Category: Construction Section

Councils in fears over RTB effectiveness

PropertySurveying.co.uk – With the Government currently consulting on proposals to increase the maximum discount under Right to Buy (RTB) to £50,000, fears are growing around local authorities that new homes will not be assured as a result.

The consultation’s wording reiterates the Government’s commitment to replacing every social housing unit sold with another affordable home. Some councils, however, are arguing that the borrowing caps their financial resources are governed by restrict them from being able to raise the necessary capital for this goal. With unit values as low as £70,000 in some areas, some councils could be looking at receipts as low as £20,000 to build a new affordable house – something which the Communities and Local Government Department itself believes will cost £40,000 – £50,000 per unit.

London’s Lloyd’s Building Now Grade 1 Listed

surveyorslondon.co.uk

At nearly twenty six years old, the Lloyd’s building is now one of the youngest listed buildings in the country and joins just a handful of post war structures to receive the accolade.

The listing was carried out by the Minister for Tourism and Heritage, John Penrose, on the advice of English Heritage.

English Heritage’s Designation Director Roger Bowdler said: “We are delighted that the Minister has endorsed our advice to list the landmark Lloyd’s building at Grade l. Its listing at the highest grade is fitting recognition of the sheer splendour of Richard Rogers’s heroic design. Its dramatic scale and visual dazzle, housing a hyper-efficient commercial complex, is universally recognised as one of the key buildings of the modern epoch.”

It is a world renowned structure and a building that has been described as “heroic and Cathedral like”.

To read more on listed buildings and how they affect you, click here.

For further information on VAT and listed buildings, click here.

Alterations to Listed Buildings and VAT

Legislation and general red tape surrounding listed buildings can often be confusing and open to interpretation by an individual.  The situation with Value Added Tax (VAT), charged by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), is just one of many such complications.

To read more, click here.

Construction guide – power cables

Every year accidents occur on large and small scale construction sites around the country, when due care and attention is not paid to neutralising the threat of un-insulated overhead and underground power cables. We have provided a guide to help you stay safe, whether you’re constructing a 10 storey block of flats, or merely repairing your chimney.

Read our guide here.

In case you missed it…….Wayne Rooney commissions architect to create garden shed whilst the dirty rat creates chaos in Manchester!

manchesterbuildingsurveyors.co.uk – Wayne Rooney has commissioned the services of award winning architects, Pulmann Associates, to design him a brand new garden shed, replacing the previously paltry shack with a ‘mega-shed’ three times the size. This whilst at the other end of Manchester – dirty rat wrecks home!

Read more here!

High Court to assess Norfolk County Council’s £500m waste incinerator battle

kingslynnsurveyors.co.uk The people of King’s Lynn have taken their battle with Norfolk County Council to the High Court in proposals for a judicial review of the planned £500m incinerator development on the outskirts of their town.

Read more on the case on the propertysurveying news website here.

Should rules surrounding the ‘Green Belt’ be relaxed to allow for further development?

A new report originating from a popular think-tank, ‘Policy Exchange’, has put forward strong arguments for the relaxation of rules surrounding development on ‘Green Belt’ land.

To read about these arguments and the wider response, click here.

Several big development projects pushing ahead in West Midlands

www.birminghambuildingsurveyors.co.uk

There is a serious under supply of housing in the West Midlands where housebuilding has fallen by 50 per cent in recent years. But despite a difficult economic backdrop, several partnerships in the region are pushing ahead with major developments to meet the growing demand.

Between 2008 and 2033, the number of households across the West Midlands is projected to grow from 2.24 million to 2.7 million. That equates to annual growth of around 18,000 households or a total expansion of 20 per cent.

It is one of only two regions, the other being the North East, where annual household growth is expected to average less than 20,000 between 2008 and 2033.

Read more about this story here. To find a surveyor in the West Midlands, click the link at the top.

Plymouth’s new ‘garden city’ gets the go ahead.

plymouthbuildingsurveyors.co.uk – A new development in the Sherford valley has received the go ahead after years of protests and planning struggles.

The plans to build 5,500 homes on the east side of Plymouth come from developer Redwood and have now been approved by the South Hams District Council. All is not lost for protestors, however, as the planning submission must still be approved by plymouth City Council.

Read more here. For surveys in the Plymouth area, click on the link above.