The Climate Challenge: Taking cement ‘2 Zero’

LISTEN HERE 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... View Article

Comment: Budget concerns

LISTEN HERE 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... 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

LISTEN HERE 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... View Article

Ask the Manufacturer: The future of heating

LISTEN HERE 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... 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

Back to business

Brian Berry of the Federation of Master Builders (FMB), considers what the new Government must focus on, for construction to prosper as the dust settles. Certainty has finally been restored after a summer with a caretaker government. The lack of... View Article

The new housing secretary’s Catch 22

Patrick Mooney, housing consultant and news editor of Housing, Management & Maintenance magazine, discusses the Government’s ‘transitioning’ housing policies. The Government has sensibly accepted that its long-standing commitment to build 300,000 new homes each year by the mid 2020s is... View Article

Political aims hit turbulence

LISTEN HERE 🔊 Brian Berry, chief executive of the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) wonders whether the UK’s current political turmoil will halt the ‘levelling up’ ambitions. The constant political turbulence over the last few years continues in earnest with... View Article

Rising to the challenge of future floods

LISTEN HERE 🔊 As building on flood plains continues to be an uncomfortable necessity, James Parker reports on a project to develop a house prototype that rises and falls as and when a flood occurs, thereby unlocking previously unviable sites... View Article

Achieving 
quantity and quality

Patrick Mooney, housing consultant and news editor of Housing, Management & Maintenance magazine, asks: has good design been squeezed out by our efforts to increase housing supply? “Too many housing estates are designed for nowhere in particular. They can be... View Article

An uncertain 
future

Patrick Mooney explores how contrasting news on planning approvals, new homes and public finances are providing a confused picture of the future housing market In many respects the housing market was remarkably unaffected by the Covid pandemic, with strong demand... View Article

A schooling in planning strategy

LISTEN HERE 🔊 Neal Allcock, partner at property consultant Carter Jonas Birmingham, discusses how strategic planning could help address the current shortfall in student accommodation being built across the UK. The shortage of student accommodation is well known. Recently we... View Article

There may be turbulence ahead

Brain Berry confronts some of the myriad challenges that housebuilders are facing at present, including rising prices, inflation, shortages and new regulations. Not for the first time, small, local housebuilders are facing some tough months ahead. While the industry closed... View Article

A net gain for the nation

John Richards of Cala Homes details the company’s journey so far in achieving the increasingly essential requirement of biodiversity net gain, across its Thames region According to a 2021 study, it is estimated that the UK has lost almost half... View Article

Playing our part in levelling up

Brian Berry, CEO of the Federation of Master Builders (FMB), discusses why SME housebuilders should be utilised in achieving the Government’s agenda to ‘level up.’  The industry closed out last year on a relative high with workloads doing well, despite... View Article