Exhibiting at the inaugural exhibition of the Bristol Housing Festival in October is ZEDPods, the company behind a new high-quality prefabricated housing solution developed to address the shortage in affordable housing across the UK and the lack of city centre building spaces. People attending the festival can visit a complete
Last year wasn’t the best year for the property market. With the housing crisis a very real problem now, the Government are trying to save money where they can so that they can spend it on building affordable housing for first-time buyers. The aim is to stop the never-ending spiral
Farmers have pleaded with chiefs for the right to build as they claim they can help to solve the rural housing crisis. Landowners have said they can help solve the crisis and also regenerate countryside communities but the barriers to development need to be lifted. The head of planning at
Nodding to the increasing importance for expansive, affordable housing assets to solve the modern-day housing crisis, circa £25m has recently been made available through the newly announced Rural Housing Fund. Expected to support the delivery of increased long-term, affordable housing assets in the countryside, the fund looks to provide grant-based
As Mayor of London, Boris Johnson prepares to face stern competition for the top job, mayoral candidates went head-to-head at this week’s LandAid debate to discuss their plans for the London, in particular, its housing stock. Topics included affordable housing, the private rented sector (PRS), overseas investors and featured speakers
Exhibiting at the inaugural exhibition of the Bristol Housing Festival in October is ZEDPods, the company behind a new high-quality prefabricated housing solution developed to address the shortage in affordable housing across the UK and the lack of city centre building spaces. People attending the festival can visit a complete ZEDPod starter home that comes fully fitted, ready for immediate occupation. The pods offer a high-quality housing solution that can be erected within days and generates more energy than it uses. Designed by RIBA award winning architect Bill Dunster, the zero-carbon ZEDPods are prefabricated homes with a difference, offering almost instant housing solutions without the land and site issues associated with conventional new build. “Importantly the ZEDPod concept decouples housing provision from land prices using air rights over car parks. This enables affordable, quality city homes where land is scarce or expensive to be put up quickly, helping keyworkers to live near their work and at the same time maintaining precious parking spaces,” explained Bill Dunster. Small but perfectly formed, each ZEDPod is a fully ‘Space Standards’ compliant home, providing a high performance, low energy housing solution, delivered at a fraction of the cost of comparable solutions, with minimal demand on existing services and infrastructure. Features include photovoltaic roof panels, integrated battery storage and heat pumps for domestic hot water, together with super insulated construction and triple glazed windows. Each unit incorporates its own front door and private balcony area. Inside is a fully fitted kitchen and dining area and a lounging space with TV. Stairs lead to a mezzanine floor with home office desk, double bed, good sized bathroom, wardrobe and storage space. The ZEDPod homes come in a variety of design options and can be tailored to a range of accommodation needs. They are ideal for city centre organisations including City Councils and Housing Associations, colleges and universities, hospitals and emergency services, as well as other private sector companies with extensive city centre car parking assets.
Last year wasn’t the best year for the property market. With the housing crisis a very real problem now, the Government are trying to save money where they can so that they can spend it on building affordable housing for first-time buyers. The aim is to stop the never-ending spiral of renters who can’t save up enough money for an initial deposit, due to paying inflated rental prices. So, just what did we learn from the state of the property market in 2016? Let’s take a look: There aren’t enough homes Something that rang clear throughout 2016 was that the Government need to build around 300,000 homes each year in England to keep up with the growing population. This has been recognised and acted on but chancellor Philip Hammond still only has plans for 140,000 homes by 2020-21. The plan is to build these affordable homes on brownfield sites and sell them to 23-40 year olds for 20% below their actual worth to give them a much-needed step up onto the property ladder. Landlords are going to lose out Despite the massive shortage in affordable housing, landlords providing accommodation to people with no alternative are no longer going to receive any relief when it comes to tax. With new Stamp Duty laws adding an extra 3% onto second homes and a 20% tax on the overall income of rent, 2016 saw many buy-to-let landlords leave the market. Sales were down 64% on buy-to-let properties by November and landlords that aren’t selling up have resigned to the fact that they might have to hike their prices up to stay profitable in 2017. The property bubble might have popped House prices got a bit out of hand in 2016 but instead of continuing to rise at an alarming rate, by the end of the year they had steadily started to flat line out. According to Nationwide, they have predicted that growth in house prices will more than halve in 2017 to 2% from 4.5% in 2016. Whether this remains the same throughout the rest of 2017 is not clear yet but it’s a good sign for first-time buyers trying to get on the housing ladder. It’s the age of renters Despite landlords losing out, more people are learning that they can earn extra income from renting out spare rooms to lodgers. Websites such as Airbnb and Spareroom.com mean that individuals can find rooms in sought after locations for as little as £400/month or £20/night as long as they don’t mind living with the home owners. It’s usually far cheaper than a hotel or an actual rental property so a huge benefit to the lodger while giving homeowners some extra pocket money.
Farmers have pleaded with chiefs for the right to build as they claim they can help to solve the rural housing crisis. Landowners have said they can help solve the crisis and also regenerate countryside communities but the barriers to development need to be lifted. The head of planning at the Country Land and Business Association, Fenella Collins, has noticed that the growing attention to problems relating to the affordability of housing are causing strain in the rural communities. Members of such communities want to work in a countryside that is socially diverse and thriving economically and developing housing is a great way to do this, however, the planning system has brought frustration to landowners and their plans. Over half of all permitted development rights applications to convert farm buildings into dwellings are still being turned away. And whilst calls have been made on the government to intervene and change regulations to offer clearer guidelines for planning bosses. However, it’s becoming seemingly obvious that are exceptions being made for rural sites. Housing development on rural sites is only allowed if its affordable as seen with statistics surrounding Cornwall and Northumberland. The latter has had no sites built since last year, while 300 homes were allowed to be built in Cornwall. There has also been calls for affordable housing to be made exempt from capital gains and inheritance tax in a bit to make it seem financially attractive. Whilst house building did increase last year, it was down by almost a quarter on pre-recession levels with house prices rising 7% from October 2015 and October 2016. Sheep farmer William Ashley has developed housing on rural land by converting two barns into three dwellings and chicken sheds into a further 12 live-in work units. Mr. Ashley has claimed there is a desire to develop but people are being put up against a brick wall and a frustrating one at that as there is a sense of desperation for housing and farms are being prevented from helping. Instead, housing developers such as Strata Homes and the government are building on brownfield sites as this is a lot cheaper than building on green land. There is a strong local interest to build thousands of homes on hundreds of brownfield sites in the coming years. This will be part of a government strategy to help first time young buyers afford a home whereas on a great site, they would massively struggle to afford the housing. Up to thirty areas across England will receive funding from the Start Homes Land Fund which is said to be a project worth £1.2 billion. Not only are brownfield sites more affordable but it also allows housebuilders to be in closer proximity to the urban amenities. However, planning brownfield land cannot solve the housing crisis alone and does come with its own issues. Planning on such land is an extremely lengthy and complex process due to the heritage impact on the land
Nodding to the increasing importance for expansive, affordable housing assets to solve the modern-day housing crisis, circa £25m has recently been made available through the newly announced Rural Housing Fund. Expected to support the delivery of increased long-term, affordable housing assets in the countryside, the fund looks to provide grant-based financial support for both the construction of new housing and also of developing existing properties into suitable housing. Effectively, the fund can be defined by two different mediums of support. The primary purpose of the fund is to offer direct support through loans and grants as aforementioned, however access will also be provided to an additional feasibility fund of up to £10,000 which will exist to provide property developers with the ability to assess prospective schemes whilst then also developing full, proper applications for the main funding on offer. This, in effect, allows developers at various stages, both those already invested in the area, and those looking to develop into new, “unknown” areas, to have a degree of support and protection for their endeavours. As mentioned, levels of support is also to be made accessible for the redevelopment of existing, empty properties and also the use-conversion of non-residential properties into that of residential housing asset; the properties then to be placed on the market for either rent or sale, provided that it is at an affordable level. As for who will be eligible for the fund itself, it has been confirmed that the support will be accessible to legally constituted bodies, including development trusts, housing trusts, developers and landowners; collaboration is also encouraged between these relevant different parties in a bid to support a robust approach to delivering the much-needed housing assets. Commenting on the importance of the fund in supporting the development of such properties in the countryside, Margaret Burgess, Housing Minister commented that: “We know building affordable housing in rural areas presents different challenges compared to urban areas.” As such, the fun is positions to provided this stream of support to make up the difference in commercial viability between the two different geographic archetypes.
As Mayor of London, Boris Johnson prepares to face stern competition for the top job, mayoral candidates went head-to-head at this week’s LandAid debate to discuss their plans for the London, in particular, its housing stock. Topics included affordable housing, the private rented sector (PRS), overseas investors and featured speakers from four of the UK’s main political parties. Somewhat predictably, Labour representative, Sadiq Khan, and Tory, Zac Goldsmith, were at loggerheads over what constitutes an “affordable home”. While Goldsmith expressed ambitions to tackle the consistent pricing-out of “average”, £34k-earning Londoners, Khan went further and was keen to stress the need for a London Living Rent and a structured calculation for house prices. Labour’s plans for Living Rent specific to London was the single policy dedicated to the rental sector. Delegates heard Khan provide details on the proposed rental rate which would be one third of average earnings in the area. The Conservatives, on the other hand, devoted attention to the housing crisis and suggested that the government needed to open more publicly-owned sites up for development. Goldsmith also added that transport infrastructure would have to be upgraded in line with any new development projects so as to join areas with the centre of the city. Caroline Pidgeon for the Liberal Democrats raised questions about foreign investment strategies, and insisted that overseas businesses ought to be taxed at a higher rate to discourage over-investment. In Green Party candidate, Sian Berry’s absence, Darren Johnson stood in to outline her plans for a not-for-profit company to shoulder all new development. The body would prioritise local and smaller developers in the hope to build affordable homes that were fit for purporse and beneficial to the local economy. All parties committed to building 50,000 new homes in the capital though they were hesistant to disclose just where they’ll find the land to do so. The LandAid debate was sponsored by Savills and attended by 350 representatives from some the UK’s largest contractors and property management companies.
