Paper Round: £70m Hips windfall for Treasury

£70m Treasury windfall

The Treasury is set to reap an extra £70m from the introduction of Home Information Packs, according to the Sunday Telegraph. Tory critics tell the paper up to five million homes will be affected in the scheme’s first year, with VAT receipts of up to £70m.

Home pack errors cannot be corrected

It’s not possible to change information on your home’s Home Information Pack Energy Performance Certificate once it has been entered onto the national database, says the Sunday Telegraph. Homeowners who disagree with the findings will be unable to have them changed, according to the newspaper.

Leading Hips publisher is latest casualty of delay

Home information pack provider First Sellers Pack went into administration the day the Hips scheme went live after a cashflow shortfall its founder has attributed to the delayed introduction of the scheme, the weekend FT reports.

Laing in $5bn bid to flatten Indian slum

Laing O’Rourke is set to win a $5bn (£2.4bn) housing contract in Mumbai that would see thousands of slum-dwellers evicted, reports the Independent on Sunday. The contract to redevelop the Dharavi area of the city will involve the rehousing of nearly 60,000 families.

Anglo aims for £3bn Tarmac sale

The Guardian on Saturday said that Anglo American is to put Tarmac, its road building company, up for sale. Anglo American confirmed its plans on Friday and said it had already received a number of expressions of interest which the Guardian said could include Lafarge, Cemex and CRH.

BAA break-up to be mooted

The Sunday Times said that the Competition Commission is this week expected to propose a break-up of airport operator BAA, as a possible option in its inquiry into airport ownership in the UK. The options will be set out when the commission unveils details of the inquiry, which is expected to last for several months. BAA, which is owned by a consortium led by Spain's Ferrovial, is expected to fight any break-up plan, and may seek a judicial review.

BAA break-up will be option for watchdog’s probe into UK airports

The weekend FT reports on BAA’s stranglehold over Britain’s UK airports ahead of a competition watchdog report into the organisation. The FT says the Competition Commission will list a break-up as one potential solution to claims that BAA is under regulated.

A tale of two cities in Leipzig’s property market

The weekend FT reports on a stirring property market in central Leipzig, eastern Germany, where demand is outstripping supply for the first time in years.

Could it happen here?

The Sunday Times carried a report on the collapse of the St Anthony bridge in Minneapolis last week, in which at least five people died. engineers are checking similar structures here. The Highways Agency has already completed a programme to upgrade its bridges and Network Rail is doing the same.

Bank to signal need for one more rate rises

The Sunday Times said that the Bank of England is expected to signal this week that interest rates will need to go up one more time to 6% to be sure of meeting the official 2% inflation target.

Homeowners face 50% rise in premiums

Millions of people in flood-hit areas are braced for rises of up to 50% in home insurance premiums, the FT reported. The paper says insurance companies face an expected bill of about £2.5bn following recent floods, and are likely to pass on the costs to the 5m people living in flood-prone areas.

Sewers are overflowing and the trains are slow. But he’s ready to get his hands dirty

Alfred McAlpine chief executive Ian Grice was interviewed by the Independent on Sunday about the firm’s sale of its PFI business: “We have been a good parent for it for the past five years. The facilities management business is now getting less and less benefit from that; it will get more growth by being released.”

My Business Week

In an article in the Independent on Sunday, WSP chief executive Chris Cole reflects that the outlook for the construction industry is extremely healthy: “The education, health and leisure markets across the UK remain strong, as does city-centre mixed-regeneration development… it seems there will be no shortage of activity for the industry in the future.”

Greeks row over Art Deco demolition

The Observer reported that the Culture Ministry in Greece has complained that a 1930s art deco building designed by Pablo Picasso’s friend Vassilis Kouremenos is blocking the views from the New Acropolis Museum in Athens, which is under construction. The Culture Ministry want it to be knocked down.