Archive for July, 2009
Councils advised to rebuild, not refurbish
July 31st, 2009 | 
Author: The London chief of the Homes and Communities Agency has advised local authorities that have lost out on funding for refurbishing council homes to consider knocking them down and rebuilding instead
The news follows a decision to divert £150m of funding for the Decent Homes refurbishment programme into Gordon Brown’s £1.5bn package to build new housing. The communities department this week announced a shortlist of 270 schemes for nearly £1bn of Kickstart funding as part of the package (see box).
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Berkeley and Southwark agree on Potters Field homes
Heads of terms agreement reached on controversial plans for 374 dwellings next to Tower Bridge
Berkeley Homes has reached a heads of terms agreement with Southwark council over its controversial plans for 374 homes on the key Potters Field site next to City Hall and Tower Bridge.
Property returns drop to around 0%
Data reveals investor confidence creeping back, but sharp fall in commercial activity in June
The total number of UK property returns is nearly back to 0% after 18 months of uninterrupted decline but new-build activity is showing no signs of picking up, according to research by auditors BDO Stoy Hayward released today.
Prince and council cut social homes deal
The plan for a Prince of Wales-approved eco-settlement in Devon looks set to have its affordable housing element cut to get it off the ground
The design of the settlement of Sherford is based on Poundbury, the nineties Dorset town that was also backed by Prince Charles. The development (pictured) has been masterplanned by the Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment and includes 5,500 traditionally styled homes, a high street and a cricket pitch.
Material and labour costs to fall for first time since 1970
Davis Langdon says that tender prices are 10% lower than this time last year and that steel fell 40%
The year-on-year costs of building materials and labour are set to fall for the first time since records began 39 years ago, according to exclusive research for Building magazine.
A Tenant’s Twitter Tangle
A Chicago management company has sued a tenant for libel over a Twitter post complaining about a moldy apartment, according to court records and online reports.
On May 12, Exhibit A in the lawsuit shows, defendant Amanda Bonnen broadcast a message to a friend: “You should just come anyway. Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty thinks it’s okay.”
British Gas plans green skills centre for Wales
Large-scale training will be provided in installation of renewable and microgeneration technologies
A centre aimed at training around 1,300 people a year in green skills is to open in Wales.
The British Gas Green Skills Centre in Blaenau Gwent will teach people how to install green energy technologies such as solar panels.
HCA releases £84m to insulate social housing
Cash is intended to reduce fuel bills and cut carbon emissions for 110,000 homes
The Homes and Communities Agency has released £84m to help insulate social homes in 46 areas of the country. The money will reduce fuel bills for tenants and cut carbon emissions.
Pension funds set to build private rented housing
Aviva and Legal & General among investors ready to fund construction of buy-to-let apartments
Large investment funds are in talks with the government to build blocks of private rented housing in the South-east of England.
New zero-carbon definition cuts cost of home by £11k
But housing minister John Healey reveals that new energy rules could cost the industry £7bn
Developers will need to spend an extra £11,000, rather than the £22,000 that had been mooted, on making a new semi-detached house carbon neutral under the long-awaited definition of zero-carbon unveiled by the government last week.