MORE than 150 leaders in the energy efficiency sector met this month for the annual National Home Decarbonisation Group (NHDG) and National Insulation Association (NIA) Parliamentary Reception, hosted in the historic House of Lords Cholmondeley Room and Terrace by Lord Best.   Members of both groups were in the esteemed company of Bill Esterson MP, Labour MP for Sefton Central and chair of the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee, as well as Selvin Brown, director of net zero buildings – domestic at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ).  Talks reflected on the significant strides forward in decarbonisation of the UK’s housing stock over recent years and the bold ambitions for the future shared by the government, public and private sectors. With the new Labour government’s commitments to energy efficiency now laid out, it was a crucial time for both organisations to come together and discuss how to turn plans into reality. NHDG members had also met earlier in the day for its latest forum, with attendance from DESNZ, Retrofit Information, Support and Expertise (RISE), and Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA).   Derek Horrocks, chair of both the National Home Decarbonisation Group and the National Insulation Association, said: “It is a hugely exciting time to be involved in energy efficiency, and the ongoing cooperation between key stakeholders reveals a strong sense of optimism. The challenges we face have been identified, but there is confidence and trust that the rising investment in retrofit measures and clean energy will be effective in improving the lives of millions of people.   “Events such as the recent Parliamentary Reception are always used to highlight the issues caused by cold, damp and mouldy environments that people are unfortunately still occupying. However, the collective drive among members of the NHDG and NIA can create lasting change that will regenerate communities and ensure our housing stock meets much higher standards than are currently common.   “I must thank our guests Bill Esterson MP and Selvin Brown for their attendance and engagement, not only at the recent event but day to day too as the sector moves forwards. Having the government’s attention and financial support means that the private sector can sustain the necessary resources and influence greater policy, innovation and skills development.”  Members of the NHDG and NIA specialise in retrofit decarbonisation and insulation respectively. Both organisations aim to drive and demonstrate best practice in an effort to raise standards, which will help to tackle critical societal issues, including the five main crises of today – health, cost of living, housing, energy security and climate.    Gary Lawson, managing director at headline sponsor Sustainable Building Services (UK) Ltd, said: “The NHDG is very unique. Being a member means that we can contribute to collective growth in scale of energy efficiency works. There are economies of scale that are not yet being achieved to the extent that is possible, but we’re making an effort to change this alongside our fellow members who are equally committed to collaboration. It is clear that self-interests are being put to one side so that the leading experts in energy efficiency can improve overall retrofit delivery and results.”  The Parliamentary Reception event was also sponsored by Axis Europe, InstaGroup, Morgan Sindall Property Services, Smart Energie and CoreLogic.   To learn more about NHDG, its aims and its members, please visit the website at: https://www.nhdg.org/  Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals

Timothy Douglas, Head of Policy and Campaigns at Propertymark, said: “The private rented sector needs less selective licensing not more with the additional costs and duplication of rules that it brings. To this end, there are enough laws covering high standards for rented property, but it’s the lack of capacity of local authorities to actively inspect property and enforce these rules that is the main issue. Licensing means councils spend all their time administering schemes, rather than enforcing against rogue, criminal landlords. “The Renters’ Rights Bill offers an opportunity to phase out licensing schemes, provide councils with the resources they need and endorse professional letting agent and landlords alongside the introduction of the Decent Homes Standard and Private Rented Sector Database. However, it would seem that the UK Government is failing to recognise the benefits of doing this and not providing local authorities with the much-needed investment they need to enforce the wide range of legislation that already exists.”  Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals

Following the publication of the revised NPPF earlier today, Ian Barnett, National Land Director, Leaders Romans Group has provided a comment on: Ian Barnett, National Land Director, Leaders Romans Group (LRG) What a difference a year makes.  The NPPF changes announced today provide and new framework for the industry to work to and a flurry of activity on LinkedIn as everyone seeks to understand the key points and how they will affect their projects.  The key points are: There have been many grand announcements in my time in planning and development.  The priority has always been to build enough houses for the country’s population in the right places in a manner that protects the most valuable landscapes and environmentally sensitive areas.  So are the latest announcements in any different to what we’ve all heard before?  On paper – yes absolutely.  The conviction and tone as well as the content (and indeed the fact it’s announced ahead of when most people expected!) does suggest that this time at least the Government is serious.  The new NPPF gives an opportunity for the whole narrative on development and housing delivery to change.  Whilst some would like to have seen more in terms of strategic planning, today’s NPPF at least gives a new window of opportunity for many sites that are suitable for development and which have been held up by inefficiencies and lack of resources, meddling local politics and NIMBYism to come forward.   Delivering 1.5m houses in the first term is ambitious and unrealistic but it was utterly impossible under the previous planning system.  The time for delivery is here and it’s the responsibility of everyone in the industry – developers, landowners, planners and local authorities to do what is needed.  The framework is there – but it will take time to bed in and what we need now more than anything after a new NPPF update for the last two Christmases is stability so we can get on with the task ahead.  Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals

Speaking to the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Angela Rayner, Secretary of State for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) not only reinforced the need for all councils to have local plans, but made clear that if local policy was met, planning applications would be ‘fast tracked’ and not frustrated by politics. Richard Beresford, Chief Executive of the National Federation of Builders (NFB), said:  “We are often asked what is meant by ‘removing the politics from planning’ and it is as simple as getting a planning permission if you meet policy. Planning committees deferring or battling policy compliant planning applications harm smaller builders the most, as they do not have the finances to hire expensive consultants and legal teams to turn a three-year battle into a year long one. This doesn’t serve planners well either, who despite being hired as experts to make these judgments, are constantly over-ruled.” Rayner told Kuenssberg, “We’ve told councils, they’ve got to have those [local] plans. If developers follow the framework, the national framework which protects environments, looks at a number of different elements and also follows the local plan, they shouldn’t be stuck in the system for years.” The BBC reported that Conservative shadow Treasury minister, Richard Fuller criticised Labour’s approach and claimed, “Labour seems to be saying that Angela is best, and local people can be ignored.” Rico Wojtulewicz, Head of Policy and Market Insight at the NFB, said: “We are pleased to see NFB’s ‘meet policy, get planning’ recommendation accepted by the Government. Smaller builders delivering up to 100 homes a year, particularly on sites of fewer than fifty, will be the biggest beneficiaries as the change would remove some risks, reduce delays and dampen the discretionary process which plagues the planning process. Far from ignoring local people, local plans create a long-term placemaking framework with local needs at its heart. It fails if it isn’t backed up by a rules-based system. There may be occasions where more scrutiny is required on a large scheme, but this should be a rare occurrence and local politicians who create local frameworks should not then waste council resources and their planner’s time to scrutinise every development. In planning and housing, the Conservative government left Labour a poisoned chalice and although reforms have not come quickly enough to save some companies from leaving the industry, there are clear indications that Labour will create an environment which is consistent, and Angela Rayner is proving that she intends to live up to her government’s promises.” Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals

Kush Rawal, Executive Director of Customer Services at Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing, comments: “Social housing is a microcosm of our wider society, and often we work with people experiencing acute challenges impacting the quality of their day to day lives. The cost of living crisis and factors such as health and educational inequalities, financial and food insecurity are some of the issues that impact our residents. The funding pressures faced by public sector bodies and charities continue to create support gaps which housing providers have filled even when these extend beyond our traditional areas of focus. It is important that social housing providers support where appropriate, but we can’t do this alone or without adequate financial support. “Turning specifically to Care and Support, recruitment remains a considerable challenge. There’s already a 20% vacancy across the sector, and the recent employer’s national insurance increase will put further pressure on the viability of services. Despite this, we cannot lose sight of the fact that we have a collective social responsibility to the most vulnerable in our society. Ensuring care and support commissioners are adequately funded will be vital to ensuring these services remain operational. “In 2025 I’d like to see greater funding given to care and support commissioners to enable them to support these important services.” Tom Dodson, Chief Operations Officer at Better Green Living, commented: “As we approach the end of the year, we anticipate significant growth in the retrofitting and refurbishment sector to address the rising demand for premium green working spaces. With hybrid working and studying prevalent across the country, the need for communal spaces has become essential. This growing demand offers an opportunity for spaces to undergo sustainable refurbishment instead of building new spaces from scratch. And with an aligning focus on sustainability amongst the property industry, it’s more important than ever, that our designs are fit for purpose, and we utilise as much of our existing buildings as possible. “The demand for student accommodation is at an all-time high, with 2.2 million students projected to require housing by 2026. This presents a significant opportunity to develop these high-demand hubs. However, to meet this need, the industry must address the existing skills gap. Building a strong and diverse workforce is essential in delivering the retrofit work necessary for the UK’s transition to net zero. This can only be achieved by additional Government support to provide the younger generations with retrofitting training to develop and expand their skills. With the expected rise for retrofitting projects and a focus on greener solutions in doing so, we continue to stay ahead of the curve.” Simon Vernon-Harcourt, Design & Planning Director at City & Country: “The Labour Party is making great strides in the right direction, and the potential opportunity for enhancement is huge. It will be a massive challenge to change the system given how under-resourced local planning authorities are, and how entrenched the ‘nimby’ culture is in the system. So far, we have heard many soundbites about recruiting new planning officers, but unfortunately, the devil is in the details – something we are currently lacking. There’s a very ambitious housing target above our heads, and to fulfil this, we need the policy of loosening the green belt delivered promptly. This will enable the development of sustainable communities and help create new places for people to live, work, and play. I hope we will start to see a shift next year with the housing market from political point scoring toward tangible action.” Chris Harris, Chief Operating Officer at Dandara: “The Government has positioned housebuilding as a key driver of economic recovery, signalling its commitment to boosting the economy – a goal in which housing plays a crucial role. The UK’s pressing need for new homes makes this focus both timely and essential. Labour’s proposed policy changes, particularly its plans to simplify and expedite the planning process through amendments to the NPPF, could present significant opportunities for SMEs like ours to increase housing delivery nationwide. However, it remains uncertain whether these commitments will translate into actionable outcomes. For buyers, the financial landscape remains challenging. Rising rents, higher mortgage rates, escalating energy costs, and the ongoing cost-of-living crisis are all barriers to homeownership, especially for first-time buyers. In the coming year, I hope to see the Government take decisive action to address these issues and promote greater accessibility to homeownership.” Adrian Watts, Chief Executive at Croudace Homes: “We have suffered in the past from Nimbyism across the country, which has held back housing delivery. Given the stark change to a pro-housing government, it will take some time for Labour to implement significant changes. Whilst the noise so far has been positive, I expect limited progress to be made next year, as the delivery of these changes will not happen overnight. The proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) will help, but without sufficient resources and recruitment within Local Planning Authorities, progress will be too slow to dramatically shift the outlook of these departments. We also need Registered Social Landlords to be in a strong position to contract on S106 housing if delivery is to first be maintained and then increased alongside the rise in housing demand. Finally, with no support for first-time buyers, we will struggle to increase our housing stock and risk leaving a generation behind, stuck in the vicious cycle of renting.”  Craig Carson, Managing Director at Barratt West London, comments: On policy “The Government has inherited a difficult environment from its predecessors. It has a challenge on its hands to even begin to tackle London’s housing shortage, with a target of 80,000 new homes per year in the capital alone. This is clearly an ambitious target but demonstrates a shared vision between Government and housebuilders alike that we absolutely must build more homes. Not only does the Government need to introduce measures that keep the homebuying and selling market moving, it needs to support housebuilders from the very beginning. The National Planning Policy Framework and new towns funding are two immediate positive introductions from the Government. Housebuilding is clearly