First female government chief planner appointed

Property Funding News:- Joanna Averley will be the first woman chief planner when she joins the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government in September. She is replacing Steven Quartermain who stepped down at the end of March after 12 years in the role. Housing minister Chris Pincher said on Twitter: “Joanna’s experience and fresh thinking will help to ensure the planning system delivers the homes we need, now and in the future.” Ms Averley said planners had a vital [...]

By |2024-06-26T07:39:16+00:00June 17, 2020|Blog, Finance News, Planning News, Projects|0 Comments

Home builders north of the border press government to re-open sites

Bridging Loan News:- Scotland’s strict lockdown on building sites needs to be lifted to help meet housing supply and save jobs and businesses, urges a key trade body. Homes for Scotland, HFS, has written to the first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, requesting for a phased return to work to allow 6,000 largely completed homes worth £1bn to be finished. Among the 20 signatories are managing directors and chief executives of some of the UK’s largest housebuilders including Barratt Homes, Taylor Wimpey [...]

By |2021-11-13T09:20:56+00:00May 15, 2020|Blog, Finance News, Planning News, Projects|0 Comments

Building workers’ safety boosted with test access

Development Finance News:- Construction workers are relieved the government has said they are eligible for Covid-19 testing as the sector continues to re-open more building sites. Health secretary Matt Hancock said at yesterday’s press briefing that anyone who needed to leave home to work and had symptoms should be tested. “This means construction workers to emergency plumbers, research scientists to those in manufacturing – can now be tested.” Unite assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail added: “This will significantly help prevent the [...]

By |2021-11-13T09:21:41+00:00April 29, 2020|Blog, Finance News, Planning News, Projects|0 Comments

Housebuilders call on the government to extend planning permissions

Bridging Loans News:- Extend planning approvals by a year to avoid current permissions lapsing during the pandemic crisis, urges the construction industry. The National Federation of Builders, NFB, has put six proposals forward to the government to help the housebuilding sector survive the coronavirus pandemic. These include exemption from business rates, suspending planning contribution payments and council tax on new build unoccupied or incomplete homes. NFB chief executive, Richard Beresford, said it was in constant contact with its members so [...]

By |2024-06-27T03:07:53+00:00April 6, 2020|Blog, Finance News, Planning News, Projects|0 Comments

Sadiq Khan forced to rethink London plan to generate more homes

Property Finance News:- Housing minister, Robert Jenrick, has taken the controversial step of telling the mayor, Sidiq Khan to overhaul the London plan to allow more houses to be built in the capital. Mr Jenrick has ordered Mr Khan to change the housing mix in favour of family-sized homes, to build more densely around stations and to bring more small sites forward. The housing minister has told the mayor he must produce an updated plan in line with national policy [...]

By |2021-11-13T09:25:56+00:00March 16, 2020|Blog, Finance News, Planning News, Projects|0 Comments

Clampdown of mis-selling of new homes with leaseholds

Bridging Loans News:- Housebuilders who mis-sell leasehold homes could find themselves in court following the worrying findings of a Competition and Markets Authority probe. The CMA found evidence of potential mis-selling and unfair contract terms in the leasehold housing sector. Developers are estimated to have sold about 778,000 hew-build long leasehold homes between 2000 to 2018 with nearly two thirds being in the North West. CMA chief executive Andrea Coscelli said: “We have found worrying evidence that people who buy [...]

By |2021-11-13T09:26:36+00:00February 28, 2020|Blog, Finance News, Planning News, Projects|0 Comments

Edinburgh set to invest £2.5bn in modernising and building new homes

Edinburgh city council has earmarked £2.5bn for housing and plans to build 20,000 new homes by 2028. The money will go towards modernising existing homes with 10,000 of the new properties to be affordable. https://youtu.be/gZkYeRN7z9k Housing, homelessness and fair work convener, Cllr Kate Campbell, described the investment as one of the ‘most ambitious’ for any local authority in the UK. "We need to address the huge housing pressures facing our city and we’re doing this with one of the biggest [...]

By |2021-11-13T11:01:53+00:00January 27, 2020|Blog, Finance News, Planning News, Projects|0 Comments

3-D printing of homes in the UK still under wraps

Development Finance News:- The UK is lagging behind other countries when it comes to harnessing 3-D printing to build new homes, a leading academic has said. Civil engineering and environmental materials associate professor at Brunel London University, Dr Seyed Ghaffar, is working with housing associations and CyBe Construction to produce a prototype. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw_dTlS7_Ug&t=2s But said it was a challenge convincing investors to take the plunge and back his project. “They are split on this. Some of them are very encouraging [...]

By |2021-11-13T11:01:59+00:00January 22, 2020|Blog, Finance News, Planning News, Projects|0 Comments

Large housebuilders show lack lustre design performance

Bridging Finance News:- Poorly designed houses are getting through on appeal and are undermining the government’s planning policy, according to the findings of a national design audit. UCL Bartlett School of Planning’s study of 142 different sites in England, built by volume housebuilders, found three quarters were of poor or mediocre design with only a quarter rated good or very good. Our Bridging Finance range covers auction purchases, to private sales and all levels of refurbishment works. Bridging finance is [...]

By |2021-11-13T11:02:05+00:00January 21, 2020|Blog, Finance News, Planning News, Projects|0 Comments

Government promise of 200,000 starter homes hasn’t happened

Bridging Finance News:- Plans to build 200,000 homes for first-time buyers under 40 have been sidelined due to lack of parliamentary time to pass the necessary legislation before December's general election. A National Audit Office investigation discovered no such homes have been built since the Conservatives announced the initiative in their 2015 manifesto. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZkYeRN7z9k In the November 2015 spending review, £2.3bn was earmarked for delivery of the first 60,000 which were to be sold with a 20 per cent discount. [...]

By |2021-11-13T10:56:22+00:00November 5, 2019|Blog, Finance News, Planning News, Projects|0 Comments

Garden town of 10,000 new homes planned for Gatwick area

Construction Finance News:- A rural spot in West Sussex is set to expand exponentially within the next few years to ease the acute housing shortages in Crawley and Horsham. The government's housing accelerator, Homes England, is to start consultation on November 1st on an ambitious scheme to develop land west of Ifield village which currently has 9,000 inhabitants. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ_ylUh-2Zc&t=3s More than a third of the planned homes, 35 per cent, will be affordable with three linked neighbourhoods making up a [...]

By |2021-11-13T10:56:43+00:00October 31, 2019|Blog, Finance News, Planning News, Projects|0 Comments

Hackitt enlisted to help establish new building safety regulator

Bridging Loans News:-Dame Judith Hackitt, who conducted the building regulations review post the Grenfell fire disaster, is to advise the government on establishing a new building safety regulator. Housing secretary, Robert Jenrick, said he was grateful Dame Judith, an engineer and former chair of the UK Health and Safety Executive, had agreed to take on the role. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw_dTlS7_Ug&t=2s "Her expertise will be essential to forming a strong regulator with teeth to ensure all residents are safe, and feel safe, in [...]

By |2021-11-13T10:56:55+00:00October 29, 2019|Blog, Finance News, Planning News, Projects|0 Comments