Play with fire

There are more than 1.25 million stoves in the UK, with around 200,000 stoves sold annually. As Ian Sams of Specflue points out, there are many good reasons for their popularity, not least their environmental performance. Wood-burners are a stylish... View Article

More homes, more efficient homes

Concrete Block Association kicks off the Modern Masonry ‘Better Built in Blockwork’ campaign by unveiling its U-value calculator and thermal bridging details Today, The Concrete Block Association (CBA), the independent UK body for aggregate concrete block manufacturers, launches its part... View Article

Structural Timber Awards – Winners Announced

Put it down to perfect timing, with the heightened interest in offsite technology, combined with the abundance of outstanding projects and product innovations it is easy to see why the 2018 Structural Timber Awards surpassed all previous events in terms of... View Article

Bathrooms that sell homes

Rob Holroyd of Easy Bathrooms explains how housebuilders can create bathrooms that appeal to the target buyer. With the time people spend in their bathrooms on the rise – and the room often acting as an escape from the stresses... View Article

Tenure blind on a big scale in Bexley

Work on a major regeneration scheme is drawing to a close in a deprived south east London suburb. Paul Nicholls of Wates Residential explains its community-driven approach to this ‘tenure blind’ project. Jack Wooler reports. Erith Park is a large-scale,... 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

Survey reveals barriers to shared ownership adoption

The Government and the housing sector are falling short of educating shared ownership buyers, according to research from YouGov. The survey of over 200 people that own homes through shared ownership schemes was commissioned by housing association Aster Group. It... View Article

House price growth continues to outpace wages

The minimum income first-time buyers need in order to buy a home in the UK’s largest cities has risen by 18 per cent in the past three years, with house price growth continuing to outpace earnings in 16 out of... View Article

Community Housing Fund Phase 2 launched

£163m of affordable housing funding is now available to communities across England, after Phase Two of the Community Housing Fund was launched on 17 September. Phase One of the fund launched in July, and like Phase 2, it has been... View Article

Housing associations get £2bn

Housing associations are to receive £2bn from the Government to build low-cost homes. Theresa May told a National Housing Federation conference that the “most ambitious” providers will be able to bid for Government money that could last them until 2028-29,... View Article

May confirms removal of borrowing cap

The borrowing cap for local councils to build new housing is set to be scrapped, potentially opening up billions of pounds of funding for new council housebuilding schemes. In a move that has been long called for by many in... View Article

Damp-proofing in social housing

By Richard Walker, National Technical and Development Manager at Peter Cox With leaves starting to fall and the daylight hours becoming noticeably shorter, we are starting to enter a period of colder mornings and evenings, or what we call in... View Article

Construction manufacturers expect strong final quarter of 2018

Construction products manufacturing returned to business as usual in Q3 after the weather-related pauses and subsequent catch-up in the first half of the year. Britain’s £56 billion industry is cautiously optimistic that the year will finish strong with sales anticipated... View Article