Category: Construction Section

Building on Floodplains – Can this continue?

With much of the South West underwater, flooding has once again become a hot-topic. We look in one of our monthly articles at the huge range of questions the Government and its agencies much ask themselves if flooding is ever to be nullified as an issue of great concern for British homeowners…

Here’s a few questions we raise:

Britain has a substantial housing shortage – so where do we build? On green belt protected land? Urban sprawl across our green and pleasant land? That wasn’t well received when Nick Boles proposed to relax green belt regulations.

Should innovation be encouraged to create houses that are watertight up to first floor level? Should it be made a planning condition for developments on flood plains with a flood in the last 10 years to construct watertight houses up to a certain standard? What about a government competition for architects and building product designers to come up with the best solution?

Read the whole article and join the debate here.

Have you heard about Smart Cities? Set to be a £400bn industry by 2020 and a big part of all urban lives

A new report published in October values the smart cities industry at more than $400 billion globally by 2020, with the UK expected to gain a 10% share ($40 billion). This comes as the Government announces the creation of a Smart Cities Forum.

A smart city uses intelligent technology to enhance our quality of life in urban environments. Cities can use the data in a variety of ways; to save money, minimise waste, measure domestic water usage and manage transport routes. An upcoming computer game – Watchdogs – will explore the possibilities of a software integrated city, with wifi provided free in every location and software programmes operating everything from traffic lights to crime prediction systems.

Read on here…

Is nostalgia fast becoming a luxury we cannot afford?

A recent report from London Councils, a body representing all 33 of London’s local authorities, has suggested that only 250,000 new homes will be delivered by 2021 in the nation’s capital – a long way below the target of 800,000 they believe is required to maintain London’s future as a global city.

In which case, do contruction companies need to be incentivised to take a very serious look at alternative technologies and construction techniques – moving towards faster erection times over meeting Design Quality Indicators?

Read the whole article here…

DECC records 22% rise in ECO installations

PropertySurveying.co.uk – In a bout of good news for the industry, the Department of Energy and Climate Change has released figures indicating a 22% monthly rise in installations under the Energy Companies Obligation (ECO). 33,765 measures were installed in May, taking the total to 115,723 since the scheme started in January.

Much of that success, particularly with hard-to-treat cavities, has been down to Chartered Surveyors – many of whom are members of our network of independent professionals.

If you need a Chartered Surveyors Report for HTT cavities, EPCs or any other form of work under ECO; contact us now – 0800 880 6264.

New town near Plymouth receives £32m boost

Plymouthsurveyors.co.uk – The government has announced an injection of £32m to kick-start the development of an entirely new town near to Plymouth, Devon.

The project started in 2007 but the downturn halted progress and only now is development once again proceeding apace. It is expected the development will stretch over the next 15 years and generate £1 billion of construction investment and inject a further £2 billion into the local economy.

To contact a surveyor local to Sherford and Plymouth, click here.

A Property Owning Democracy?

What was Thatcher’s True Property Legacy?

On the day of her public funeral, we issued a special, single-article edition of our newsletter, analysing through editorial comment the legacy the late Baroness Thatcher leaves to the UK property market.

Baroness Margaret Thatcher’s death has prompted vigorous debate on the matter of her controversial political legacy. In the wake of the passing of a woman described as “the most admired, most hated, most idolised and most vilified public figure of the second half of the 20th century”, we analyse the indelible mark she left on the British property market…

Read the rest of this popular article at this link.

Derby and Nottingham highways deal up for Bidding

Derby and Nottingham City Councils’ four-year joint highways deal up for tender

The framework will be split into 14 separate lots with a total estimated framework value for both councils of £100m and a potential for the framework to be used by other Midland Highway Alliance members with an estimated value of a further £25m.

 

£20m investment for 300 Manchester properties – from Tokyo!

Manchester Surveyors – A £20m scheme from Nedo, the Japanese Government’s R&D agency, is set to hit Manchester,  involving the replacement of conventional boilers with air source heat pumps – highly efficient electric heaters that absorb heat from the outside air. These will be twinned with a heat store, which is essentially a hot water tank, to allow heat to be stored until it is needed.

The innovation is in the energy management system that will connect all the homes, linked to the electricity grid and using the stored energy from the heaters to balance the load on the electricity network.

Bristol Uni seeks builder for 400 new student homes

bristolsurveyor.co.uk – The University of the West of England presses ahead with plans to build 1,200 student flats next to its main campus in Frenchay, Bristol.

The £36m building programme is being carved up into three phases stretching over the next five years. Each phase will include around 400 new 8-12 bedroom homes and a contractor is now being sought for the first £15m phase.

Are you involved with this work, or similar work in Bristol? Contact your local propertysurveying.co.uk member here to speak to a Chartered Surveyor about how he could help.

Salford Council goes extra mile for disabled child

salfordsurveyors.co.uk – Salford Council have used part of their £3.5m a year ‘home adaptations programme’ to assist a mother and child in their area, by building an inedible extension. The child suffers from rare disorder ‘Pica Disorder’ which means he has an appetite for non-edible substances.

If you are building an extension, with special requirements or not, contact your local surveyor here.