May pledges £2bn for social housing

Theresa May has revealed to the National Housing Federation conference that housing associations will receive £2bn of long-term funding from the Government to build better quality affordable homes. The PM told the audience that the “most ambitious” providers will be... View Article

Supporting future delivery: the build show

The Government is injecting significant investment into construction technology, and housebuilders tasked with delivering on this agenda will want to take full advantage of this year’s Build Show, as part of UK Construction week. Build Show, sponsored by Easy-Trim, is... View Article

Safe and Sound with Part Q

Kevin Bonnar of Velfac explains why housebuilders should make a virtue of Part Q of the Building regulations, to underline the security benefits of their developments. Safety and security are a top priority for most homeowners, especially when it comes... 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

Local authority planning: unravelling the ties that bind

DPA Planning’s director Sam Dewar says the private sector needs to better appreciate the current parlous state of local authority planning. The housing shortage continues to place an increasing strain on the whole planning process. However, it’s simply facile to... View Article

Get smart on connected homes

We are now fully immersed in a world with a growing interest in all sorts of connected technologies. In terms of domestic heating, many prospective house buyers want to control a heating system from their smartphone or set it up... View Article

The high performance alternative

Paddy Leighton of Icynene takes a look at heat loss in buildings, and how new, high performance insulation systems can improve comfort levels in both retrofit and new-build applications. When Britain began its post war building boom, coal was king... View Article

Turning floods into an asset

Management of and protection from localised flooding is a rising concern for housebuilders, but suds and flood control doesn’t have to be only about moving water to safety. Sean Robinson of Polypipe argues that new housing estates provide the perfect... View Article

A new high for Hounslow

As part of a large-scale regeneration project for Hounslow Town Centre, a major new mixed-used scheme from Barratt is in the works, which will bring over 500 private and affordable homes to West London. Jack Wooler reports. Arranged around a... View Article

Financial freedoms

Patrick Mooney, housing consultant and news editor of Housing Management & Maintenance, reports on how councils are saying the new social housing Green Paper doesn’t go far enough. The pressures imposed by tight pursestrings have been very evident in recent... View Article

Surveying the industry

Brian Berry, chief executive of the FMB, explains the company’s annual House Builders’ Survey, and explores what the Government could do to alleviate the issues found. Most policy makers in central and local government now accept that we will struggle... View Article

From the editor

The Government’s Green Paper on social housing admits Grenfell “shook public trust in the wider system of fire safety” but does little to tackle the issue of accountability – essentially, ‘who’s responsible’? A few pages on informing residents on safety... View Article

The rise and rise of concrete facing bricks

Craig Mcbride of Tobermore tracks the rise in popularity of concrete facing bricks, explaining how they satisfy the needs of housebuilders facing unprecedented demand across the Uk. We all remember the story of the Three Little Pigs from childhood. When... View Article

Protecting Water Quality

James Roper, Infrastructure Segment Manager for GPS PE Pipe Systems, discusses the complexities around installing barrier pipe within contaminated land With increasingly more brownfield sites being redeveloped to allow a greater volume of housing to be constructed, reliable pipelines are... View Article

Solid housing market in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Amidst varying reports on national house prices this summer, the August 2018 RICS Residential Market survey continues to show a diverse regional picture with the market solid in many parts of the country. While London, parts of the wider South... View Article