A more diverse construction workforce is at the heart of a new equity and inclusion plan launched in Scotland to give the building industry access to a wider talent pool and tackle labour shortfalls. Currently, women account for 2.7 per cent of Scotland’s modern apprenticeships and makeup 15.4 per cent of the workforce with a 23 per cent pay gap. Just 1.6 per cent of those in the building sector are from ethnic minorities compared with 4.3 per cent across [...]

An opportunity to build a £100m industrial or logistics scheme on land in a prime spot south of the river Thames is up for grabs. The Greater London Authority, GLA’s development arm, Land & Property, is looking for a developer-led team to build on two freehold sites on 75 Bugsby Way on Greenwich Peninsula. London’s mayor Sadiq Khan said: “The site has the potential to deliver three-storeys of industrial accommodation. Soft market testing has demonstrated a strong interest in the [...]

A new development finance fund to help regional SME housebuilders thrive has been launched by Newstead Capital in partnership with the government’s housing accelerator, Homes England. Homes England, Greater Manchester Pension Fund and listed wealth manager Mattioli Woods are among a string of investors who have committed £80m to the new lending facility. Homes England chief executive Peter Denton said: “This partnership is our latest intervention to offer SME housebuilders a route to finance that may otherwise be unavailable through [...]

Large firms should be made to pay SMEs within 30 days of invoice, urges the Chartered Institute of Building, CIOB, in its Covid-19 and Construction report. The professional body wants the government to strengthen the prompt payment code, which requires companies to pay SME suppliers within a month. It has highlighted that ‘a mere’ 3,500 companies are signatories to the code because it’s voluntary. The call follows recent CIOB research showing more than half of the 1,400 SMEs surveyed were [...]

Builders merchants recorded the highest revenue since their building index began in 2014 for the second quarter of this year despite a year-on-year drop in sales volume of 11 per cent. The total value of sales for April to June was more than a quarter higher than the same period in 2019 and four per cent greater than in 2021 due to price inflation of more than 17 per cent. Builders Merchants Federation chief executive John Newcomb said: “The negative [...]

Housebuilders completed 40,289 new homes in the second quarter of 2022 – a 16 per cent year-on-year increase, according to the National House Building Council, NHBC, figures. Private sector completions saw a 23 per cent year-on-year at 29,963 but affordable and rental sector completions stayed flat at 10,326. NHBC chief executive Steve Wood said: “Our latest figures demonstrate that output from the new homes market has made a solid return. “At this stage, we are not seeing evidence that the cost-of-living crisis [...]

The new Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi should make re-introducing tax cuts on diesel a priority if he’s serious about tackling construction inflation, claims the National Federation of Builders, NFB. The trade body said it was renewing its campaign to press for red diesel on building sites where the fuel used to receive a 47 pence per litre rebate. NFB’s housing and planning policy head Rico Wojtulewicz said: “With fuel thefts rising and diesel now at over £2 a litre, the chancellor [...]

Greater Manchester has announced ambitious plans to build 30,000 net-zero homes over the next 16 years through a partnership with the government’s housing accelerator Homes England. The homes are part of a broader social, environmental, and economic vision for the area which covers Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan. Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham said: “Right now we have to be creating homes and infrastructure that are fit for a better future, and our ambition [...]

Boris Johnson’s announcement to insulate more homes to protect people from the cost-of-living crisis has added weight to adopting a national green retrofit strategy claims the building industry. They argue that a proper assessment of householders’ homes first to decide what remedial action is appropriate should happen before insulating a property. “For example, there’s no point rolling out Icynene spray foam Insulation in a property which has a cold roof as this would cause long-term damage and the product itself isn’t [...]

New homes in London recorded a 51 per cent year-on-year increase according to the National House Building Council’s, NHBC, registration figures for the first quarter of 2021. Wales saw an 84 per cent rise followed by 65 per cent for the East Midlands and 52 per cent for the West Midlands.  Northern Ireland experienced an eight per cent decrease and Scotland a six per cent drop. Overall, the volume of new homes registered was up by a quarter to 45,991 [...]