Novus Property Solutions chosen to deliver upgrade programme for Aspire Housing
Maintenance, refurbishment and fit-out contractor Novus Property Solutions has secured a new contract with Aspire Housing to deliver improvements across the housing association’s portfolio of homes in Staffordshire and Cheshire. With many of the windows and doors across the portfolio now more than a decade old, the improvement works are essential to improving building efficiency and performance, alongside occupant comfort and safety. As an experienced maintenance and refurbishment contractor, the Novus team will carry out these essential works sensitively to minimise disruption for residents. As the efficiency of homes comes under greater scrutiny en route to net-zero, the improvements carried out by Novus will contribute towards the longevity of social homes within Aspire Housing’s portfolio. “We’re really pleased to be working with Aspire Housing to deliver new windows and doors across their homes,” says David Barnes, Operations Manager at Novus Property Solutions. “Many of their properties are close to our head office, making this a local project for us and an opportunity to make a difference in our own community and beyond. That makes it an opportunity to deliver a high standard of improvement works that make a genuine impact on residents in our local community. “We’d like to thank Aspire Housing for selecting us as one of two contractors for this project, alongside Anglian Windows. Together, we’ll be upgrading windows and doors across approximately 200 properties, making a real difference to occupant comfort while ensuring these homes are fit for purpose for years to come.” Project mobilisation is already underway for the projects, with improvement works due to commence in July. As part of Novus’ commitment to supporting the next generation of skilled workers in the construction industry, an apprentice will work alongside the highly experienced team to deliver works across the project. Aspire Housing has more than 9,500 homes in its portfolio and is committed to putting its 19,000 customers first with the delivery of safe, decent homes. To find out more about Novus Property Solutions and its work in the social housing sector, visit: www.novussolutions.co.uk Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
HMS selects Totalmobile to strengthen maintenance operations across Torus Group
New platform to support repair services across more than 40,000 homes Housing Maintenance Solutions (HMS), Torus Group’s in-house building and maintenance contractor, has partnered with Totalmobile to enhance housing repair services in the North West. Supporting around 83,000 tenants across more than 40,000 homes, HMS will adopt Totalmobile’s award-winning Field First platform to streamline job tracking and provide real-time updates for its operational teams. Through the partnership, HMS will bring job management, mobile working and real-time operational insight into a single system, giving teams clearer visibility of work in progress, supporting more efficient scheduling and helping ensure repairs are completed more quickly and consistently for residents. David Webb, Managing Director for Housing at Totalmobile, said: “Across the sector, expectations around repairs and maintenance have shifted. Housing providers and their maintenance partners need to be able to see what’s happening in real time, respond quickly and maintain control over increasingly complex operations. Partnerships like this are about putting those foundations in place, so services can be delivered consistently and residents know what to expect.” John Barrow, Managing Director at HMS, said: “By partnering with Totalmobile, we’re building a strong foundation for the future of our repairs and maintenance service. With the Field First platform, we will have full operational visibility, which will help us respond more effectively and keep customers informed as issues are resolved quickly.” As housing providers continue to scale operations and respond to rising expectations, there is an increasing focus on improving efficiency, visibility and service consistency across maintenance delivery. For Totalmobile, the partnership reflects continued growth in supporting housing maintenance organisations responsible for large-scale property operations. For more information about Totalmobile, visit the Field Service Management Hub Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
New applications brochure from Polypipe Building Services simplifies water system designs
Polypipe Building Services has launched a new applications guide designed to help specifiers, consultants, contractors and any other party involved navigate the complexity of water supply system design, with a clear, practical route to selecting high-performance, sustainable solutions. Titled ‘A guide to water supply applications’, the brochure matches common system requirements, including boosted cold water, domestic hot water, heating systems and chilled water, with the best-suited solutions from its MecFlow supply systems range. By aligning product selection with real-world applications, the guide aims to simplify decision-making across a wide range of building types. The guide responds directly to the challenges faced on modern construction projects, from labour shortages and tighter site constraints to evolving regulatory and sustainability requirements. And with pressures around carbon reduction, water quality and long-term system performance continuing to grow, it demonstrates how the pipework specification can directly influence the efficiency, sustainability, and reliability of water supply systems. As well as outlining key considerations for each application, the brochure highlights how plastic pipe systems can support the long-term health of a system and how material selection can contribute to more efficient, lower-maintenance solutions, supporting both operational performance and whole-life sustainability. “Specifying water supply systems is becoming increasingly complex, with more variables to consider across performance, compliance and sustainability,” explained Scott Clark, Senior Product Manager at Polypipe Building Services. “This guide is designed to bring clarity to that process, helping our customers match the right solution to the demands of each application, while also considering long-term system health and efficiency.” The brochure features Polypipe’s MecFlow Press and MecFlow Fusion systems, both engineered to support reliable, high-performance installations across a range of applications. To learn more, read the new brochure here: https://www.polypipebuildingservices.com/applications/application-brochure/ Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
wienerberger begins construction on world’s first fully electric roof tile kiln at Broomfleet
wienerberger UK & Ireland has begun construction on the world’s first fully electric tunnel kiln for the manufacture of clay roof tiles at its Broomfleet roof tile manufacturing site in East Yorkshire, marking a major milestone in the company’s long‑term decarbonisation strategy and its ambition to transform heavy clay manufacturing. The electric kiln in “Factory e” will replace the conventional natural‑gas-powered firing processes with a 100% electric, renewable‑powered system. Once operational, the new kiln is expected to reduce Scope 1 carbon emissions from this factory production line by 75%, saving 4,700 tonnes of CO₂ per year, while maintaining product quality and performance. The project represents a £37 million investment in UK manufacturing, with £4.3 million funded through the UK Government’s Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (IETF), which supports industrial fuel‑switching and energy efficiency projects to help decarbonise hard‑to‑abate sectors. By removing natural gas entirely from the roof tile firing process, Factory e will play a critical role in supporting wienerberger’s transition to net‑zero carbon emissions, while strengthening the long‑term future of roof tile production at Broomfleet. Factory e will replace a disused factory line at Broomfleet, during which the old manufacturing equipment will undergo complete replacement, enabling the move to electric firing to be delivered without interrupting ongoing product. Construction activity is now underway on site, with the former factory building cleared and extensive civil engineering works in progress. Key equipment has begun arriving on site in preparation for installation. Keith Barker, Chief Operating Officer at wienerberger UK & Ireland, said: “The start of construction at Broomfleet represents a pivotal step in our journey to decarbonise heavy clay manufacturing. Factory e demonstrates how electrification can deliver substantial carbon emission reductions while maintaining product quality, operational resilience and long‑term competitiveness. Alongside our hydrogen brick kiln project at Denton, it underlines our multi‑technology approach to achieving net zero and our commitment to building for what’s next.” Mark Brook, Operations Director at wienerberger UK & Ireland, added: “Factory e will fundamentally change how roof tiles are made at Broomfleet. We are installing the first electric kiln of its kind for clay roof tiles, alongside modern automation and control technology that improves safety, efficiency and consistency. The same raw materials will be used, and extensive trials and testing give us confidence that product quality will remain unchanged. We are also investing significantly in our site workforce, creating development opportunities as we upskill teams to use the latest technology.” The Factory e project is planned to be completed in 2027, reflecting the complexity of delivering a fully electric tunnel kiln and the associated upgrades required to power the new factory line. As part of the transition, production and engineering teams are being trained and upskilled to operate and maintain the new, more automated equipment. The electrified line will primarily manufacture plain tiles and related accessories, fully replacing the existing gas‑fired kiln previously used for this production. The Broomfleet electric kiln forms a key part of wienerberger UK & Ireland’s wider decarbonisation programme, alongside its hydrogen‑fuelled kiln project at Denton brickworks. Together, these investments showcase a multi‑technology pathway to reducing industrial emissions and accelerating the transition to low‑carbon manufacturing across the company’s UK operations. To discover more about wienerberger’s ambitions to decarbonise operations as part of its sustainability strategy, please visit www.wienerberger.co.uk/sustainability. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
Henry Boot Eyes Growth Despite Market Uncertainty
Property and construction group Henry Boot has reported a strong start to 2026, with resilient demand across its residential land, industrial and logistics developments, and premium housing divisions, despite growing concerns over global instability and domestic political uncertainty. Providing a trading update ahead of its AGM, the Sheffield-headquartered business said Hallam Land has either sold or agreed terms on more than 2,600 residential plots so far this year, while its development arm HBD has seen more than 231,000 sq ft of industrial space either let or under offer. Meanwhile, Stonebridge Homes has continued to deliver stable sales performance, with customer demand remaining in line with both expectations and last year’s figures. Chief Executive Tim Roberts said the company continues to benefit from strong structural demand across its key markets, although recent geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and political uncertainty in the UK are beginning to impact confidence levels. He noted that buyers are becoming increasingly cautious, with larger transactions taking longer to complete, while higher energy and material prices are creating renewed inflationary pressures across construction supply chains. Despite these headwinds, Henry Boot said it remains on track to achieve profit before tax in line with 2026 market expectations of £20.2m. The group’s strategic land business, Hallam Land, continues to benefit from what it described as a “highly favourable” planning environment. The business is targeting the submission of planning applications for a further 10,000 plots during 2026 and has increased its total land bank to more than 108,000 plots following the acquisition of two new sites. In the industrial and logistics sector, HBD’s £66m development programme remains on schedule and within budget, with particularly strong interest being reported across the Origin joint venture portfolio. The developer also confirmed continued progress at its flagship £1bn Golden Valley scheme in Cheltenham, adjacent to GCHQ, where detailed planning consent was recently secured for Phase 1, including the National Cyber Innovation Centre. Henry Boot added that long-term fundamentals across residential, industrial and urban development markets remain positive, positioning the business strongly for medium-term growth. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
FHS technical uncertainty a concern for a quarter of industry professionals
A poll of industry professionals attending a Future Homes Standard (FHS) webinar held by heat network experts, Power On, reveals that 25% of respondents believe the biggest challenge in delivering homes compliant with the new FHS is technical and compliance uncertainty. The poll asked: With the first aspects of the FHS coming into force on 24th March 2027, there is clearly a long way still to go for the industry to be ready. Timelines and requirements for planning and local authorities are seen as a challenge by one in five (21%) of those polled. With this and the uncertainty surrounding technical and compliance requirements, Power On is encouraging the industry to act sooner rather than later to prepare for the FHS. Neil Fitzsimons, Managing Director for Power On, says: “It is easy to be lulled into the false sense of security that the FHS is still a year away. In fact, the industry needs to be acting now to embrace the transition to net zero. Solutions like networked heat are already being delivered in the UK and we encourage builders and developers to look at these now so that they are already on the road to delivering FHS compliant homes.” The FHS is a major update to England’s Building Regulations designed to ensure new homes produce 75–80% less carbon than those built under 2013 standards. It covers low-carbon heating, fabric performance, ventilation, and renewables, and forms part of the UK’s commitment to reaching net zero by 2050. Whilst the FHS does not specifically state what can and cannot be used to heat homes, it shifts solutions away from individual, carbon-intensive systems towards networked, low-carbon heat solutions. To meet the targets, oil, gas, biomass, CHP and (arguably) direct electric heaters are almost certainly impossible. The solutions likely to be implemented and already being delivered include low carbon heat networks, centralised heat pumps, ambient loop systems, individual air source heat pumps (planning permission depending) and systems designed for future network connection. More information is available from: www.poweron-uk.co.uk/heat-networks/ Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals