Housing Focus – Page 6
-
FeaturesThe battle of Bishopsgate
The Bishopsgate Goodsyard development in east London was put on hold last month when the city’s departing mayor Boris Johnson deferred a public hearing on the planning application. The decision now falls at the feet of Sadiq Khan, in what could set a precedent for the new mayor’s planning policy ...
-
FeaturesIs the door still open on build to rent?
Just when you thought the private rented sector was about to take off, along comes the chancellor and whacks a big tax on the purchase of homes for rent
-
FeaturesNightmare on Nine Elms street?
The UK’s biggest construction site in west London looks on paper like a dream development in a market desperate for new housing. But amid scare stories of fleeing investors and slashed prices
-
FeaturesThe R word is back
Five years after the coalition cut nearly all funding for regeneration, the government is talking warmly of knocking down estates and rebuilding as part of a ‘blitz’ on poverty. But with just £140m pledged to back the drive and a host of obstacles to overcome, how excited should the development ...
-
FeaturesEnergiesprong: Sprong is here
A runaway success in the Netherlands, a boon for contractors and for occupiers, simple, ready-to-use and straight out of the box: could Energiesprong be the UK housing retrofit market’s new start?
-
FeaturesSmall housebuilders: Packing a punch
For years, volume housebuilders have held sway over the UK’s new homes sales market. But against expectations, the recession has given some small builders the chance to challenge their supremacy
-
FeaturesA non-starter?
In a week in which the government announced its intention to ‘directly commission’ up to 13,000 homes, you might think it had begun, finally, to get a grip on housebuilding. But its flagship Starter Homes policy is set to shake up the development industry, causing delays - and fears it ...
-
FeaturesHousing: Home delivery
While politicians wrangle over the number of homes they propose to build, housing stock is falling woefully behind the UK’s needs
-
FeaturesHousebuilders' salary survey 2015: Making hay…
This year’s housebuilders’ salary survey finds that wages and bonuses are both on the up. But how long will it last?
-
Features1 million homes: Hitting the mark
Housing minister Brandon Lewis has publicly stated that he wants to see over one million homes built in the next five years. But can the sector meet this challenge?
-
FeaturesHousing associations: Going it alone
Housing associations are being forced to find efficiencies, with some taking repairs and maintenance work in-house and leaving private contractors out in the cold
-
FeaturesInterview: Geeta Nanda
With government policies that cut rents and extend Right to Buy, housing associations are feeling the strain. But Geeta Nanda of Thames Valley Housing has an alternative approach
-
FeaturesInterview: Brandon Lewis
Building talks to housing minister Brandon Lewis about the Conservative government’s radical policy agenda
-
FeaturesTop 150 contractors: Slow, slow, quick, quick, slow
This year’s contractors and housebuilders Top 150 list shows the sector pulling out of recession and with a spring in its step. But with big losses for some contractors pushing down profits, and margins increasing by a mere 1.2%, the danger remains they could still fall flat on their backs. ...
-
FeaturesIt’s time to fix the housing crisis
With a dire shortage of homes in the country, what has the government got to do to get housing working again?
-
FeaturesBuilding Award Winners: Housing Project of the Year
This year’s housing projects have been chosen for exceptional design work and for providing a boost to their local community, with one entry standing out on both these factors
-
FeaturesBuilding Award Winners: Housebuilder of the Year
In a year that has seen housebuilders as the centre of attention, these four were singled out not just for their strong financial results, but for their work towards the betterment of the sector
-
FeaturesTrue cost of sustainable homes
Our roundtable of housing experts, sponsored by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, gathered to discuss how housebuilders can build sustainably and cheaply
-
FeaturesUKIP: The vocal minority
Control immigration and large areas of British countryside will not need to be destroyed by housebuilding, says UKIP. Nationalist populism at its most simplistic, perhaps, but the party’s anti-development stance is bearing down on politics at a local level
-
FeaturesBehind the hype: Sustainable new homes
New research is casting further doubt on long-held claims that a new-build property is necessarily cheaper to run than a refurbished Victorian home