September 29, 2018

NHBC registrations rebound 20% in August

A total of 12,486 new homes were registered to be built in the UK in August 2016, according to latest registration statistics from the National House Building Council (NHBC) – an increase of 20% on August 2015. There were 9,225 private sector registrations and 3,261 public sector registrations in August

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Basildon awards £300m deal to Morgan Sindall

29 April 2016 | Herpreet Kaur Grewal Basildon Council has signed a long-term contract with Morgan Sindall Property Services to maintain and repair the local authority’s housing stock and corporate buildings.   The £300 million-plus contract integrates all of Basildon Council’s major repair and maintenance services “to enable a more efficient,

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Ascendancy billing software chosen for Castle Water customers

Ascendancy Water has announced it will become the billing software provider for Castle Waters customers, after it successfully completed MOSL’s market entry acceptance testing. Equivalent testing on Ascendancy’s Edge software has already been completed with the Central Market Agency – MOSL’s equivalent in Scotland – to allow

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Latest Issue
Issue 324 : Jan 2025

September 29, 2018

NHBC registrations rebound 20% in August

A total of 12,486 new homes were registered to be built in the UK in August 2016, according to latest registration statistics from the National House Building Council (NHBC) – an increase of 20% on August 2015. There were 9,225 private sector registrations and 3,261 public sector registrations in August 2016, compared to 8,385 private sector and 2,006 public sector registrations 12 months before. However, for the three months ending 31st August 2016 there was an 8% decline in NHBC registrations. There were 36,869 new home registrations in the rolling quarter June to August 2016, compared to 40,123 in the same period in 2015. This fall is attributed to a hiatus in activity around the EU referendum, with August representing a return to growth. As the leading warranty and insurance provider for new homes in the UK, NHBC’s registration statistics are considered a lead indicator of UK house-building activity. NHBC chief executive Mike Quinton said: “August’s registration statistics show that the number of new homes being registered is considerably up compared to the same time last year. “While overall rolling quarter numbers are down 8%, this came during an unprecedented period of uncertainty immediately after the EU referendum. Despite this, over half of the UK regions experienced growth in registrations compared to the same three month period last year.”   Regional breakdown of new homes registered for June-August 2016 Country/Region Jun-Aug 2016 Jun-Aug 2015 England – Regions     North East 2,220 1,444 North West 3,995 3,451 Yorkshire & the Humber 2,426 1,854 West Midlands 2,697 3,612 East Midlands 2,938 3,397 Eastern 4,294  4,648 South West 4,261 3,460 Greater London 4,134 8,267 South East 5,367 4,511 Totals for England 32,332 34,644 Scotland – Councils 2,357 3,464 Wales – Unitary Authorities 1,226 1,202 Northern Ireland – Counties   954   813 Totals for UK  36,869 40,123         This article was published on 30 Sep 2016 (last updated on 30 Sep 2016). Source link

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Basildon awards £300m deal to Morgan Sindall

29 April 2016 | Herpreet Kaur Grewal Basildon Council has signed a long-term contract with Morgan Sindall Property Services to maintain and repair the local authority’s housing stock and corporate buildings.   The £300 million-plus contract integrates all of Basildon Council’s major repair and maintenance services “to enable a more efficient, customer-focused service for residents and a single point of contact for the council”.   The new contract is expected to deliver “significant long-term savings for the authority with estimated savings of around £2 million per annum”.   The contract starts on 1 July 2016 and will continue for up to 15 years.   Under the terms of the contract, Morgan Sindall is to carry out repairs, maintenance and planned improvement works to the council’s housing stock as well as undertaking gas servicing, repairs and boiler renewals to 10,000 domestic gas heating systems.   Morgan Sindall will also carry out repairs and maintenance works to the council’s non-residential properties, including the Towngate Theatre, Basildon Centre and local community halls, under this contract.   In addition to providing improved services to residents, the council has placed a high emphasis on enabling employment opportunities for local people whilst ensuring the partnership with Morgan Sindall will continue to support the community by providing sustainable legacy projects.   One such project is the creation of a social enterprise that will help deliver external redecorations and estate improvement works. The social enterprise will work in conjunction with local college PROCAT and Jobcentre Plus to target long-term unemployed residents and help recruit the right trainees, who will be trained and mentored by Morgan Sindall engineers and staff.   The social enterprise will be a not-for-profit organisation and any surplus will be reinvested back into the business or the local community.   The contract will also provide up to 30 apprenticeship opportunities at any one time and work to improve employability by offering CV writing courses and interview training through local workshops.   “The length of this contract will not only enable us to provide long-term employment opportunities for local people, but also ensure we continue to develop new and smarter ways of delivering our services. We look forward to working with Basildon Council and its residents over the next 15 years.” Source link

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Ascendancy billing software chosen for Castle Water customers

Ascendancy Water has announced it will become the billing software provider for Castle Waters customers, after it successfully completed MOSL’s market entry acceptance testing. Equivalent testing on Ascendancy’s Edge software has already been completed with the Central Market Agency – MOSL’s equivalent in Scotland – to allow the company to bill Castle’s existing Scottish customers. The consultancy and software provider, which focuses entirely on the competitive water market, started billing all Portsmouth region non-household customers earlier this year. It will soon start billing for all Thames region business customers as well. Ascendancy provides billing and pricing software for a number of retailers in Scotland. The new version of its software has now been proven to integrate with both English and Scottish markets, allowing for customers to be provided with consolidated billing across the Anglo-Scottish area. Ascendancy Water managing director Charles Vincent said: “We are really proud to have successfully completed market entry testing with our Edge product. “A huge amount of work has gone into developing a billing solution for Castle that is specific to the water industry and overcomes some of the historical billing issues that customers have experienced in the past.” Source link

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