An online poll giving young people and communities a chance to shape a blueprint to bring forward future housing and regeneration schemes and embrace the raft of exciting career opportunities available went live today ahead of next month’s first-ever Birmingham Housing Week. Running from February 5th-9th  Birmingham Housing Week will inform young people and communities on the scale of public and private investment in existing housing stock and large-scale housing regeneration schemes happening across the City and the vast amount of opportunities on offer to them; invite them to get involved in the conversation and have a voice and inspire them to join the movement. The week is a private sector initiative, powered by national housebuilder Lovell Partnerships, with support from Birmingham City Council, STEAMhouse, Howells, Platform Housing Group, Shakespeare Martineau, Marrons,  and Birmingham Social Housing Partnership, with more set to be announced in due course. Ahead of the event, an online poll  -which can be taken HERE – went live today giving people the chance to have their say on everything from whether they feel the housing sector talks to them enough about available career opportunities to how to involve more young people and communities in what’s happening across the city. Young people will also play a significant role in the week including taking part in interactive workshops from Howells and STEAMhouse highlighting the raft of exciting housing sector career options via fun activities ranging from virtual reality demonstrations to one-to-one careers talks with industry professionals. During Housing Week organisers will also be engaging with Community Groups to understand how they can better build trust between local communities and the public and private sector and understand the concerns existing communities have around estate regeneration and how we can ensure all voices and opinions in a community can be heard. Birmingham Housing Week will culminate with an industry round table event to listen to the feedback from housing week, agree key priorities to be taken forward and ways we can evolve Birmingham Housing Week to be a force to truly inform, involve and inspire people to get involved. Simon Wingate, Regional Partnerships Director at Lovell Partnerships said: “Birmingham Housing Week will showcase the opportunities the scale of investment happening in the city will bring and invite the communities they serve to get involved and have a voice and inspire them to join the movement. “What’s clear here is that Birmingham has a real opportunity to bring young people and communities together through Birmingham Housing Week, with a programme of activities that promotes inclusivity and collaboration. Lovell is proud to be part of Birmingham Housing Week and we’re looking forward to welcoming people to the various events. “Birmingham Housing Week Is brand for Birmingham, and all partners are behind this movement and making sure outcomes from the week are followed up and that it becomes a beacon for informing, involving and inspiring young people and communities to get involved.” Cllr. Jayne Francis, Cabinet Member for Housing and Homelessness at Birmingham City Council, said: “We are proud to be involved in the first-ever Birmingham Housing Week in collaboration with industry-leading partners. “As we address a number of key issues facing the housing sector – investment, affordable housing, employment and skills in the sector, we will provide our young people and communities with a forward-looking perspective and a week-long of activities to get involved with. “Birmingham Housing Week is the perfect opportunity to showcase Birmingham’s regeneration and housing development projects – it’s going to be a brilliant, informative and exciting week of events and opportunities and I encourage everyone to be involved!” For more information or sponsorship opportunities, visit: https://www.birminghamhousingweek.co.uk/.    Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals

The latest research by Zero Deposit, the tenancy deposit alternative, has revealed that London remains the most competitive region for letting agents, having seen the largest increase in the number of residential letting agents in the last year, while London letting agents also have the highest average number of current rental listings on the books versus every other region of Britain. Zero Deposit analysed the number of residential letting agents across each region of Britain*, before looking at current rental market stock levels in each region* to determine where letting agents are having the busiest start to 2024 when it comes to available rental market stock.  The research shows that there are some 24,237 residential letting agents operating across Britain today. This number has increased by 3% year on year, with 601 more letting agents operating across the market versus January last year.  With 132,723 rental properties currently listed for rent, that equates to an average of five available properties per letting agent.  London, along with Wales, has seen the largest increase in letting agent numbers, up 4% year on year. However, this 4% increase is far greater in the capital, where it equates to an additional 232 letting agents, versus an increase of just 36 in Wales.  As a result, London remains the most competitive market for letting agents, with a total of 6,189 in business across the capital, by far the most of any region, with the South East sitting second with 3,967.  However, the research by Zero Deposit suggests that the London rental market is most in need of this year on year boost to letting agent numbers. There are currently almost 50,000 homes listed for rent across the capital, with again just the South East coming close to this level of rental market stock with 20,574 current listings.  As a result, the figures from Zero Deposit show that each of London’s 6,189 residential letting agents currently hold an average of eight available rental properties in the current market. The East Midlands sits second in this respect, with the average agent currently listing seven rental properties, with the West Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber following with six and the South East completing the top 10 with five.  Sam Reynolds, CEO of Zero Deposit commented: “Demand for rental homes remains high and we’ve seen the number of letting agents operating across Britain increase across the board in order to help service this demand.  London certainly remains the heart of the lettings market in this respect, with the capital not only home to the largest number of letting agents, but having also seen the largest increase in transaction numbers.  London’s letting agents have also had the busiest start to the year, currently listing the highest average number of available rental properties per agent of all regions of Britain.  Of course, this doesn’t take into account the resource requirements related to the ongoing management of these rental properties and they remain a vital cog in the machine of the nation’s rental market.” Data tables and sources: – Data tables and sources can be viewed online, here. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals

Passivhaus is a low energy building standard which provides a framework for designing and building, comfortable and energy efficient homes. Adoption of the standard has been gathering pace in recent years, with more private and social housing developers recognising the ability of Passivhaus buildings to reduce fuel bills and decarbonise the built environment. With awareness of climate change gaining momentum, and more local authorities declaring climate emergencies and net zero targets, Passivhaus is becoming an increasingly vital tool for architects. Here, Adam Vaughan, Director and Certified Passivhaus Designer at JDDK Architects, explores how Passivhaus buildings work to push the boundaries of design, and make the built environment more sustainable. How does it work?  Passivhaus addresses the ‘performance gap’ often seen in traditional builds, through a combination of accurate energy modelling, robust detailing and high-quality construction. Passivhaus Designers use a Passivhaus Planning Package (PHPP) to accurately model the performance of buildings, and to demonstrate that the Passivhaus criteria are met. There are several factors that need to be considered to deliver the Passivhaus standard cost effectively.  What are the key principles of Passivhaus design? Orientation: One of the early design considerations is the orientation of the building. Passivhaus principles require architects to think about the path of the sun across a site to maximise solar gain, as well as what shade is needed in the warmer months. Looking through this lens, architects often place living rooms with bigger windows on the south elevation to make the most of any passive solar gain from the low winter sun and provide external shading to prevent overheating in summer.  Form factor: The next consideration is form factor which is a measure of how compact a building is. Heat is lost from external walls, roofs, and floors, and more compact buildings have relatively lower heat loss areas. Terraces and apartment blocks can often have a lower ‘form factor’ which means we can reduce how much extra insulation is needed. Optimising a building’s orientation and form factor early in the design process can help to deliver Passivhaus cost effectively.   Air tightness and ventilation: The airtight building envelope of a Passivhaus means that heat loss is minimised, and cold draughts are avoided. To further reduce energy use, Passivhaus buildings always have a ventilation unit (MVHR) to provide a constant supply of fresh air and to recover heat from exhaust air. This system ensures excellent indoor air quality, and because the (triple glazed) windows don’t need to be opened for fresh air, Passivhaus homes are typically quieter too Quality assurance: Many people don’t realise that Passivhaus is also a quality standard. Projects are independently certified, and there is a rigorous checking process which continues through the design and construction phases.   What are the challenges?  One of the main challenges when designing a Passivhaus building is meeting the high standards. Due to the focus on energy efficiency, a lot of consideration goes into minimising the energy lost through the junctions between two parts of the building fabric called thermal bridges. Once the heat loss from these thermal bridges is added together, this can significantly impact the energy efficiency of a building. However, Certified Passivhaus Designers can carry out thermal bridge calculations using thermal bridge modelling software to help mitigate the impacts. This isn’t just useful for Passivhaus projects either – building regulations now require thermal bridges to be modelled, albeit to a lower standard. A Passivhaus project requires more ‘upfront’ design, with key decisions made earlier in the process than many designers are used to. This means that stakeholders in the project team who provide technical input, like Engineers and Architectural Technicians, will likely need to be involved at an early stage. It’s also vital to appoint and liaise with the Passivhaus Certifier as soon as possible.  What impact will it have?  The adoption of the Passivhaus standard across the built environment will play a key role in reducing carbon emissions from building stock, including from existing buildings where the Passivhaus Retrofit (EnerPhit) standard is applied. Occupants will benefit from excellent levels of thermal comfort and indoor air quality, alongside lower fuel bills. Landlords will also benefit from higher quality buildings with better longevity.  Passivhaus, and the principles it promotes, offers a tried and tested solution to some of the challenges our society is currently facing. To learn more about the impact of Passivhaus design, watch this video or read the latest edition of Millmount News. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals

In response to the Rightmove statistic finding a 273% jump in sellers coming to the market on Boxing Day, Nathan Emerson CEO Propertymark comments: “Positivity is clearly resonating on the property market even though Christmas is normally a quiet period for the property sector. Rightly so, sellers are clearly not deterred by the latest inflation figures or interest rates as optimistic signs start to emerge and are demonstrating confidence in the market. This is the positive type of news that Propertymark hopes to see more of throughout 2024.”  Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals