tool has the potential... View Article

Leasehold reform comment

Robert Haigh, Director (Valuation Consultancy) at Chestertons comments: “The government’s announcement that ground rent will be capped at £10 per annum for any new lease granted on a flat or apartment can be seen as a positive for future buyers,... View Article

Skills time bomb ticks louder

Brian Berry of the FMB explains some of the reasons behind the construction skills crisis, and considers the negative impacts the recent government recommendations on immigration could have, post-Brexit. Few in this industry will be surprised to hear that the... View Article

From the Editor

You have to admire ‘Dancing Queen’ Theresa May’s strength. While navigating a seemingly impossible course between shark-infested waters of extreme Brexiteers and the EU, she also managed to announce something universally welcomed in her conference speech. Finally, they have scrapped... View Article

NFB: Government to reduce the human cost of late payment

The Government’s announcement of measures to tackle late payment will help the 74% of construction companies that have almost gone into liquidation because of the practice. The package of measures unveiled by the Small Business Minister Kelly Tolhurst will also... View Article

Building thin air – considerations when looking upwards

As London faces a chronic housing and land shortage, ‘air space’ or ‘air rights’ developments above existing buildings provide an innovative way of unlocking potential to deliver much needed housing in dense areas. In many instances, the freeholder and developer... View Article

SME constructors are ready made role models

How can we tackle the construction skills crisis if we don’t recognise and enable our industry role models? During the “Building the Next Generation: skills, diversity and the built environment” event – hosted by The Royal Institute of British Architects... View Article

HBA: Planning statistics demonstrate we need planning reform

The Construction Index reports that there were fewer planning applications made in the year ending June 2018 compared to June 2017. Statistics released by the Ministry for Housing and Local Government showed a decline of 2% in major residential planning applications,... View Article

NFB: Lead by example before you lead small business

According to the NFB, if the Labour Party wants to offer meaningful loans and advice to SMEs, it needs to first understand the environment in which they operate. Shadow Business Minister Bill Esterson MP has spoken to The House magazine... View Article

L&G Response: Government funding for affordable housing

Ben Denton, Managing Director of Legal & General Affordable Homes said: “‘We are pleased that the Government has announced increased funding towards affordable housing today. This will help to deliver more homes at levels that residents can afford in areas... View Article

The future of AI in construction

Over the last few years, artificial intelligence has gradually been working its way into the construction sector and onto the building site, as it has been doing with seemingly every other sector too. It’s becoming more and more prominent and,... View Article