With the housing crisis consistently listed among the top five issues facing the UK, it’s been interesting to note what the two main political parties are saying about this in the run up to the general election.
While the conservative party have not revealed many housing-related plans as yet, Labour are promising to build 1.5m new homes in the first five years of a labour government and say that brownfield sites will be the number one priority. As a subject that’s close to our business, we thought we’d use this week’s blog to explore the pros and cons of building on brownfield sites.
Housebuilders are applauding a report by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) that pins the blame for the UK’s housing shortage on the country’s planning system, not on construction companies.
A few weeks ago, the CMA released the final results of its year-long investigation into the housebuilding market. While the initial media focus was on potential collusion among eight major builders, the industry’s deeper interest lies in the report’s findings on planning. Read on to find out more.
Earlier this month, more than 100 UK businesses joined forces with the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) in calling upon the Government to urgently reform the planning system to tackle climate change alongside the UK’s deepening housing crisis.
In their letter to government, the coalition is asking for reforms to the planning system that would bring it in line with the Climate Change and Environment Acts and says the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill (currently going through Parliament) could also be a crucial opportunity to align planning decisions with the nation’s net zero emissions target. Find out more in today’s blog.
In last week’s blog, we talked about several upcoming trends in construction with an increase in the use of robots being one of the things many people in the industry are expecting to see this year.
Just a week later, we hear news of an innovative bricklaying robot that’s just secured accreditation from the housing warranty and insurance provider, NHBC.
Could the rise of the robots be about to begin? Keep reading to find out more…
According to CPRE The Countryside Charity, the UK has over 25,000 hectares of brownfield land across 21,000 sites. Many are run-down plots of land that represent all kinds of safety hazards and, when stuck in such poor condition for several years, they become a real blot on the landscape. So what should all this land be used for? A survey carried out by Romal Capital found that 59% of the British public would opt for either the building of modern, efficient homes and communities to help solve the ongoing housing crisis or cultural landmarks. Read more about both the survey and the work we’re doing to prioritise brownfield development in this week’s blog.