Gatwick development director Raymond Melee said the airport would press ahead with its plans to build a second runway, even if it was overlooked by Theresa May’s government. Speaking at the Construction News Summit, Mr Melee said: “If we were not fortunate to get a runway decision we would continue because inevitably the government will come back to us as we need more capacity in the South-east.” His comments come ahead of the government’s self-imposed October deadline to make a decision on airport capacity. A number of reports have suggested that a decision will be made after a cabinet sub-committee meeting on airport expansion chaired by Mrs May on 18 October. “I think we have the best [runway] proposal,” Mr Melee said. “Heathrow, while a good airport, has failed four times. I am not sure whether doing it a fifth time would get a different result.” Last week, Gatwick named American engineering giant Bechtel as its strategic partner to build a second runway at the airport. The team has promised to have the second runway fully operational by 2025, if chosen by the government as the preferred location for extra runway capacity. Architect Sir Terry Farrell has also been working on designs for the new Gatwick runway and terminal facility for a number of years and will work with Bechtel to bring the project to delivery phase. The Times columnist Tim Montgomerie earlier told the Summit it would send a positive message to the world to back both Gatwick and Heathrow. Mr Montgomerie, the founder of ConservativeHome, told CN Summit chair Andrew Neil he expected to see Heathrow given approval for a third runway, but that he was in favour of a second runway at Gatwick being built as well. He said: “A double airport expansion would be the right signal to the world that we want to be a global Britain.” Mr Montgomerie told the Summit that he expected Heathrow to be added to HS2 and Hinkley Point C as being approved by the government. He added the fourth ‘h’, housing, was a priority across government and that ”construction will definitely be a more important sector” for this government. However he added there were tensions between Theresa May and chancellor Philip Hammonds’ offices over the best way to proceed. He said Theresa May sees the future of Britain as being an infrastructure and skills-led economy, but that as gilt yields had risen, there was more uncertainty in the Treasury over how to proceed with borrowing for infrastructure.   Source link

South Lanarkshire College goes low-carbon with NIBE Published:  13 May, 2016 A newly opened, zero-energy teaching block at South Lanarkshire College in Scotland has been fitted with a ground source heat pump system from NIBE – helping it become the first building in the UK to achieve a BREEAM sustainability rating of ‘outstanding’. Situated on the college’s East Kilbride campus, the building has been specifically designed with environmental credentials in mind. Its efficiency-enhancing measures include insulated floors, walls and roofs, triple-glazed windows, low-energy lighting and electrics, rainwater harvesting and solar PV panels on the roof. Partnered with a water-based underfloor heating system, the NIBE F1345 40kW ground source heat pump was specified to meet the heating requirements of the eight-classroom block in the most sustainable, cost-effective and reliable way possible. The new SLC facility excelled in all 10 BREEAM assessment categories, which range from energy, waste and water to health and wellbeing. The project was given £1.45m in support from South Lanarkshire Trust and £700,000 from the European Regional Development Fund. It was also awarded a further subsidy from South Lanarkshire Council’s Renewable Energy Fund. Robin Adderley, sales and marketing director at NIBE, said: “NIBE has a longstanding relationship with South Lanarkshire College, and we are really pleased to have been a part of this project. The new block sets the bar high for sustainable construction in the UK, which is reflected in its outstanding BREEAM assessment. It’s also a perfect working example of how heat pumps can be the ideal choice for larger-scale applications – helping them to minimise their carbon footprint and keep running costs down in the process.” Source link

First time buyer numbers in the UK remain 2.2 million behind where they should be given demographic trends despite significant government investment in home ownership, according to a new report. The report from the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association (IMLS) suggests that it means that current policy behind interventions in the housing market is missing the mark but they are likely to remain priorities for any new government that emerges in the post-Brexit political environment. The report finds that government investment in home ownership, including through the 15 different Own Your Own Home schemes currently on offer, is yet to have the desired upward effect on home ownership levels. Schemes including the Help to Buy ISA and the Starter Homes Scheme are designed to boost home ownership. They will also expand a demographic that has traditionally voted for the Conservative party, the report points out. At the 2015 General Election, 46% of outright owners and 39% of mortgaged home owners voted Conservative against 28% of private tenants and only 18% of social tenants, meaning homeowners remain a vital demographic for the Conservatives. This approach of extending support to help first timers get on the property ladder is partly being funded by the Conservatives’ second major intervention in the housing market, managing demand through the introduction of extra tax on buy to let and second home purchases. The report explains that the Exchequer is set to raise around £1.7 billion a year from these new taxes, although spending on home ownership far exceeds these costs and the latest UK Housing Review research from the Centre for Housing Policy estimates Government spending on home ownership in England through grants, guarantees and loans will total £40 billion over 2015 to 2021, equivalent to over £6.6 billion a year. But despite Government efforts to bolster home ownership, first time buyer numbers are still tracking lower than expected. The IMLA report finds that between 2007 and 2015 the number of first time buyers in the UK was some 2.2 million lower than past demographic trends suggested it should have been. The report also points out that so far some 90,000 new home sales have been made under the Help to Buy equity loan, NewBuy and FirstBuy schemes and a further 74,000 mortgages have been completed with the support of the Help to Buy mortgage guarantee scheme but the government has failed to reverse the decline in home ownership. Indeed, between 2010 and 201, the latest year for which data is available, the number of owner occupied homes in the UK fell by 270,000. This decline may now be stalling as the latest English Housing Survey showed no change in owner occupation rates between 2013/2014 and 2014/2015, but there is yet to be any increase in home ownership levels. The IMLA’s analysis of data from the Building Societies Association (BSA) suggests more people worry about accessing a mortgage than affording one. In research conducted in March 2016 some 39% of aspiring first time buyers cited access to a large enough mortgage as one of the main barriers they faced to buying a home, higher than the 34% citing the affordability of mortgage payments. It says that this implies that many first timers are unable to borrow a sum they consider to be affordable, which could suggest over regulation of the market. Overall, raising a deposit was identified as the biggest barrier to homeownership, cited by 61% of aspiring first time buyers. ‘Politically, home owners are a crucial demographic for the Conservatives, so the Government is throwing its weight behind a variety of different schemes to try and boost first time buyer numbers. But current policy is still missing the mark and failing in its objective of maintaining home ownership levels,’ said Peter Williams, IMLA executive director. ‘This is partly because saving for a deposit and accessing high loan to value (LTV) mortgages remain ongoing challenges for first time buyers. Mortgage repayments are cheaper than ever but many first timers simply don’t qualify for a mortgage as they can’t stump up the starting sum,’ he explained. He pointed out that the Government has moved from an overall focus on supply regardless of tenure to a new policy centred on supply built around home ownership with the risk of making a bad situation worse and the latest move to control the rental market by taxing landlords is an own goal by the Government. ‘It is likely these costs will simply be passed onto tenants as landlords look for other ways to maintain their profits, making the challenge of saving for a deposit an even harder struggle and it will reduce the flow of investment into new homes for rent,’ said Williams. ‘There is a longer term risk too that it has created a more volatile political environment in the housing market which may impact on owners and investors. The current political attitudes to the private rental sector are ill focused and short sighted,’ he added. The IMLA report also highlights that Basel rule changes could reduce high LTV lending further. High loan to value mortgages have been hit by the largest absolute increase in capital requirements under the Basel rules that are already coming into force. Proposed changes to Basel regulations could mean capital requirements are set to rise further, and the availability of high LTV lending could be further reduced. Home ownership levels could also be affected by the Government’s stance on the Private Rental Sector (PRS). The IMLA warns that tenants are likely to suffer the cost of higher taxes on landlords through higher rents as demand for rental accommodation continues to rise, allowing landlords to raise their rents to maintain profit margins in a more highly taxed environment. This will impact aspiring first time buyers who are trying to save for a deposit while living in rented accommodation. Instead, the IMLA report argues that a more effective way to stimulate homeownership would be a refocus on the rules surrounding mortgage availability. In particular, the IMLA believes the

Property in south Florida continues to be popular with buyers from South America topping the list for people from overseas searching for real estate, the latest research shows. Colombia has been the top country of origin for five months in a row and four out of the top five countries are in South America, according to the data from the Miami Association of Realtors. In second place is Venezuela, then Argentina with Israel in fourth place and Brazil in fifth. Georgia registered the most searches of Miami real estate among American states. ‘South Florida is known around the world for embracing all cultures. Foreign born residents love Miami. Their passion is visible in our monthly property searches and in Realtor.com global searches, which continue to show South Florida as the most searched US market by international consumers,’ said Mark Sadek, chairman of the association. Colombian home buyers tied with Argentinians in purchasing the third-most Miami real estate among foreign countries and 10% of all foreign South Florida transactions. Only Venezuela with 13% and Brazil with 12% bought more. Colombians moving to South Florida are often upper middle class families who want to enjoy their prosperity earned in their homeland as professionals and entrepreneurs. Colombians spend the second most on South Florida property among foreign buyers. The $516,000 average purchase price of Colombians tied with Argentina and only trailed Brazil at $766,000. Israel posted the fourth most searches of South Florida real estate in April. It was the country’s highest finish since it took fourth in September 2015. India was sixth for the second consecutive month, while in seventh place was Canada, then the Philippines, Spain and Peru. Georgia, which had been climbing the ranks in recent months and finished second in March, moved ahead of New York for the most South Florida web searches in April 2016. In third place was Texas, followed by California, Tennessee, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, North Caroline and Michigan. The top market for overall international real estate demand: was Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach in Florida, followed by Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim in California, then Bellingham in Washington State. South Florida ranked as a top-five market for consumers in eight of the world’s 10 largest regions in April 2016. South Florida finished as the most searched market in four of the regions. Source link