Category: Construction Industry Today | Subscribe to Construction Industry Today Feed Published Thu, Mar 31st 2016 Brighton homebuilder Barratt Developments has thrown its support behind the government’s campaign to boost the number of young people in apprenticeships as part of National Apprenticeship Week. Posted via Industry Today. Follow us on Twitter @IndustryToday The company has opened up positions for new apprentices, including bricklayers and carpenters/joiners at its developments across the region. Building on its commitment to secure three million apprenticeship starts by 2020, the government has launched a ‘100 in 100 apprenticeship campaign’, which will see MPs across all political parties in England securing apprenticeship pledges from businesses in their constituencies, with the aim of creating at least 100 new apprenticeships within the next 100 days. Gary Ennis, regional managing director of Barratt Developments, which incorporates Barratt Homes and David Wilson Homes, said its apprenticeships provide the perfect foundations for a career in the construction industry and it will be focussing on ensuring apprentices successfully complete their programmes and enter the industry as qualified tradespeople or trainee site managers in order to address the current skills shortage. “Nationally we have recruited 780 graduates, undergraduates, apprentices and trainees in the past three years of which 480 were apprentices,’’ he said. “By September 2016, we will have around 450 apprentices and trainees currently on a programme, which represents 7.5% of the direct workforce. “We want to invite anybody with an interest in construction to consider applying for one of our apprenticeship and help us build our award-winning new homes.“ Barratt Developments’ apprenticeship programme sees learners work on an assigned development in the region for part of their working week, as well as taking part in classroom-based learning at a local college.                                                                                                                   Source link

The UK commercial property market could see an exceptionally high amount of activity in the second half of 2016 as investors flood to the market post the EU referendum, says Savills. The rebound in UK investment volumes in H2 could follow the pattern seen in the Scottish investment market after the independence referendum, when investment volumes in H2 2014 increased by 85%, compared to a normal second half of year increase of 45%. Total investment volumes for all property in January and February 2016 were 10% higher than the long term average, although 25% lower than the equivalent period in 2015, according to Savills. Sentiment towards UK real estate assets is still overwhelmingly positive with the Lloyds Bank Investor Sentiment Index February 2016 demonstrating that 49% of investors were positive to UK real estate and fund managers increasing their allocations to UK real estate. There are opportunities in the market for investors who are looking to strike in the immediate future. “The strong occupational markets and ability to buy good quality properties with longer leases than are prevalent in other global markets are attracting a wide range of non institutional UK and overseas investors”, says Richard Merryweather, Joint Head of UK Investment. Mark Ridley, CEO Savills UK & Europe, continues:“While some investors are exercising caution before the outcome of the Brexit vote is known, the combination of high allocations to UK real estate, strong sentiment amongst investors, record levels of occupier demand, falling supply and rental growth could all combine to see investors return to the UK market with a bang post referendum. Typically, even in non-election years, the second six months of the year are busier for investors than the first, but even taking this into account we’re expecting to see a very significant uplift in activity on account of the UK’s safe and stable market.” View Savills March Commercial Market in Minutes report here Source link

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has today (Thursday 1 September 2016) announced the shortlist for the 2016 RIBA Client of the Year award. The annual award, supported by The Bloxham Charitable Trust, recognises the role that a good client plays in the creation of fine architecture. The 2016 shortlist is: Leicester Print Workshop – nominated by Takero Shimazaki Architects for their 2016 RIBA Award-winning Leicester Print Workshop Manchester City Council – nominated by Mecanoo for their 2016 RIBA National Award-winning HOME (in addition to the 2016 RIBA North West Award winners Manchester Central Library by Ryder Architecture and Library Walk Link Building by SimpsonHaugh and Partners) University of Oxford Estates – nominated by WilkinsonEyre for their 2016 RIBA Stirling Prize shortlisted Weston Library Westmorland Limited – nominated by Glenn Howells Architects for the 2016 RIBA National Award winning Gloucester Services by Glenn Howells Architects and AFL Architects The winner of the 2016 RIBA Client of the Year Award will be announced at the RIBA Stirling Prize party on Thursday 6 October at RIBA in central London. The Architects’ Journal is media partner for the RIBA awards, including RIBA Client of the Year, and professional media partner for the RIBA Stirling Prize. The RIBA Stirling Prize is sponsored by Almacantar. ENDS Notes to editors: 1. For further press information please contact Callum Reilly in the RIBA Press Office callum.reilly@riba.org or 020 7307 3757 2. Previous winners of the RIBA Client of the Year Award include The Royal Shakespeare Company (2011), Olympic Delivery Authority (2012), the National Trust (2013), Manchester Metropolitan University (2014) and National Theatre (2015). 3. The Royal Institute of British Architects (@RIBA) is a global professional membership body that serves its members and society in order to deliver better buildings and places, stronger communities and a sustainable environment. www.architecture.com 4. Tom Bloxham MBE of Urban Splash supports the RIBA Client of the Year award through his charity The Bloxham Charitable Trust. 5. Almacantar is a property investment and development company specialising in large-scale, complex investments in Central London, with the potential to create long-term value through development, repositioning or active asset management. Since launching in 2010, Almacantar has acquired a number of prime assets with untapped potential in the heart of London, including: Centre Point, Marble Arch Tower, CAA House, 125 Shaftesbury Avenue and One and Two South Bank Place. www.almacantar.com For further information please contact: Finsbury +44 (0)20 7251 3801 Faeth Birch 6. For more information on The Architects’ Journal visit www.architectsjournal.co.uk 7. Summaries from each nominator on their shortlisted client: Leicester Print Workshop Nominated by Takero Shimazaki Architects for their 2016 RIBA Award-winning Leicester Print Workshop. The project was led by Leicester Print Workshop (LPW) Director, Lucy Phillips, who had the vision to create a new home for LPW. A vision to make its printmaking processes more visible, make LPW more central to Leicester’s arts community and create more accessible premises with larger flexible spaces for printmaking to flourish. With a well-written briefing document, the strong vision was clear from the outset and architects were invited to pitch. The selected team understood the organisation’s aspirations and printmaking processes. Lucy’s involvement, supported by the Board of Trustees and the Working Members Group, was key to the architecture of the project, including using printmaking as an inspiration for its construction and creative involvement in design decisions and value engineering. Lucy cultivated a participatory culture surrounding the project; design workshops were held with the artists and a network of volunteers and funders were inspired to partake. Lucy made it a project truly connecting within its context and locality, by finding a site through partnerships with City Council departments, applying for Arts Council England funding and grant-making trusts, gaining support from the Mayor’s office and supporting local schools’ arts initiatives. The LPW team started ‘Our Big Move’ campaign, updating their website and tumblr to keep supporters and investors abreast of site and funding progress (http://lpw-ourbigmove.tumblr.com/). Artists organised pop-up print sales, produced limited edition mugs and prints. On site, there were artists in residence visits and volunteering weekends to help with the final touches. Now in occupation, LPW andTakero Shimazaki Architects are working on a book. Today the sense of achievement is palpable amongst LPW staff and artists, one of whom said ‘I find myself unduly filled with pride and astonishment as I approach the building’. Manchester City Council Nominated by Mecanoo for their 2016 RIBA National Award-winning HOME (in addition to the 2016 RIBA North West Award winners Manchester Central Library by Ryder Architecture and Library Walk Link Building by SimpsonHaugh and Partners). Manchester City Council is committed to high-quality design, looking for the best and most innovative ideas. They approach procuring buildings as a journey that goes beyond design and construction and considers how the buildings will be used and maintained once they are complete. They are conscious of making sure there are pragmatic solutions that keep running costs down as well as providing aspirational designs. With HOME, they commissioned not just a multi-art form building, but an actual new home to two well-loved cultural institutions, within a new mixed-use, commercial, leisure destination: First Street. In selecting an architect for HOME via a European competition, they looked for a clearly articulated understanding of the brief and what the City wanted to deliver. They chose Mecanoo because, rather than someone imposing their solution on them, they wanted designs to evolve. The cultural development department spent a lot of time getting the brief right. They managed to solve problems along the way, future-proofing the project. Looking at a lot of theatres and their ancillary spaces helped with the look and feel of HOME, achieving great intimacy in the main auditoria. The department also spoke to the people who actually operate the buildings to ask them what they would have done differently. For HOME, understanding and interpreting the end-user’s vision about what they want to achieve was particularly successful, with HOME director and chief executive Dave

The UK commercial property market is likely to see a weakening in demand due to the decision of the British people to leave the European Union. Foreign investors in particular are likely to cool while the terms for the country to leave are thrashed out as uncertainty about direction and timing affect decision making, according to experts. Even if it is effectively ‘business as usual’ for the UK in terms of trade and legislation until 2018 when the actual exit is likely to take place, such a major change will inevitably create uncertainty in the economy and real estate markets, according to Chris Ireland, chief executive officer of JLL UK. He explained that in the event of a well-managed exit these impacts will be largely confined to the UK. ‘In the short term we may see a weakening in occupier demand. The impact on rents may be limited by tight supply, but activity will be adversely hit while initial uncertainty about direction and timing continues,’ said Ireland. ‘Investor sentiment may also remain subdued in the short to medium term. For property markets, the initial correction may be most severe but should be followed by an upturn as opportunities re-emerge in UK core markets and benefits of weak sterling are recognised. Sentiment and relative pricing will be key,’ he pointed out. ‘Much will depend on the speed of negotiation, the wider political picture and whether a clear direction of travel and timetable for an EU exit is established early on,’ he added. According to an analysis by JLL occupier demand will weaken in line with economic growth and declining business sentiment. The impact on rents may be limited by tight supply, but activity will be adversely hit. It also suggests that investor sentiment will deteriorate further, subduing capital flows in the short to medium term and there is likely to be a negative capital value adjustment over the next two years, estimated at a fall of up to 10% with yields moving around 50bp. It points out that London sectors remain most vulnerable to correction given current keen pricing and their multinational occupier base but much will depend on the speed of negotiation, the wider political picture and whether a clear and favourable direction is established early on. According to Mark Clacy-Jones of international real estate firm Knight Frank the decision will cause volatility across all investment markets, and real estate will be no exception and he predicts that uncertainty over future economic conditions in the UK will cause some deals on hold to be shelved, and occupiers will reconsider the amount of space they need outside of the single market. ‘A fall in the value of sterling, combined with falling property values will be a buy sign for opportunistic overseas investors once the initial correction has occurred. This will cause a widening yield gap as real estate yields rise and bond rates fall from further Bank of England monetary loosening and will make property a favoured asset class in an unpopular investment destination,’ he said. In particular, the vote to leave the EU creates both threats and opportunities for the central London office market, according to his colleague at Knight Frank Patrick Scanlon. ‘Economic uncertainty is rarely a positive for any market, and in the short term we should expect some occupiers to delay committing to new office moves as they take stock of what the new landscape means for their businesses,’ he explained. ‘London represents the largest market for euro-denominated trading, and major banks with euro trading desks in London may find that they need to relocate some of these functions to office markets within the EU. While this does not necessarily mean a wholesale relocation, we should expect some vacant space from banks to come to the market once this restructuring has taken place,’ he said. ‘However, it should be noted that many businesses with a large London presence are focused on markets outside the EU, and the UK’s exit from the Union will have a limited impact on them,’ he pointed out, adding that global operators such as Deutsche Bank, Thomson Reuters, Ashurst, Google and Facebook have made significant long term commitments to London. However, he believes that there is likely to be some release of office space as businesses tighten their belts to weather the period during which trade treaties are being negotiated. ‘Currently availability levels are particularly low and the development pipeline remains fairly limited. The market has capacity to absorb a rise in supply before there is a possibility of a fall in prime headline rents,’ said Scanlon. ‘The impact on the investment market is likely to be less obvious. While the economic uncertainty during our exit negotiations will undoubtedly deter some domestic investors, the relative discount available to purchasers in foreign currencies will attract significant interest. In the medium-term however, Central London commercial property will continue to offer a higher yield than most other asset classes, and may even benefit from the instability in the equity markets,’ he added. Craig Hughes, UK real estate leader at PwC, pointed out that real estate is a capital intensive business and real estate investors do not react well to uncertainty and in recent months that has had an impact on the real estate market. He believes that there are immediate consequences resulting from exiting the EU, but also longer term uncertainties arising from political uncertainty, the timing of the submission of Article 50 and the reaction of European officials and citizens. The decision may create short term volatility but over the long term the UK is set to remain attractive to real estate investors, according to Manish Chande, a senior partner at Clearbell. ‘We saw during the referendum campaign that this created buying opportunities at significant discounts for savvy investors. As the uncertainty gradually lifts and investors are reminded of the strong fundamental factors that make UK real estate attractive, we’d expect real estate activity to pick up,’ he said. It is difficult to forecast

Buy-to-let investing is going to become much more expensive as a result of a number of tax clampdowns and soon it might be even harder for landlords to get a mortgage in the first place. At the end of March, the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority proposed new rules to clamp down on buy-to-let mortgages. This action came after concerns that the buy-to-let market is spiraling out of control. Recently, demand for properties from buyers reached its highest level in years. However, these new regulations are likely to prevent one in every five loans that are currently issued. At the moment, most buy-to-let activities don’t need to be formally regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and lenders typically only compare mortgage repayments against future rental income. On 1st April, a new stamp duty land tax surcharge came into force, also targeting prospective private landlords and adding a massive 3% to the tax bill for those seeking to buy investment homes. Ahead of the 1st April deadline, buy-to-let activity increased significantly, pushing house prices to a record new high in the process. The average UK house price has now exceeded £200,000 for the first time. Will all of this work and why is this action being taken? The government is concerned that first-time buyers are finding it very hard to get onto the property ladder, with private landlords having a competitive advantage. They are all bidding for the same properties, but landlords are able to offset mortgage costs, at a time when rental demand is pushing up potential income. As potential new homeowners are increasingly forced to rent, this raises demand and fuels a vicious cycle. By removing a lot of the tax benefits and hitting landlords with higher initial costs, the government is hoping that this demand will decrease, easing the pressure on prices and allowing first-time buyers the opportunity to get into the housing market. The worry is that this will limit the supply of rental housing in an already squeezed market and that it could add to the financial burden on younger people trying to get on the property ladder, with landlords simply resorting to increasing their rents. We believe that younger buyers may still find themselves in an impossible situation, unable to find a way into the housing market and squeezed out of the increasingly high rental market. There is certainly a problem with house prices in this country, but maybe the only way to fix that is (in an ideal world) to build more homes, ease planning restrictions and restore interest rates back to realistic levels to deal with speculative demand. In the meantime, those landlords who are concerned because their mortgage won’t match up to their rental income should consider putting property guardians into their empty buildings, as this will give them some revenue through the licence fee paid by guardians and will reduce their insurance costs while the building is occupied. Source link

25 May 2016 | Herpreet Kaur Grewal Britain’s shop vacancy dropped to 12.4 per cent in April – the lowest since December 2009, according to the Local Data Company (LDC) and British Independent Retailers Association (bira). This figure is down -0.6 per cent from April last year. The report revealed that although more than 4,600 shops opened in 2015, more than 5,100 closed; just under 500 units fell empty in 2015, on top of the thousands of others over the past five years. This change was driven by a decrease in the number of units becoming vacant (down 16 per cent from April 2015) along with an above average number of units being removed from the overall stock (+76 per cent, when compared with April 2015). Vacant property management expert Orbis has said that more shops closing than opening for the fifth year running is a serious concern for property managers. Guy Other, CEO at Orbis, said: “While the decrease in the number of shops closing must be seen as a positive, the hundreds of empty units created this year alone will need to be addressed.” Other added: “Vacant units that are not properly secured or managed can become an eyesore in the community, encourage vandalism and other crime, and become unfit for purpose, making them too costly to reopen.” The report has highlighted that already this year has seen a significant number of shop closures with more being announced. Orbis says while it is difficult to say what this means for the future of many retailers, “property managers will need to seriously consider the future of their estates”. The organisation also warned that if more and more properties are going to become void in the next few years, “a security and management solution will need to be put in place to ensure the long term prosperity of high street units”. The LDC retail market trends report summary of 2015 also revealed a number of positives from the data. The number of independent retailers has continued to increase, although at a slower rate than the previous year, and the overall rate of retail closures has dropped by over 50 per cent from 2014.  Source link