Morning briefing: £65,000 homes hit the production line
The UK has entered a new era of prefab housebuilding with modular homes that can be built in just 10 days, The Guardian reports today
In the news
Focusing on the opening of Ilke Homes’ new factory in Yorkshire, it says the production line will be able to provide three-bed houses worth as little as £65,000.
Look out for Inside Housing’s interview with Bjorn Conway, founder and chief executive of Ilke, next week.
Elsewhere in The Guardian, MPs have called for the government to take properties away from rogue landlords.
The call came at a Homes, Communities and Local Government Select Committee debate where housing minister Helen Wheeler was urged by several MPs to bring in laws that would see properties confiscated from bad performing landlords.
It follows a joint investigation by The Guardian and ITV which uncovered that several landlords that were unfit to rent properties were continuing to operate.
But as Inside Housing’s managing editor Martin Hilditch says in his leader this week, “Brexit hangs over everything” and Inside Housing’s coverage is no different.
Today we speak to leaders from some of the country’s biggest housing associations who tell us of the plans they have in place if the UK leaves the European Union without a deal in March.
The Confederation for British Industry confirms many of housing associations concerns over skills, with a report that found nine in 10 firms have already seen their ability to train and recruit impacted by Brexit.
The survey has found that companies including house builders are already struggling to get the staff they need.
After the news of the ban to combustible materials on the high-rise buildings yesterday, Construction News runs a piece saying the ban would cost £337m over the next decade.
The government has also started the recruiting for a new national head of architecture, according to architecture magazine Dezeen.
The new £65k-a-year role will see the appointed person “raise the standards of new housing schemes” in the UK, and “champion the importance of good design”.
The BBC tells the tale of a development in Hampshire which has seen just 13 homes built on it in 12 years.
After winning planning permission in 2006, the slow-moving development, which is earmarked for 211 homes, has hit the brakes again after an error saw the developer withdraw its application to remove affordable housing from the scheme.
On social media
Grenfell United comments on the decision to ban combustible materials on tall buildings yesterday:
It’s almost 18 months since 72 people died from the Grenfell fire and 9 years since 6 people died in the Lakanal house fire. This is the first piece of proposed legislative change the Government has put forward as a result... our statement in full: pic.twitter.com/mi9axg9r3p
— Grenfell United (@GrenfellUnited)It’s almost 18 months since 72 people died from the Grenfell fire and 9 years since 6 people died in the Lakanal house fire. This is the first piece of proposed legislative change the Government has put forward as a result... our statement in full: pic.twitter.com/mi9axg9r3p
— Grenfell United (@GrenfellUnited) November 29, 2018
While Geoff Wilkinson, managing director at Wilkinson Construction Consultants, points out it is not just combustible cladding that is covered by the ban:
Worth noting that the combustible “cladding” ban goes beyond cladding and has very big implications for timber frame high rise buildings that had been planned. pic.twitter.com/Y4m56V8Wdz
— Geoff Wilkinson 💚 (@GeoffWilkinson)Worth noting that the combustible “cladding” ban goes beyond cladding and has very big implications for timber frame high rise buildings that had been planned. pic.twitter.com/Y4m56V8Wdz
— Geoff Wilkinson \uD83D\uDC9A (@GeoffWilkinson) November 29, 2018
What’s on
- The National Housing Federation is running the South East Smaller Housing Association Seminar in Wokingham today for housing associations with fewer than 1,000 units
Tech Leaders 2018
We unveil Tech Leaders 2018 - a list of the tech innovators digitally transforming their organisations:
Sponsored by Hitachi Solutions
The big issues that impact the regeneration and delivery of social housingSPONSORED ARTICLE
