Housing Focus – Page 5
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FeaturesHousebuilders' ground rent "scandal"
Government has now said it will crack down on ‘doubling’ leasehold ground rents, earlier in the year Building investigated this controversial industry practice
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FeaturesHousing: The forgotten crisis
Already it has been dubbed the ‘Brexit election’, so will this single issue overshadow all others, including how to tackle the housing crisis?
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FeaturesBovis: Here’s the snag …
Bovis Homes recently set aside £7m to deal with its torrent of snagging complaints from buyers of its properties - and it’s not the only housebuilder criticised for selling unfinished and faulty homes
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FeaturesWhat next for Bovis?
Galliford Try’s all-share tilt at Bovis is more likely to succeed than Redrow’s part-cash/part-share offer
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FeaturesAutumn Statement: Hit and miss
Last week’s Autumn Statement trumpeted an extra £1.4bn for 40,000 affordable homes, but is the government set to miss its own target?
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FeaturesHousebuilders' salary survey 2016: Business as usual
The Brexit vote has ushered in a time of widespread uncertainty, but activity in the housebuilding sector has so far held up well. Joey Gardiner looks at what we can learn from this year’s salary survey and and asks how long trading can remain strong
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FeaturesState of play: London
Sadiq Khan has proved himself a pragmatist - a quality he’ll need to address the capital’s major built environment challenges
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FeaturesState of play: Housing
The government wants to see one million homes built in England by 2020, but while some housing experts think a little tinkering will get us there, others countenance a far more radical plan
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FeaturesParty conferences preview
The political backdrop to the approaching party conference season looks nothing like it did this time last year. The Brexit vote, which swept Theresa May to power and plunged Jeremy Corbyn into another leadership contest, has many policy implications. So what do the two main parties have to say about ...
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FeaturesTop 150 contractors: The rough & tumble
This year’s contractors and housebuilders Top 150 shows the sector pulling out of recession, but economic danger remains
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FeaturesTop 20 housebuilders 2016
Find out who’s in this year’s league of top housebuilders by housebuilding turnover
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FeaturesHow Theresa May can avoid a construction recession
In these days of lightning fast political changes, and possibly dire economic prospects, prime minister Theresa May has to hit the ground running if she is to prevent construction slipping into another recession
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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 ...
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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
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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
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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 ...
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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?
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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
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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 ...
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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