A 1960s tower block in Manchester is to be transformed by Willmott Dixon as part of a £22.5 million residential scheme. The contractor has been appointed by Salix Homes to deliver over 100 affordable homes at the Salford Canon Green Campus development on Canon Green Drive in Trinity. New kitchens,
A slowdown in property transactions, with home buyers and sellers taking more caution amidst economic uncertainty, has been registered. This is due to the housing market being left in a state of lull because of diminishing demand among foreign buyers and pending Brexit negotiations. Compared to a year ago, homeowners
Over 200 social homes in Manchester have received refurbishments from one of the largest privately-owned construction companies in the UK, Wates. A total of 62 previously vacant properties were fully refurbished with a further 151 properties receiving facelift works. The revamped homes in Ben Street in Clayton have been delivered
Northamptonshire will see the construction of two residential schemes that will bring around 8,500 homes, as well as schools, leisure and commercial space. After securing a £70 million loan from Homes England under its £4.5 billion Home Building Fund, the schemes will move forward. “I am delighted to hear shovels
An ambitious entrepreneur is seeking to take the market by storm with his first housing development on a site in Corby. At only 26 years, Joseph Daniels from Essex already has 27 directorships under his belt, with one of his ventures, Project Etopia, securing £3 million backing from hedge fund
Hundreds of new homes are coming to Waltham Forest in London as residential development receives planning approval. For this project Transport for London has teamed up with Barratt London as part of its Property Partnership Framework. Built on a 1.8 acre site, the Blackhorse Point development will deliver 350 new
As the level of housing completions continues to head in the right direction according to statistics published today, the country’s home building industry urged the Scottish Government to build on this positive news to enable it to deliver more of the homes Scotland’s growing population needs. Nicola Barclay, Chief Executive
The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, the Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP has taken a strong stance on the issue of cladding and forcing the removal and reinstatement of a safer product. For months James Brokenshire has been warning landlords of at-risk properties to get on
Wates Residential is to deliver a new £27 million housing development at Shuttleworth Road in Wandsworth. The project includes 71 affordable new homes in the borough, supporting Wandsworth Council’s target to build 1,000 homes for local residents. At the ground breaking ceremony Paul Nicholls, Managing Director of Wates Residential, said:
Housing needs in the UK are changing amid declining levels of home ownership and lifestyle shifts. Rather than the traditional ‘buy-and-hold’ model, residential housing needs are shifting towards developments that are built for rent and aimed towards a specific demographic who are at a particular life stage. As such, funding
A 1960s tower block in Manchester is to be transformed by Willmott Dixon as part of a £22.5 million residential scheme. The contractor has been appointed by Salix Homes to deliver over 100 affordable homes at the Salford Canon Green Campus development on Canon Green Drive in Trinity. New kitchens, bathrooms, heating systems, sprinkler systems and exterior re-facing and insulation will be included in the Canon Green Court tower block’s redevelopment plans. A new 11-storey apartment block within the grounds of the site, as well as complete external works on the neighbouring Westminster House apartment block will also be delivered by Willmott Dixon. “The start of work on our Canon Green Campus development marks a pivotal moment for Salix Homes and for Salford, and we look forward to seeing work progress on site over the next two years. This is the largest affordable housing development in the area and we are confident that this ambitious scheme will make a valuable contribution to delivering the high quality, affordable homes that Salford desperately needs. Canon Green Court is an iconic building on the city’s skyline, but it has suffered from lack of investment over the years. We are proud that we can now deliver on our promise to the existing residents to refurbish their homes and create modern apartments fit for the future,” said Lee Sugden, chief executive at Salix Homes. This project adds to Willmott Dixon’s success in Greater Manchester, with recent schemes delivered in Wythenshawe and Old Trafford. “With our track-record for creating new homes in Manchester, we’re proud to be working alongside Salix Homes on what is a much-needed, exciting and transformational investment for the Salford community. Together, we share a commitment to leaving a lasting legacy for existing and future residents who will continue to play a central role in shaping these plans,” added Anthony Dillon, managing director of Willmott Dixon in the North.
A slowdown in property transactions, with home buyers and sellers taking more caution amidst economic uncertainty, has been registered. This is due to the housing market being left in a state of lull because of diminishing demand among foreign buyers and pending Brexit negotiations. Compared to a year ago, homeowners wanting to sell their property are finding themselves having to wait a lot longer and buyers are taking more time to make decisions. At the beginning of 2016 the average buyer took 53 minutes during the viewing process to make a decision on whether or not to buy a property. However, buyers this year took an average of 65 minutes to finalise their decision, with an average of 2.4 viewings. While in 2017 it took 96 days for the ‘sold’ sign to go up, it now takes 102 days. The buying process is also taking 23% longer than it did in January 2016, with 27% of buyers now asking to view a property three times before submitting an offer. Even when homeowners have found a potential buyer, more than a third of deals have fallen through. This is perhaps down to the lack of buyer confidence in the run up to Brexit negotiations. These failed deals have cost consumers an estimated £270 million a year. Slower property transactions have also affected buyers. News of falling house prices has been met with concern from those wanting to sell their property. A cautious approach by sellers hoping to make a profit has meant that buyers are finding their bids undermined through a practice called gazumping. Gazumping is where a seller retracts an offer after receiving a higher bid from someone else. This is especially becoming an issue in Sheffield, where more than a third of buyers have reported being victims of gazumping. The south east has been most affected by this housing market lull, with house prices in London falling by 0.8% over the course of last year. The UK’s capital now has the second-slowest property market, after Blackpool. The average property in the capital now takes 126 days to finalise a deal, 15 days longer than in 2017. Further still, houses in London worth more than £1m are taking a whopping 171 days to sell. The forecast for 2019 much depends on the outcome of Brexit. The sales market, especially within the south of England, is likely to remain as it is until a deal has been confirmed.
Over 200 social homes in Manchester have received refurbishments from one of the largest privately-owned construction companies in the UK, Wates. A total of 62 previously vacant properties were fully refurbished with a further 151 properties receiving facelift works. The revamped homes in Ben Street in Clayton have been delivered by Wates Living Space four weeks ahead of schedule. The refurbishments include re-roofing, energy efficiency upgrades, fully-fitted kitchens and bathrooms, flooring and carpeting as well as the installation of new heating systems. The facade works involved replacing all existing windows and doors with modern UPVC, improving guttering and cleaning brickwork plus the refurbishment of communal alley space and external walling. “The work delivered by the Wates Living Space team at Ben Street is truly transformative. To take homes that have laid empty for 20 years and bring them up to this standard of quality is a task of great care and expertise and it is truly heartening to see the difference that this has made to residents,” said David Morgan, Managing Director of Wates Living Space. “Our work at Ben Street was above all things about the community. The project team should rightly be very proud of the ways in which they have engaged with local residents, community groups and neighbouring schools to ensure the positive legacy of this important work becomes a catalyst for lasting community spirit for generations to come,” he added. Delivered on behalf of Manchester City Council, the refurbishments brought to life the 200 properties that are now up to decent home standards. “First and foremost, I would like to welcome the new east Manchester tenants in to their new homes. These are some of the luckiest residents in the city as the first to access the refurbished housing at the Ben Street regeneration area. Wates has done a remarkable job turning these properties into high-quality family homes,” commented Cllr Suzanne Richards, Manchester City Council’s executive member for housing and regeneration.
Northamptonshire will see the construction of two residential schemes that will bring around 8,500 homes, as well as schools, leisure and commercial space. After securing a £70 million loan from Homes England under its £4.5 billion Home Building Fund, the schemes will move forward. “I am delighted to hear shovels are already in the ground as builders set about delivering 8,500 much-needed homes so more people can realise their home-owning dream. We are making the housing market work, and Homes England’s £70 million loan will unlock the development so we can invest in the properties our country needs,” said Kit Malthouse, Minister of State for Housing. Moreover, the Kettering and Wellingborough developments will create around 3,000 jobs in the areas. Roads, utilities and other works will also be delivered to enable the delivery of homes at Kettering and at phase one of the site at Wellingborough. Speaking of Homes England’s role in delivering the sites, Sir Edward Lister, Chairman of Homes England commented: “We’re working with partners across the country to ensure land is available to build more new homes where they’re most needed. Providing infrastructure upfront is key to unlocking significant housing growth and Homes England’s investment in Kettering and Wellingborough will enable two major housing projects to be delivered after many years of delay.”
An ambitious entrepreneur is seeking to take the market by storm with his first housing development on a site in Corby. At only 26 years, Joseph Daniels from Essex already has 27 directorships under his belt, with one of his ventures, Project Etopia, securing £3 million backing from hedge fund speculator Stanley Fink earlier this year. Project Etopia aims to build homes from modular kits using structural insulated panels, which would be made in a new factory set to open in Deeside in January. A site at Prior Halls in Corby has already been bought and it will house 47 eco-homes fitted with energy saving and storage technology. The homes incorporate Daikin mechanical ventilation, heat recovery, air purification and solar power as standard. “Old building techniques are exacerbating the housing crisis and it’s totally unnecessary. Corby is leading the way in showing how villages of the future should be built. Modular building is now so advanced, it is senseless to cling to bricks and mortar, which takes longer to build and is far more expensive,” said Joseph. Jospeh Daniels plans to start groundwork this month, while construction for the 47 homes, comprised of 31 houses and 16 apartments, will begin in February. By constructing the exterior shell in a factory, costs a lowered. A four-bed house is expected to sell for between £320,000 and £350,000, while new brick and mortar builds in Priors Hall Park cost from £450,000 to £575,000. His target market is young Londoners prepared to put up with an expensive commute in exchange for a foot on the housing ladder. “With a desperate need for more housing stock around the country, it is vital developers and investors finally let go of preconceptions of modular building. These are homes people really want to live in and they present huge environmental benefits from being energy neutral to requiring less on-site traffic during the build. Commuter villages like this offer younger would-be homeowners the wage benefits of working in the capital but without the high property costs, and Etopia Corby will be a model other councils can follow,” Joseph added. The factory planned for Deeside has a planned capacity of 2,000 units a year and is co-owned with Istidama, a company run by Christopher Moss and previously called Ecomech Structurally Insulated Panels. Project Etopia also co-owns a production facility at Butterleigh Sawmill near Tiverton with its home build partner Etribus. The first four homes in Corby are expected to be completed by the end of March, with each unit taking no more than six to eight weeks to build, and the whole scheme completed by autumn 2019.
Hundreds of new homes are coming to Waltham Forest in London as residential development receives planning approval. For this project Transport for London has teamed up with Barratt London as part of its Property Partnership Framework. Built on a 1.8 acre site, the Blackhorse Point development will deliver 350 new homes across six new buildings. The new homes will provide a mixture of studio, 1, 2 and 3 bedroom properties. The development is situated opposite Blackhorse Road station, which is serviced by both the Victoria line and London Overground. The site will also make it easier for residents to cycle with 650 cycle parking spaces. “Blackhorse Point is a really exciting development and we are thrilled to be taking it forward with Barratt London. It will have a huge, positive impact on Waltham Forest, supporting the regeneration already taking place. It will be providing the housing that the borough and London desperately need, while generating vital revenue to reinvest back into the transport network,” said Graeme Craig, Director of Commercial Development at Transport for London. Blackhorse Point was designed by RMA Architects and it is a key element of the wider masterplan of the Blackhorse Lane regeneration area, which falls under part of the Greater London Authority’s Blackhorse Road and Northern Olympic Park Housing zone as well as the London Borough of Waltham Forest’s Blackhorse Lane Area Action Plan. It will ensure that those living and working in the area continue to benefit from the changes taking place by improving public amenities – including new public pedestrian links, new trees and new children’s play areas. “The development will enable the local economy to continue to flourish with even better public amenities and new job and local apprenticeship opportunities. The additional retail and work spaces will provide a fantastic offering for those looking to start or expand their businesses in a brilliant location,” added Graeme Craig. Blackhorse Point will deliver 17,000 square feet of retail and commercial space, which will include opportunities for small and independent businesses. This includes a new co-working hub and creative workspaces, which will further support the Blackhorse Lane Creative Enterprise Zone. The construction of the site will create up to 300 jobs and local apprenticeships.
As the level of housing completions continues to head in the right direction according to statistics published today, the country’s home building industry urged the Scottish Government to build on this positive news to enable it to deliver more of the homes Scotland’s growing population needs. Nicola Barclay, Chief Executive of trade body Homes for Scotland, said: “It’s great to see ongoing growth in the overall number of homes being built, but just under seven hundred extra homes over the last year is not going to solve our housing crisis. In order to return to the levels of a decade ago, we would need to see ten times this number on an annual basis. “Scotland’s housing market remains amongst the most affordable places to live in the UK, and huge social and economic opportunities exist for the Scottish Government to attract further housing investment from both within Scotland and elsewhere – if it can create and maintain the favourable conditions this requires. “Ways in which this can be achieved include ensuring the Planning Bill currently going through the Scottish Parliament meets the original objective of delivering more homes; encouraging more entrants into the industry; supporting those SMEs who want to develop more homes; preserving a regulatory environment that promotes investment and ensuring policies like Help to Buy are continued until such times that the mortgage market fully supports First Time Buyers. “Ultimately, it needs joined-up thinking across portfolios, therefore we look forward to seeing how tomorrow’s Budget supports sustainable housing growth so builders can contribute even more to Scotland’s social wellbeing and economic success.”
The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, the Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP has taken a strong stance on the issue of cladding and forcing the removal and reinstatement of a safer product. For months James Brokenshire has been warning landlords of at-risk properties to get on and remove dangerous cladding. Yesterday Brokenshire announced a change to the housing health and safety regulations to force the landlords to make good these works with no apparent financial risk to the leaseholders. The Association for Residential Managing Agents (ARMA) welcomes the move as it has been lobbying for Government intervention ever since the Grenfell Tower tragedy. Immediately after the tragic fire, ARMA flagged to Government the problem under leasehold as to who would likely pay for the cost of fire safety remedial works and that this could seriously delay remedial works. ARMA has publicly asked for Government loans to be make available and for remediation to be taken into a national programme to avoid such delays as the safety of residents must always be the uppermost concern. Dr Nigel Glen, Chief Executive Office of the Association of Residential Managing Agents (ARMA), comments: “We congratulate the Government for taking this strong approach to ensure remedial works on affected buildings can get under way immediately. People need to know they are safe and able to live their lives. We have always said time is of essence here and work should be completed first and then worry about who pays later. The costs to cladding removal has given many residents grave anxieties and now some headway should start to be made more quickly. “The Secretary of State has said that ‘leaseholders must not pay’. We keenly await details of how that will work in practice given the structure of leasehold. For example, in the case of Citiscape in Croydon, the First tier Tribunal Property determined that the leaseholders were liable for the costs under the terms of their lease. That may well be the case across all the buildings under discussion, depending upon their leases. And where Landlords are not the guilty party re installing the cladding is it fair that they will be expected to pay? Clearly there is more work to be done but this is a welcome and significant step.”
Wates Residential is to deliver a new £27 million housing development at Shuttleworth Road in Wandsworth. The project includes 71 affordable new homes in the borough, supporting Wandsworth Council’s target to build 1,000 homes for local residents. At the ground breaking ceremony Paul Nicholls, Managing Director of Wates Residential, said: “Today’s ground breaking event marks an exciting milestone in our delivery of much-needed affordable new homes for local people at Shuttleworth Road. It follows months of collaboration with the Council, members of the community and other local stakeholders to really understand their vision for the area and how we can realise this, both through the design and construction of these homes and looking at ways we can create wider local economic and social value. We look forward to strengthening these relationships as we continue to progress on site.” Wates has been undertaking preparatory works on the site since May 2018. This latest development marks the official beginning of the site’s main construction phase, with completion of the scheme due in the Summer of 2020. “This is another demonstration of our commitment to build 1,000 new homes on our larger development sites, which will help people in the borough buy or rent a home that is right for them. We’re delighted to partner with Wates Residential on this scheme and look forward to strengthening our relationship with them to provide quality housing for local people,” added Wandsworth Council Leader, Ravi Govindia. All social housing that is demolished as part of the regeneration will also be replaced with affordable homes. The completion of these new homes will directly support the borough’s wider Winstanley and York Road Estates regeneration programme by providing affordable homes for those needing to move.
Housing needs in the UK are changing amid declining levels of home ownership and lifestyle shifts. Rather than the traditional ‘buy-and-hold’ model, residential housing needs are shifting towards developments that are built for rent and aimed towards a specific demographic who are at a particular life stage. As such, funding needs are changing to support these types of developments and this should lead investors to consider new ways of accessing the property market. Why is the UK property market experiencing change? Homeownership levels have fallen dramatically among the younger generation over the last thirty years. In 1991, 67% of 25-34 year olds were homeowners compared with 36% in 2014. Meanwhile, private sector renting more than doubled between 1980 and 2014. This is not just a UK phenomenon. In the United States, for example, home ownership fell to its lowest level in more than five decades in 2016. Declining homeownership is resulting from both cyclical economic forces as well as longer-term structural trends. While economic pressures have been important contributors towards declining homeownership, especially among millennials, longer-term lifestyle shifts are also having a significant impact. The way people live and work is frequently less structured and standardised than in the past, and there appears to be less desire for people to be held down by long-term commitments. Coinciding with the advent of the ‘gig’ economy has been rising numbers of self-employed and contract workers over the last twenty years, suggesting a more mobile and flexible workforce. Nonetheless, while both the residential and commercial property sectors are experiencing significant change, new investment opportunities are opening as developers adjust their product offerings to meet evolving economic conditions and lifestyles. In fact, some of the most innovative developments are happening in the residential market. Co-living benefits the individual and the community ‘Co-living’ is an area of particular interest and future growth. These developments, which at this point are mainly focused in London, cater for young professionals’ more mobile lifestyles. They offer the convenience of all-inclusive costs, covering rent and bills as well as services such as cleaning and gym membership. This market is further developed in the United States and the evidence suggests widespread popularity in metropolitan areas such as New York and Oakland, California. In addition to convenience, this type of living arrangement combines the benefits of feeling part of a community while at the same time offering individual privacy. Occupiers have shared living spaces, but they can also retreat to their own fully furnished private apartment. It presents an attractive choice for young people, especially as a national survey recently found that 16-34 year olds experience feeling more lonely than older generations. However, it is not just the investment potential that these types of new developments hold for investors. Co-living and other purpose-built rental developments may also hold wider economic benefits that could help the struggling UK high street. How can investors take advantage? Investors can access these types of purpose-built rental developments through development finance or bridge loans, which are secured by the underlying assets and offer higher yields relative to UK government and corporate bonds – typically between 5% and 8% per annum net of fees. With banks and building societies retrenching from lending in the post-financial crisis years, this market presents a growing opportunity as developers look to secure funding from a diverse range of sources. Although still at an early stage of development, operational assets are a logical, modern way to benefit from an evolving and changing UK property market. By Tom Brown, Managing Director at Ingenious Real Estate
