New Watchdog Tells England's High-Rise Builders To 'Get Your Act Together'

High-rise builders with poor fire safety records will be targeted by a new watchdog with the power to mount civil and criminal prosecutions, its chief inspector has said in his first interview. Peter Baker said he was “determined that the new building safety regime prevents anything like the Grenfell tragedy from ever happening again” and he hoped to avoid any repeat of the building safety crisis that has landed hundreds of thousands of leaseholders with huge bills to fix fire safety faults. He said the regulator would deter builders from “dodging and weaving” safety responsibilities, and he warned firms to “pull their bootstraps up” or risk sanctions. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/mar/05/peter-baker-buildings-watchdog-england-get-your-act-together-grenfell

Builders Workloads Increase Due To Home Improvements

New data shows that 47 per cent of builders saw an increase in their workloads during the summer months. According to the Federation of Master Builders’ State of Trade Survey, 42 per cent of respondents* predict that their workloads will be higher in the autumn. The report says that total workload stayed in “negative territory” for builders in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. “Expectations for future workloads are not optimistic, with respondents noting low levels of enquiries. Expected workload for the period September to October is relatively strong,” states the report. Read more on the Planning Portal.

https://www.planningportal.co.uk/news/article/735/planning_news_-_15_october_2020?utm_source=PPQ+Newsletter&utm_campaign=d84ea32f7b-Newsletter_11072019_HTML_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_734e0b63a9-d84ea32f7b-7266185#one

MHCLG Confirms £1bn In Finance To Back SME Builders

Millions of pounds in new loans will be paid out to back SME builders. The £1bn guarantee scheme set-up by the Government ensures enough credit is available to allow smaller housebuilders to enter the market – able secure loans from participating banks. In an announcement to Parliament, Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick confirmed the British Business Bank’s ENABLE Build Programme will shortly begin guaranteeing millions in new loans for local, independent construction businesses to deliver new homes. Read the statement on the Parliament website.

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2020-01-29/HCWS74/

Builders Of Rental Flats Welcome Move Towards Longer Tenancies

The bosses of some of London’s largest rental flats builders have shrugged off concerns that new longer tenancies could be bad for business. Communities secretary James Brokenshire has published proposals that could see landlords forced to give renters three-year contracts in a move to help them “put down roots”. Some small property owners warned the plan could make it harder to manage difficulties with problem tenants, while the National Landlords Association slammed a shift to “a more rigid system”. However, listed Telford Homes and developer Quintain, which are currently constructing 3700 rental homes in the capital, welcomed the update. Read more on the Evening Standard website.

https://www.standard.co.uk/business/londons-builders-of-rental-flats-welcome-move-towards-longer-tenancies-a3876856.html

Housing: Construction – Parliamentary Written Answer

Mike Kane: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what proportion of successful applications to the Home Building Fund have been submitted by builders delivering less than 100 units per year since the introduction of that fund.

Alok Sharma: The £3 billion Home Building Fund provides long and short term loan finance to build the homes this country needs. To date the fund has allocated £1.181 billion (40 per cent) to successful applicants. Of the £1 billion short term fund £0.445 billion (44 per cent) has been allocated to successful applicants. The proportion of schemes which will be delivered by small and medium sized builders is 70 per cent. Of which, nearly 90 per cent of these sites have fewer than 100 homes.

Help To Buy Scheme 'Offering Blank Cheque To Builders'

Families earning more than £100,000 and people moving up the housing ladder are among those taking advantage of a government scheme which is offering a "blank cheque" to builders. The Help To Buy scheme, which offers loans guaranteed by the state for up to 20% of a property's value - or 40% in London - was launched in 2013, allowing Brits to get on the property ladder with as little as a 5% deposit.  More than 90,000 first time buyers have been helped onto the property ladder by the initiative, but figures show that more than 20,000 were people moving up the housing ladder. Read more on the ITV website.

Fixing Homes Crisis Requires Additional 400,000 Builders

The building industry will have to recruit a worker every 77 seconds for the next four years to meet Britain’s housing needs. Under-investment in the workforce was highlighted as one of the major causes of the housing crisis, according to a report from consultants Arcadis. The group estimated that about 400,000 plumbers, electricians, bricklayers, quantity surveyors and other trades people will have to be taken on every year up to 2021. Arcadis group’s James Bryce warned the industry was facing a skills “gulf,” adding: “Systemic underinvestment in the nation’s workforce has contributed to a reduction in UK productivity. “ Read more on the Morning Star website.

Housing: Construction – Parliamentary Written Answer

Craig Whittaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what support he has provided to local authorities and the construction industry to encourage the promotion of self-build schemes for constructing new homes.

Gavin Barwell:We have a strong commitment to supporting and encouraging the growth of self- and custom build homes. The Government has implemented new legislation requiring most local planning authorities to hold and have regard to registers for those seeking to build their own home in a local authority area. Subject to Parliamentary processes, in the Autumn we will also introduce secondary legislation flowing from the Housing and Planning Act 2016 which will require local planning authorities to find and give permission to suitable land reflecting the demand demonstrated by the registers. We have made available £32 million in new burdens funding over the Spending Review period in order to support local planning authorities in meeting these new requirements. In the 2015 Spending Review, the Government also announced a £3 billion loan fund of which £1 billion is specifically earmarked for short term loans to support small and medium builders and custom build projects and is designed to provide further support for the legislation that we have introduced.

'Help To Buy' Will Boost Banks and Builders' Profits

George Osborne's flagship home ownership programme Help to Buy will fail to see new homes being built but help boost banks' and builders' profit margins, Fitch Ratings agency has warned.  Banks would be set to benefit from the extra home loans being offered while builders will prosper on the higher house prices brought about by an inflated housing market, as supply fails to satisfy demand. "For house builders the main benefit from the second phase of the scheme will come from rising house prices, rather than increased volumes," said Fitch Ratings.  "Builders also might prefer to avoid sharply increasing construction because of the risk that they may not be able to sell the properties when they are completed in two years' time.  The risk was offset by Help to Buy's three-year duration, Fitch added.  Read more on the Huffington Post website.