Counting the cost of 2023

Brian Berry, CEO of the Federation of Master Builders (FMB), assesses the damage after what’s been a turbulent year for housebuilders, and what the new year might bring. Unfortunately for housebuilders big and small, housing output has been in a... View Article

Comment – Do we actually need a housing secretary?

Patrick Mooney, housing consultant and news editor of Housing, Management & Maintenance magazine asks whether a national body controlling housebuilding would be better than an ever-changing Housing Secretary? The prospect of removing responsibility for a policy area as important as... View Article

Comment – Housing benefits politicians

Brian Berry of FMB looks at the political manoeuvrings on housing as we approach the General Election buildup Looking back at my article from this time last year, it’s astonishing how far we’ve come, and what has changed. At this... View Article

A question for the minister…

Patrick Mooney, housing consultant and news editor of Housing, Management & Maintenance magazine asks the ‘64 thousand dollar question,’ after hearing the Housing Minister’s conference speech, namely where will the  UK’s much needed new housing come from? During the recent... View Article

Is housing going downhill fast?

Brian Berry, CEO of the FMB looks at the prognosis for SMEs in a sector in crisis, and how its new guide could help All the data, including our own at the FMB, seems to be suggesting the housing market... View Article

Growth under threat from demolition

Patrick Mooney, housing consultant and news editor of Housing, Management & Maintenance magazine discusses how the push to demolish ageing buildings could seriously undermine social housing’s growth agenda. Efforts to increase the stock of council housing to meet the growing... View Article

Delivering social housing that makes a difference

Stephen Wasserman of National Housing Group discusses the keys to delivering good quality ‘eco’ social housing From ITV’s ongoing investigation to young influencer Kwajo Tweneboa’s tireless social media campaigning, social housing is becoming an inescapable subject, and rightly so. Plainly... View Article

Housebuilding is still a struggle

Brian Berry, CEO of the Federation of Master Builders (FMB), discusses the latest data from the FMB’s State of Trade Survey and finds few reasons to cheer As you will be aware, for too long we have not been building... View Article

Social rent: In terminal decline

Patrick Mooney, housing consultant and news editor of Housing, Management & Maintenance magazine says supply of homes for social rent appears to be in terminal decline – at a time when they are needed the most By some strange irony, at... View Article

The Climate Challenge: Taking cement ‘2 Zero’

Will Lavelle of Atkins and Dr Philippa Horton from University of Cambridge discuss the world’s first zero emissions cement trial and the aim of developing net-zero cement for the construction industry. The decarbonisation of the built environment presents a phenomenal... View Article

Comment: Budget concerns

Brian Berry, CEO of the Federation of Master Builders (FMB), gives his review of a disappointing spring Budget The first few months of 2023 have been a relatively quiet period politically, far from the ups and downs of last year,... View Article

Is there a ready-made solution to the housing crisis?

Patrick Mooney, housing consultant and news editor of Housing, Management & Maintenance magazine explains how the problem of how and where to build more affordable housing might have a ready-made solution. How on earth are housing associations and councils going... View Article

The need for new support in 2023

Brian Berry, CEO of the Federation of Master Builders (FMB), discusses what the Government needs to do to deliver new homes plus extra support for SMEs this year. We closed out 2022 with a very shaky end to proceedings, with... View Article

Ask the Manufacturer: The future of heating

Russell Dean, residential product group director at Mitsubishi Electric, speaks to Housebuilder & Developer’s Jack Wooler on the Government’s net zero target – exploring the challenges in reaching it, and arguing why heat pumps are the future. Most housebuilders now... View Article

Tackling greenwash

James Tucker, CEO at Twenty7Tec, explores how the housebuilding sector will be affected by new regulations from the FCA designed to tackle ‘greenwash.’ As green initiatives for consumers increase sector-wide, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) recently announced its plans to... View Article

What can Gove deliver?

Patrick Mooney, housing consultant and news editor of Housing, Management & Maintenance magazine asks what can Michael Gove hope to deliver on new housebuilding? Trying to keep up to date with Government policies for new housebuilding can be a thankless... View Article

All change, again

Brian Berry, CEO of the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) discusses the turbulent politics of recent months, and considers how the events will affect SME housebuilders. What a difference a few months makes! In my October article I wrote that... View Article

Addressing 
the housing 
emergency

Patrick Mooney argues that post-appointment of a new PM, the case for building more social and affordable homes for rent has never been stronger. A review of official reports and statistics published over the summer has revealed the huge scale of... View Article