New housing can be well designed, sustainable and affordable. Clockwise from top left; Royal Road by Panter Hudspith (c) Morley von Sternberg, Exhibition Mews by Ash Sakula Architects (c) Gareth Gardner, Abode, Great Kneighton by Proctor and Matthews (c) Tim Crocker, Brentford Lock West by Duggan Morris Architects (c) Jack Hobhouse   The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has today set out its key recommendations for dealing with the UK’s dire housing crisis. With a new government and the leave result of the EU referendum, it’s more vital than ever to ensure design quality isn’t comprised as we ramp up the construction industry to keep Britain’s economy growing and build much needed new homes. The new policy document, ‘Housing Matters: #20ways to tackle the housing crisis’, advocates better use of public resources and public sector land, more locally-made decisions, greater focus on good design, increased support for new types of housing development, sustainable and resilient homes and a more transparent housing market. The #20ways, which are explained more fully in the policy document, are: Housing policy should be added to the remit of the National Infrastructure Commission and future infrastructure schemes should include details of their impact on housing supply. The Government should adopt the RIBA and House of Lords’ Select Committee recommendation for the establishment of a Chief Built Environment Adviser. The cap on Housing Revenue Account receipts should be lifted to allow councils to borrow to build social housing. Central and local government should set up public sector investment vehicles and a national housing investment bank to issue bonds and ISAs, recycle right to buy receipts and attract long-term institutional investment. Local authorities should set up Local Housing Development Funds, with initial capital for investment provided by local authority pension funds. Once such schemes are up and running, they would be able attract secondary institutional investment. Local leaders should be empowered to shape their local housing market by taking control over requirements for affordable housing, including the tenure composition for new developments (affordable rent, social rent, living rent, shared ownership, Starter Homes) based on local housing need, rather than fixed national targets. The Guiding Principles of the Estates Regeneration programme should be strengthened to ensure that engagement with local communities is at the heart of the process and the rights of existing residents to remain after regeneration is complete– including those who exercised the right to buy – is protected. Sufficient resources must be made available to identify land and for the management and promotion of the custom build register. The Government should ensure Design Review Panels are an integral part of the planning process – particularly for larger and more complex schemes. Local and neighbourhood plans should include design review to help drive high quality design in new housing developments. Key factors that affect quality of life and affordability of housing like space, access and environmental standards should be subject to regular review to ensure that the highest possible standards are adopted. The value of social return should be given equal consideration to economic return and the long-term impact of a proposal on the public sector should be taken into account to ensure that inappropriate development is avoided. Local authorities should consider partnering arrangements where land and ownership is retained by the authority, possibly in the form of Community Land Trusts, to ensure long-term best value for those assets. The removal of stamp duty when moving to a smaller home should be piloted in the Autumn Statement. A distinct, clear planning use class should be introduced for housing for older people that is designed to Housing our Ageing Population: Panel for Innovation (HAPPI) principles. Local authorities should be required to address the principles of inclusive design in internal and external environments and the needs of older people in plan-making and land allocation. Research into concerns around viability, build quality and overheating should be commissioned to help guide future standards. The metrics currently used to calculate energy efficiency and CO2 reduction should be reviewed; learning from other European countries such as Germany and Denmark. A VAT rebate scheme should be made available for the renovation and improvement of homes with poor energy efficiency. The Neighbourhood Planning and Infrastructure Bill should be amended to ensure that viability assessments used in Section 106/CIL discussions are public documents – with no commercial confidentiality restrictions. RIBA President Jane Duncan said: “The actions we’ve set out are achievable and realistic steps the government can take now to tackle the housing crisis. Everyone has the right to live in a well-designed, sustainable, affordable home – we must work together to realise new solutions to make this a reality for the majority, not just the wealthy few. High quality design that offers better value for money in the long term is a key solution. Without better spending, the homes we build now will not be built to last and are simply storing up further challenges for the future.”     Alex Ely from RIBA’s Housing Group said: “Demand for new homes continues to outstrip supply and successive governments have failed to keep up. In particular, there is a huge shortage of genuinely affordable new homes to buy or rent in many parts of the country. Housing policy alone won’t be enough to solve a housing crisis with roots that are as complex as they are varied. The only solution lies in bringing together the public and private sector to promote, enable and finance new homes, and improve the quality of the homes we already have and are already building.” Housing Matters: #20ways to tackle the housing crisis can be found here: www.Architecture.com/HousingMatters ENDS Notes to editors: HomeWise: Space standards for homes HomeWise: The way we live now HomeWise: The case for space The policy document has been developed with RIBA’s Housing Group, a member group comprising of housing experts. The group consist of, 

The design-and-build contract is being carried out with AHR Architects for Eastleigh Borough Council. It will be built next to the existing leisure facility that will remain open during the 85-week build programme. The old leisure centre will be demolished after the new building is handed over. The new centre will include a sports hall with room for 15 badminton courts; an eight-lane, 25 m swimming pool; a learning pool with adjustable floor depth; three multi-purpose studios; and other leisure facilities. The building will be constructed with a steel frame and pre-stressed concrete floors, while the pool will be made with reinforced concrete. Externally it will be clad in brickwork, aluminium and zinc rainscreen. Eastleigh Borough Council leader Keith House said: “Interserve has shown a great understanding of the project and brings with it a depth of experience in building leisure centres. “Interserve has a very good knowledge of, and relationship with, the local supply chain and is keen to work with us to ensure the new building achieves economic benefits locally. Interserve also wishes to work with us on recycling the old centre and believes it could recycle around 95 per cent of it.” Interserve Fleming Park Leisure Centre outside The new centre will be built next to the existing leisure facility Source link

A lack of suitable office space in Scotland’s key cities, combined with rising rents, is leading to companies looking to take offices in locations outside the city centre, according to Savills Scottish Office Market report. Savills says take-up of office space outside the central business district’s of Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow was 4% higher in the first quarter of 2016 than the previous quarter. The firm believes this trend is set to increase as occupiers continue to be attracted by the low rents on offer in out of town locations, where in some cases there can be a 50% discount on the £30 per sq ft prime rents being achieved in the city centre. “The out of town markets are on the cusp of experiencing a resurgence in popularity, particularly in Edinburgh and Glasgow”, says Mat Oakley, head of commercial research at Savills. “This is primarily due to occupiers being able to save money on rents compared to inner city locations.” As a result Savills predicts Scotland’s strongest rental growth could be seen in the out of town markets of both Edinburgh and Glasgow, where rents in the early £20’s could be achieved in the next three years. Savills research shows demand for office space across Scotland has increased significantly this year: Glasgow has seen approximately 300,000 sq ft (27,870 sq m) of space let in the first quarter of 2016 alone, more than half of the total amount of space taken in the city during the whole of 2015. Edinburgh, meanwhile, saw its second strongest quarter of leasing activity since 2013 in Q1 2016, (324,000 sq ft / 30,100 sq m). According to the report, this spike in demand, combined with further employment growth and falling availability of Grade A space, has led to a squeeze in supply. Total supply in Glasgow has now fallen below two million square feet for the first time since 2011, with only approximately 500,000 sq ft (46,450 sq m) of Grade A space available. In Edinburgh availability has steadily fallen since its peak in 2008. Savills estimates that there is now only 2.1 million sq ft (195,100 sq m) of office space available across the city’s combined central business district and out of town markets, of which only 365,000 sq ft (33,910 sq m) is Grade A. Scottish office investment volumes have stayed healthy, with just over £811 million transacted in 2015, 33% above the long run average, and just over £300 million transacted in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow in the year to date. Prime yields have fallen in Edinburgh and Glasgow, leaving both markets at 5%. However, Aberdeen’s recent slowdown in leasing activity has seen yields there rise from 6% to 7% over the last two years. Of all Scottish office investments in 2015, 44% were by non-domestic investors according to Savills research. Figures show this has continued into 2016 with 89% of all purchases made by non-domestic investors. Savills attributes this to a combination of UK institutional investors being quiet in the run-up to the EU referendum and overseas investors, undeterred by the forthcoming EU referendum, being attracted by recent high levels of development activity in Scotland and the promise of continued solid rental growth. Nick Penny, director in the investment team and head of Savills Scotland, comments: “The national trends do seem to point to non-domestic investors being less concerned about the outcome of the EU referendum, and in some cases actually seeing it as a buying opportunity, with evidence that investor demand for the Scottish cities has been less affected by the Brexit debate than other locations. Scottish office investments still look cheap in comparison to the English cities. This, and the solid rental growth story, will continue to attract investor interest in Scotland’s prime office markets.” Source link

The annual rate of house growth in key cities in the UK has started to slow after 12 successive months of rising prices, according to the latest index figures to be published. But there is some regional variation and house prices in large regional cities outside southern England continue to grow while those in London have seen a market slowdown, the Hometrack cities index shows. Outside the south house price growth continues to hold steady at 7% to 8% per annum with no sign of an imminent slowdown. Aberdeen is also registering a slower rate of price falls compared to recent months with a decline of 8% compared to 10% the previous month. Overall city house prices increased by 9.5% year on year in July, down from 9.9% in June with Bristol in the south west seeing the strongest growth at 14% followed by London at 11.7%. While quarter on quarter the highest growth was in lower value, higher yielding cities where prices are rising off a lower base such as Glasgow, up 5.2%, Liverpool up 4.4% and Manchester and Nottingham both up 3.4%. Even although it has the second largest annual price growth, London has registered a marked slowdown in house price growth over the last three months. Average growth in the last quarter was 2.1%, the lowest rate for 17 months. The index report suggests this is due to weaker investor demand, affordability pressures and Brexit uncertainty impact demand at the same time as supply has risen. It points out that prices are still well up year on year but the signs are growth will slow further over the coming months. Cambridge saw prices fall by 1% over the last quarter and the report says that prices in the city are more sensitive to weaker demand although the annual rate of growth is still running at 7.1%. The report says that in the absence of adverse economic trends impacting employment and mortgage rates, the near term outlook is for a continued slowdown in London and stable growth rates in regional cities as households’ price record low mortgage rates into city house price where affordability remains attractive. ‘We continue to believe that turnover will register the brunt of the slowdown in London. In the face of lower sales volumes agents will look to re-price stock in line with what buyers are prepared, and can afford, to pay,’ the report explains. ‘Past experience shows that this process can run for as long as six months and relies, in part, in how quickly sellers are willing to adjust to what buyers are prepared to pay,’ it concludes. Source link

23 September 2016 | Herpreet Kaur Grewal Serco Group has been named preferred bidder for the Barts Health NHS Trust soft facilities management services tender.  Barts Health, which covers the City of London and East London, is the largest NHS trust in England. The trust’s procurement has an estimated total value of up to £600 million over a potential 10-year term.  There is currently a mandatory standstill period following the appointment decision, according to a Stock Exchange announcement.    Following expiry of the standstill period, the two parties will finalise the terms of the contract in readiness for signature. Serco is to take over responsibility for soft FM services from Carillion, which had been awarded a 22-month extension to its deal in 2014. In March, Barts renewed its waste management contract with Skanska for a further five years. Source link

Gordon Dunne, who will be Keltbray Structures’ managing director, has taken a minority stake in the business, with Keltbray Group taking on the remaining 80 per cent. The new business was created after the wider Keltbray Group purchased some of Dunne Group’s assets after the latter fell into administration in July. The concrete arm will be headed up by Keltbray MD John Price, who will now have the additional role of Keltbray Structures chief executive. Speaking to Construction News, Mr Price said Mr Dunne was the “perfect person” to run the new business, with the support of the wider Keltbray Group. “Gordon Dunne knows an awful lot about concrete frames and delivery, he’s been doing it for a very long time and understands concrete through and through,” he said. Mr Price confirmed Mr Dunne had taken a 20 per cent stake in the company – a decision that was made separately from the asset acquisition, he added. Asked whether he had concerns about the future relationship between Mr Dunne and Dunne Group creditors, Mr Price said: “Gordon has been in business for a long time and has paid a lot of bills during that period of time. Unfortunately he’s gone into administration [but] the deal that we’ve done with the receiver is a good deal for the creditors that exist.” Keltbray Structures has a target turnover of £50m by the end of 2017, with a workforce of around 250. Mr Price said it would look to grow this at a “controlled rate” thereafter. The decision to set up a concrete arm came at the request of clients, who were increasingly asking for “a concrete option”, Mr Price said. “A lot of clients have been asking us for some time for a concrete option and then there was an opportunity to do it with the demise of Dunne,” he said. Keltbray had intended to set up a concrete arm before Dunne Group fell into administration but the company’s collapse allowed the demolition giant to move into that market quicker. Mr Price said there was a good market for concrete frames in Scotland as well as opportunities for Keltbray Group’s other offerings. “We are looking at demolition up in Scotland on the oil platforms and have done work on the gas receiving facility in Aberdeen,” he said. The new business will offer two work streams: a standalone concrete frame offer, where Keltbray has not been involved in the preceding trades; or bolting on the concrete offering as part of a package. Source link