‘Port Related Modular Construction’ Plans for Manchester

    

Plans to reinstate a freight rail line, build warehouses and extend the Manchester Ship canal-side berth have been put before the Council.

The pre-application was submitted to Warrington Borough Council on Tuesday on behalf of the Manchester Ship Canal Company.

The plans outline the proposed construction of a ‘port related modular construction’ and the reinstatement of a rail freight line.

As well as this, the plans propose to extend the canal-side berth and erect industrial units, fencing and lighting.

The development would occupy around five and a half hectares of land at Acton Grange and aims to create an accessible freight hub and provide multimodal transport options via ship, road and rail.

Rail access to the site would be achieved through the reinstatement of the freight line, the pre-application states, and connect it to the West Coast Main Line.

The area lies within the green belt and is bordered by Moore Nature Reserve and Acton Grange viaduct.

The site holds extant permission for the proposed development, which was granted by the council in 2010.

As part of the original application, a habitat survey was carried out which found that the site supported several protected and notable species at the time including bats, toads and a variety of species of birds.

“Although now outdated, given that the Site has re-vegetated over time and bordering habitats appear to have been retained, it is considered that similar species are still likely to be present within and surrounding the site,” the pre-application report states.

“However, given that the ponds within the Site are likely to have been removed during infilling works, the Sites potential to support amphibians will have been reduced.”

If the application requires and gains approval from Warrington Borough Council, the existing berth will be extended by 25 metres to accommodate larger vessels.

On top of this, approximately five to 10 meters of the site will be cleared and levelled before tracks are installed and connected to the main rail network.

An emergency access road would be constructed and connected to Birchwood Lane in case the main entrance, off Taylor Street, is blocked during an incident.

Two industrial warehouse buildings measuring up to 15 meters in heigh would be erected, with the construction of the entire proposed development to last for around two years.

The screening opinion has been put before Warrington Borough Council, which will decide whether the development requires an environmental impact assessment.

 

Source: Warrington Guardian

 

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Belgium Vows to Remove Asbestos from Schools with £3.2b Euro Investment

Zuhal Demir, ‘Asbestos has no place in an environment where children play and learn’

 

The Flemish Government has announced a 3.2-billion-euro investment programme in school infrastructure. The money will be used to finance the construction of new schools and the renovation of existing school buildings. The investment will be spread over the current legislature that ends in 2029.

At the start of the legislature in 2024, the Flemish Education Minister Zuhal Demir (nationalist) announced that she intended to invest more in school buildings. In order to finance some of the investment in school infrastructure she took measures including cuts to the budget for school laptops.

The annual investment budget for school building will rise from 571 million euro this year to 750 million euro per annum in 2029. In total 3.2 billion euro will be invested in the renovation of existing school buildings and the construction of new schools. This constitutes the biggest ever investment in school buildings.

In addition to new school buildings, old buildings, will be renovated, improved accessibility  and the modernisination of infrastructure to make it meet current needs.

Ms Demir told journalists that

“We’re not starting from scratch. But the backlog is enormous: waiting lists, old buildings, energy inefficiency.”

Removing asbestos

Ms Demir also announced measure to ensure that asbestos is completely removed from all Flemish schools. A decreet to this effect was approved in the Education Select Committee of Flemish Parliament.

“Asbestos has no place in an environment where children play and learn every day. That is why we will reimburse 100% of costs incurred for the removal asbestos. Not 60%, not 70%, but in full.”

According to a report that will be published officially tomorrow, 61% of schools still have at least some asbestos present in their buildings.

Source: VTR

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Enriching Big Energy Threatens Retrofit Schemes

Damaging cut to £6.5bn scheme upgrading damp, draughty homes will hit poorest and cause chaos for SMEs installing insulation and solar panels

  • Britain’s poorest households will lose £6.5bn of funding intended to retrofit damp, mouldy and leaky homes, funded through the green levy on bills. £48 will come off bills, including for the richest 1%, at the expense of the poorest 1% of the country’s 27m households who receive ECO benefits today.
  • The change will ADD to Government spending and risk closure for thousands of small firms at a cost of 10,000 jobs – the same as Jaguar Land Rover’s Solihull plant. At present, money comes from big energy firms like British Gas and OVO via green levies.
  • Money is paid through green levies on bills (~£48 per year), but cutting it means giving high earners a break at the expense of households earning below £31k.
  • Housing chiefs want a one-year extension to the ECO scheme to avoid a chaotic implosion of the country’s nascent industry of engineers and insulation firms.

In last week’s Budget, a scheme funding the upgrades of damp, draughty and unsafe homes owned or rented by households earning under £31,000 was brutally shut down to the dismay of social housing experts, putting thousands of jobs and hundreds of thousands of low-income households at risk.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme earlier that she wanted to help alleviate the plights of families and poor children living in cold homes choosing between heating and eating. But this choice to offer rich households a small bill cut at the expense of the poorest will plunge thousands into misery.

The closure of the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme – buried deep in the paperwork issued by the Treasury – risks a collapse in the retrofit supply chain and will leave hundreds of thousands of UK households without energy efficiency upgrades, with hundreds of SMEs fearing closure.

The ECO scheme is funded from private sector cash and delivered largely by SMEs. It installs fuel poverty measures in approximately 5,000 homes a month (equating to around 58,000 a year) and delivers £1.3 billion a year in energy efficiency works, benefiting low-income households battling fuel poverty or those who need upgrades to reduce the health risks from living with damp, mould or draughty homes.

It would have delivered £6.5 billion of investment over this parliament, upgrading over 288,000 homes owned or rented by some of the poorest households, making it one of the most successful fuel poverty interventions in recent years.

The move was dressed up in the Budget as a “saving” that would cut £150 off every energy bill – a figure heavily disputed by experts that is more likely to be closer to £48 (£1.3bn in annual ECO spend / 27 mn households = £48). However, what is not disputable is that it is a highly regressive move that saves the taxpayer nothing and which has already caused chaos in the brittle supply chain of engineers and insulation manufacturers helping fix Britain’s damp, mouldy and draughty housing stock.

Ministers want to instead combine the private sector ECO scheme with another, entitled the Warm Homes Plan – a troubled initiative using public cash and suppliers that go through complex public procurement. The Warm Homes Plan was due to start in April of this year but has been delayed due to bungling from officials, which means cancelling ECO now will cause chaos in a brittle supply chain that demands certainty.

With the ECO scheme planned to be cut in March 2026, and the replacement Warm Homes Plan not yet in place, there is no like-for-like successor, no delivery mechanism, and no continuity for homes or workers. This amounts to a withdrawal of £5 billion in retrofit funding, affecting an estimated 222,000 future retrofit projects that would have cut bills for low-income households.

Anna Moore, McKinsey’s former head of UK construction and now a founder at Domna, a retrofit company working with major housing associations, social landlords and councils to upgrade thousands of homes, is calling for ECO to be extended for at least 12 months to ensure an orderly transition. Moore wants cash to be ring-fenced for low-income households and will write to Energy Secretary Ed Miliband to request a greater level of joined-up thinking in Government.

Joel Pearson, director at Net Zero Renewables, a Newcastle-based solar panel installer, said:

“We employ and subcontract over 35 skilled individuals, and have helped take more than 200 homes out of fuel poverty through the ECO scheme. I would urge Rachel Reeves to think again and to at least extend this existing scheme by a year so we can see an orderly transition and support firms like ours helping to mitigate climate change.”

Lee Rix, Managing Director at Eco Approach, a Preston-based installer, said:

“Each year our 150+ staff and supply chain use ECO4 funding to make cold, inefficient homes safer and more affordable for thousands of families in fuel poverty. With no transition plan, ending ECO4 risks leaving those families abandoned and undermining the workforce that supports them – we urgently need clarity on a successor scheme.”

Anna Moore, CEO and founder at retrofit consultancy Domna, said:

“It makes sense to streamline grants and increase oversight. The Warm Homes Plan is a welcome initiative. However, suddenly yanking £1.3 billion in funding is chaotic, and has created a cliff edge for thousands of low-income households in fuel poverty as well as SMEs employing some 10,000 people. With fuel poverty growing and business under pressure, it beggars belief that a successful scheme funnelling utility firm funding to the poorest households in society should be brutally cut. And for what? To create a few short-term headlines around cutting Net Zero levies.

“This fundamentally goes against Labour’s stated values of wanting to help the poor and to fight climate change. This is not the moment to pull up the ladder. Bridging ECO to the Warm Homes Plan is essential if we are to protect residents, protect jobs and protect progress. Right now, we risk losing the installers, coordinators and surveyors – those SMEs who have built up capability over a decade, and whose expertise we critically need. Companies cannot simply be switched back on later like a light switch and the ramifications of this could massively undermine our wider battles to fight climate change and upgrade our ageing housing stock.

“We need clarity and continuity. Extending ECO by one year allows an orderly transition while the Warm Homes Plan is finalised, piloted and mobilised. Without that extension, the sector falls off a cliff in March 2026 and we will be rebuilding capacity from scratch at exactly the moment the government needs to accelerate delivery.”

 

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AUTUMN BUDGET 2025 – The Industry Responds

Professor Andy Angus, Economist to the CEA, Cranfield University

“Today’s Budget delivered £26 billion of tax rises and takes the UK tax burden to new highs by 2030–31. Given the vital role construction will play in driving economic growth, it was surprising how little the sector was mentioned in the Chancellor’s speech. There was no reference to planning reform and no new commitments on major infrastructure delivery.
The extension of the income tax and National Insurance threshold freeze means millions more workers will move into higher tax bands as wages rise, reducing disposable income. At the same time, the increase in the National Living Wage raises input costs for firms across the construction supply chain. These pressures come at a time when many contractors and SMEs are already operating on tight margins.
This must be balanced against increased funding for apprenticeships and skills for young people, and the freeze on fuel duty, which will provide some relief. But with new charges on hybrid and electric vehicles, and no targeted measures to stimulate housebuilding, the challenges facing the sector remain significant.
While much of the country may feel relieved to have clarity from the Budget, the construction sector is still waiting for the long-term signals and certainty needed to support sustained growth.”

Stuart Law, CEO of Assetz Capital

Further Damage Done to Buy to Let Investors

“This Budget represents yet another decisive step in the dismantling of the traditional buy to let sector. The Government has chosen to tighten the tax screw on private landlords yet again, with higher tax rates on property income, extended freezes to personal tax thresholds, and a new national council tax surcharge on high value homes. These cumulative measures make it increasingly difficult for individual landlords to operate sustainably.

“The OBR is clear that these policies will further erode net rental returns and accelerate the withdrawal of small landlords from the market. As supply falls and demand remains strong, rents will continue to climb, placing even greater strain on tenants who are already facing record housing costs.

“It is now unmistakable that policy is shifting the rental market away from thousands of small private landlords and towards large, institutionally managed PRS operators. Yet there is no coherent plan to replace the capacity being forced out of the sector. Without urgent action, the result will be fewer rental homes, higher rents, and a widening gap between housing need and availability.”

Huge surge in housing delivery expected … provided regulations are relaxed

“We strongly welcome the OBR’s detailed forecast showing a clear upswing in housing delivery over the years ahead. Net additions are expected to fall to around 215,000 in 2026 to 27 due to recent subdued starts, before rising sharply as planning reforms take effect, reaching approximately 260,000 in 2027 to 28, around 285,000 in 2028 to 29, and exceeding 300,000 to reach 305,000 by 2029 to 30. This projected return to high levels of annual delivery is a vital step towards resolving the UK’s long running housing shortage. There is however a ‘but’ and that is that if planning and regulation is not simplified for SME house builders then we will not see these figures become a reality.”

“We are absolutely committed to supporting the SME house builders who will be central to achieving this growth. Smaller developers are key to unlocking local sites, accelerating delivery, and bringing much needed diversity and competition back into the market. Our lending activity is geared towards helping these builders scale and seize the opportunities that a more effective planning system should unlock.

However, we must also sound a clear warning. The optimism in the OBR’s forecast will not be realised unless regulation is drastically simplified. We hear every day from our SME developer borrowers that excessive and fragmented regulation is clogging up the system, slowing decisions, and delaying project starts. Without meaningful reform to reduce burdens and improve the flow of consents, these housing delivery ambitions will remain out of reach.

“We fully support the drive for more homes and stand ready to back the SME builders who can deliver them. But the Government must match the ambition of its housing targets with equally bold action to cut through the regulatory blockages holding the sector back.”

Planning reforms not yet delivered land supply to rescue UK housebuilding … but is expected to do so

“The OBR’s latest analysis makes clear that there is still no evidence that recent planning reforms have increased the flow of development land. Despite this, the forecast assumes that land supply will rise in the near future as reforms begin to bite. The reforms already baked into the OBR forecast are expected to reshape local plan processes, overhaul national infrastructure consent regimes, strengthen build out expectations, and accelerate decisions through modernised digital planning systems.

“We strongly welcome this direction of travel. Every SME house builder we speak to is united in saying that regulation, paperwork and procedural inefficiency are throttling the delivery of new homes. The planning system is slow, inconsistent, and administratively burdensome, and it is holding back growth at precisely the moment when the UK needs more housing delivery, not less.

“If the Government is serious about increasing housing supply, the promised benefits of these planning reforms must materialise quickly. Land must come through the system faster, decisions must be more predictable, and regulatory barriers must be reduced. SME builders stand ready to build, but the system must be reformed so that development land becomes accessible at the pace the country needs. Without meaningful reform, the UK’s chronic housing shortage will only intensify.”

Renters to see immense pressure on upward rent reviews

“OBR forecasts point to a sustained and significant rise in rents over the medium to long term, driven by a tightening squeeze on landlord viability and a shrinking supply of privately rented homes – things this budget is harming further.

“The OBR is explicit that measures announced in this Budget, together with the last decade of tax and regulatory changes, will further erode net returns for private landlords. As profitability declines, more landlords are expected to exit, weakening rental supply at the very moment when demand remains structurally high. This imbalance creates powerful upward pressure on rents that will persist for years.

“With property income tax rates rising from 2027, frozen personal thresholds dragging more landlords into higher tax bands, and mortgage costs staying elevated as fixed rate deals refinance, the economics of small scale buy to let continue to worsen. The OBR warns that this will directly reduce the number of available rental homes, and that rents will rise steadily if demand continues to outstrip supply, which is its central assumption.

“The consequence is clear. Renters should expect sustained upward rent reviews, tighter market conditions, and less choice. Unless policy changes direction to rebuild private rental supply or channel institutional investment at sufficient scale, these OBR projectionsmake it unavoidable that rents will increase substantially through the late 2020s and beyond.”

Construction labour shortages pose a major threat to Government’s housing delivery

“The OBR highlights a critical but under recognised constraint on future housing supply: the very limited migration of skilled construction workers back into the UK. According to the OBR’s assessment, labour availability in the construction sector is already tightly stretched, and this shortage will increasingly restrict housing delivery over the coming years unless it is urgently addressed.

“The UK lost a significant proportion of its construction workforce in recent years, and the flow of replacement labour has been minimal. The OBR makes clear that this weak inward migration is now a structural constraint that will hinder the expansion of housebuilding, regardless of planning reform or increased investment. Without sufficient skilled workers, sites cannot be opened, build out rates slow, and the Government’s ambitions for sharply higher housing delivery simply cannot be met.

“This is a major risk to the Government’s housing strategy. If the UK is serious about delivering over 300,000 homes a year later this decade, it must urgently open the doors to construction workers and rebuild workforce capacity. SME house builders, in particular, rely on a diverse and flexible labour pool to deliver at pace. Without action to restore migration flows into construction trades, the country will fall short of its housing objectives, no matter how much land is allocated or how fast planning approvals improve.”

Will the Bank of England do its duty?

“The Bank of England now has a clear responsibility to act in line with its remit. The OBR’s latest forecast shows that medium term inflation will return to 2 percent, with the temporary hump in 2025 having no lasting consequence and no relevance to medium term monetary policy decisions. The Bank’s duty is to target future inflation, not react to short lived noise, and the data now clearly support rate cuts.

“Given that inflation is forecast to achieve the 2 percent target sustainably, the MPC must now meet its secondary duty as well, which is to support growth and employment when this is compatible with price stability. The UK urgently needs lower interest rates to stabilise households, revitalise the housing market, and support productive economic activity. SME house builders are currently selling at a slower rate than they should be because artificially high interest rates are holding back buyers, and if the Government’s housing targets are to be met, affordability must improve through lower rates, even though the Bank operates independently and is rightly unconcerned with political targets.

“The MPC has sat on its hands for too long. Each member is on that committee to exercise informed judgement, not to avoid taking a position. With the medium term inflation outlook now anchored and the OBR confirming the path back to target, the Bank must finally act. Interest rates should be reduced in December and continue to fall through 2026. Anything else would be a failure to meet both the letter and the spirit of the Bank’s mandate.”

SDLT certainty brings stability to buyers and builders

“Leaving stamp duty untouched gives home buyers the certainty they desperately need. After years of sudden holidays and cliff edges that distorted the market overnight, stability is exactly what will help buyers plan with confidence. And it gives SME house builders a steadier, more predictable market in a year when they need it most.”

A deeper collapse in new build delivery exposes a broken planning system

“The OBR’s latest figures confirm a far bigger dip in new build completions than previously expected, and the cause could not be clearer. The UK’s planning system has become so dysfunctional that it is actively destroying the pipeline of housing. A toxic combination of under-resourced planning departments, layers of overlapping regulation, and local councillors blocking developments for NIMBY reasons has brought delivery to its knees.

“The official numbers now show net additions falling to just 215,000 in 2026 to 27, a much deeper drop than forecast earlier this year. This is not a market blip or a temporary slowdown. It is the direct result of a planning process that is slow, inconsistent, risk averse, and heavily politicised. Developers cannot get permissions, planning officers are overwhelmed, committees delay or refuse schemes on flimsy grounds, and the regulatory burden has become unmanageable for SME house builders who form the backbone of UK delivery.

“This collapse in the housing pipeline has been years in the making, but the OBR’s data now exposes it plainly in black and white. The system is blocking homes on a massive scale. It is failing young families, frustrating SME builders, and undermining the Government’s own housing ambitions.

“If the UK is serious about increasing housing supply, reform can no longer be optional. Planning departments need proper staffing, regulations must be simplified, and councillors must be prevented from blocking needed development for political convenience. Without urgent action, the housing crisis will only deepen and the pipeline will remain broken.”

The end of the house price boom: a new era where the party is over

“The OBR has now delivered the clearest official confirmation yet that the great British house price boom is finished. For the first time, an official forecast states plainly that house prices will only rise in line with wages for the rest of the decade, with annual growth of under 3 percent in 2025 and around 2.5 percent thereafter. This means no real house price growth at all. The era where past generations saw their homes make them wealthy is over, and it will not return for a generation or more.

“According to the OBR, this shift is not temporary. It is structural. The Government’s planning reforms are expected to increase land supply, speed up permissions, and boost housing delivery sharply from 2027 onwards. With more land and more homes coming through the system, the long standing imbalance between demand and supply begins to unwind. That is why prices flatten.

“This marks the end of the house price party, but there is a genuine upside for the country. With more homes being built in the places they are actually needed, housing finally becomes more affordable for ordinary families. For decades, supply failure locked people out. If these reforms deliver as the OBR assumes, that grip is broken.

“The message could not be clearer. The boom is over. The market is shifting to a new normal where house prices track earnings, not outpace them. And for the first time in many years, there is a credible prospect that people will once again be able to buy decent homes in the communities where they live and work.”

Mansion tax to have minimal impact on SME house builders

“The new mansion tax will have only minimal impact on SME house builders. The vast majority of smaller developers do not operate in the £2 million plus market, which is a tiny fraction of overall housing demand. Their work is focused on the real front line of the housing crisis, delivering normal homes for normal families in the price ranges where supply is chronically short.

“Any revenue raised from taxing the very top end of the market should be channelled into fixing the parts of the system that actually matter: speeding up permissions, properly resourcing planning departments, and supporting SME builders to unlock stalled sites. The surcharge targets the luxury segment, but the country’s real housing needs sit well below that level. Every pound should be used to boost delivery where it counts.”

“It’s disappointing that once again the engine room of the UK economy has been left out of the conversation. Logistics and supply chain operations are what keep Britain’s trade, industry and everyday commerce moving – yet today’s budget makes no meaningful acknowledgement of that reality. There remains a stark and growing gap between the government’s growth ambitions and the practical, on-the-ground challenges of moving goods in the year ahead.”
“Supply chains are being pushed to their limits. Businesses are grappling with acute skills shortages, legacy systems that slow productivity, and a trading environment that grows more complex and costly by the month. Resilience doesn’t happen by accident — it requires intentional investment and forward-thinking policy. In the months ahead, we need to see serious measures: from supported investment that help firms adopt AI and modernise operations, to expanded skills funding, to targeted tax relief that reduces the cost of keeping Britain’s goods flowing. Without this, the UK risks undermining its own economic ambitions before they even get off the ground.”

Steven Timberlake, VP for Northern Europe, Infios

 

“It’s disappointing that once again the engine room of the UK economy has been left out of the conversation. Logistics and supply chain operations are what keep Britain’s trade, industry and everyday commerce moving – yet today’s budget makes no meaningful acknowledgement of that reality. There remains a stark and growing gap between the government’s growth ambitions and the practical, on-the-ground challenges of moving goods in the year ahead.”
“Supply chains are being pushed to their limits. Businesses are grappling with acute skills shortages, legacy systems that slow productivity, and a trading environment that grows more complex and costly by the month. Resilience doesn’t happen by accident — it requires intentional investment and forward-thinking policy. In the months ahead, we need to see serious measures: from supported investment that help firms adopt AI and modernise operations, to expanded skills funding and apprenticeships, to targeted tax relief that reduces the cost of keeping Britain’s goods flowing. Without this, the UK risks undermining its own economic ambitions before they even get off the ground.”

 

Julie Palmer, partner at Begbies Traynor

 

“The construction sector and property market has been almost downing tools in the run up to the Budget, and many are likely to be disappointed to see more tax rises and another hike in minimum wage.
“We have seen the large housebuilders, property developers, agents and landlords being able to weather the storm of the past few years, with many seeing growth and record profits despite ongoing challenges. What will be difficult to avoid is the impact on the smaller businesses in their supply chain, and while the impact of the tax increases and minimum wage rises will take longer to filter through, there could be rises in restructuring, refinance or exits in the pipeline. For the larger players in the market their main concern must be skills shortages and supply chain disruption from businesses collapsing, now and in the future.  Yes, there is an opportunity to sweep up the skilled workforce, assets and project pipeline from these distressed businesses, but any policy decisions that hinder construction output will have wider knock on effects for the property market.
“The construction industry and property is central to UK growth and with significant targets and investment, there is opportunity if we can scratch below the surface. There must be long-term strategy to  solve skills gaps, control material cost inflation, remove planning constraints and kickstart the property market so it works for the buyers, sellers and professionals within this vital industry.”

Dr. Neil Cobbold – Commercial Director, Reapit

 

“Today’s Budget will affect sales and lettings differently across the UK, but it will finally bring clarity after months of speculation that have hampered transactions. The ‘mansion tax’ on properties worth £2m or more will create a cliff-edge on valuations and potentially pause some high-end sales, particularly in London suburbs and the South East.

“The 2% increase in property income tax will dent landlord income and risk rental property attrition at a time when we need more supply. However, it also creates an opportunity for expert agents to advise on alternative strategies, such as higher-yield tenancy types including student rentals and HMOs, refinancing options to reduce mortgage payments, or even transitioning properties to sales.

Further budget impact

 “Beyond property taxes, lower energy prices will improve affordability for tenants and potential homeowners – a welcome boost in a challenging market. The funding allocated in this Budget to improving the planning system is another welcome step towards accelerating the delivery of the 1.5 million homes the government has committed to.

“Charging National Insurance on ‘salary sacrifice’ pension contributions above £2,000 from April 2029 could prompt some high earners to look for alternative investments. The best agents will be able to show that property remains an attractive option.

“Meanwhile, with large increases in the national minimum wage, agencies looking to hire for entry-level jobs may be forced to reconsider and instead focus on AI and technology designed to make existing teams more efficient.

Agent advice and insight are key to growth
 

“As agents absorb these tax and spending changes and provide professional advice to vendors, buyers, landlords and tenants, their business focus will be on gaining every competitive advantage. Those businesses with the technology to deliver clear insight into their customers’ business flows across sales and lettings will be best placed to identify which vendors, buyers, landlords and tenants are ready to move or sell.

“Agents who combine proactive advice with digital efficiency won’t just rebuild pipelines – they will accelerate growth and strengthen trust with their clients as the market adapts to new rules.”

Michael Shapiro, Commercial Property partner at law firm Spencer West LLP

“It’s evident this is a “political” budget without producing anything to stimulate the mantra of “growth, growth, growth.”

Despite lowering business rates for many retail and hospitality businesses through higher rates on warehouses used by online retail companies, the fact remains that the local high street has many empty retail and hospitality premises.

Speaking with many commercial landlords and tenants which make up my client base, the main driver is the level of business rates, and the way that the business rating system works.

While an overhaul is scheduled for April 2026, this is something that needs to be addressed with urgency. Hospitality and retail businesses continue to struggle through the current system, which is further compounded by the rise in NI in the last Budget and the incoming rise to the minimum wage in January.

The domino effect of this on retail and hospitality workers, builders, and tradespeople cannot be underestimated, and the impact is clear to see by walking along any high street.”

“The thresholds presented by the Chancellor mean there could be inequity. In some areas of the country, £2 million would buy a nice country house befitting of the term “mansion”, but in central London, you might only expect a 2-3-bedroom flat in a mansion block.

My view is that regulations would need to be adapted to reflect the higher value property market in London and other high-value areas of the country. This surcharge comes into effect in 2028, so we await further clarity as to whether the “mansion tax” is a one-size-fits-all approach.”

Peter Stimson, Director of Mortgages at MPowered Mortgages

 

“This has not been a good day for the makers of home improvement shows. For the first time ever, thousands of people have a perverse incentive to reduce the value of their homes and avoid trading up.

“The ‘mansion tax’ is red meat to Labour’s Red Wall but an indiscriminate tax grab on swathes of London.

“The average price paid for homes in the capital fell by 1.8% in the year to September. That slip could now turn into a slide as buyers shy away from homes in the grey zone below the £2m mark.

“While we’re still awaiting the details of how the Government will accurately value the thousands of homes in the firing line, the measure raises the bizarre spectre of homeowners trying to reduce kerb appeal and shave off value.

“The owners of homes worth £2m or more, who will see their Council Tax bills jump by £2500 a year, may not elicit widespread sympathy.

“But tinkering with property taxes invariably creates distortions across the market, and the Chancellor’s plan looks set to generate ripples of unintended consequences not just for wealthy property owners but also those trying to move up the ladder.

“All this disruption for a mere £400m increase in tax revenue seems like a very poor return. Rather than overhauling the creaking Stamp Duty or Council Tax systems entirely, the mansion tax feels like political posturing masquerading as policy.”

Becky Lane, CEO of Furbnow 

On the ECO cut:
“Scrapping ECO is the right call, but cutting £1.7 billion from the sector that keeps Britain warm is a huge shock. That money has to go straight into the Warm Homes Plan and into local teams who actually do the work. If it doesn’t, we won’t have the people or the businesses needed to fix Britain’s cold, drafty homes.”

On inflation staying high:
“Unexpectedly, what the Budget shows is that inflation will stay higher for longer because the basics haven’t been fixed. A temporary £150 bill cut won’t stop the fact that UK energy costs are structurally too high and our homes waste far too much heat.”

On long-term costs returning:
“The Budget temporarily cuts bills by moving renewables costs, but these costs come straight back onto households in a few years’ time. None of this changes the fact that British homes leak heat faster than almost anywhere in Europe.”

Hamid Salimi, Residential Product Manager, Daikin UK

“Daikin welcomes the government’s plan to reduce energy bills by an average of £150. Bringing down the cost of electricity will undoubtedly ease the cost-of-living crisis. This will make low-carbon heating and cooling more affordable and encourage households and businesses to make the switch.”

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Solar-powered streetlights wipe out AI climate impact

 

iLamp hosts Nvidia AI processors and operates entirely off-grid

 

London, November 24, 2025 – A new high-tech solar-powered streetlight, iLamp, made by British greentech firm Conflow Power Group, provides a unique solution to a growing global AI power consumption crisis – reducing the carbon footprint to near-zero while supplying the world’s first autonomous AI distributed data centre.

Electricity consumption from AI data centres is estimated to be 415 terawatt-hours (TWh) and this is set to more than double by 2030 to around 945 TWh, according to the International Energy Agency, leading several nations to expand their nuclear power station programmes to cope. A recent Cornell University study also found that by 2030, the current rate of AI growth in the US will add up to 44 million tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere – equivalent to adding 10 million petrol cars to the road.

Meanwhile, surging AI demand could also consume 1.7 trillion gallons of fresh water per year globally by 2027 to cool servers, according to an estimate from researchers at the University of California, Riverside.

 

 

 

The iLamp solves these problems, reducing the carbon footprint to near-zero since it is powered off-grid by low maintenance self-cleaning solar panels generating up to 200–600W of power, depending on configuration, while only consuming 80W. The surplus electricity can support a range of technology including Nvidia Jetson AI processors which only draw 15W per unit.

 

 

 

 

 

Edward Fitzpatrick, Director of Conflow Power, which has a £400 million balance sheet, said:

“While tech giants scramble to build nuclear power stations to feed their AI addiction, we’ve built something smarter. Right now, in order to power AI, the likes of OpenAI or Google Gemini need a huge building full of GPUs and they have to pump massive amounts of electricity into it, along with a huge water supply for the cooling system. This is inefficient and we need a smart solution.

“There are streetlights everywhere in our towns and cities. By replacing them with iLamps fitted with Nvidia Jetson processors, you create a huge distributed data centre which is clean, non-water-hungry and low latency because the servers are near to the users. We are already in advanced negotiations with several large companies and world governments to make this a reality.”

The iLamps come with a 20-year warranty and the base model costs £7,500 but AI providers pay to use the Nvidia Jetson compute power for their services – meaning buyers can generate revenue instead of incurring running costs. They can also be fitted with almost any tech as required, including AI cameras, sensors, Wi-Fi and GPUs.

Conflow sells exclusive territorial licences to operate iLamp in different global territories. Licensees own the local company and sell the product under licence. Customers typically get local and federal tax incentives and rebates, and AI providers pay to use the compute power. Customers generate revenue instead of paying electricity bills.

In one transaction last year Conflow Power Group sold an exclusive license to iLamp Florida LLC for US$45 million, which last month sold a sub license sector to iLamp Secure Inc. for US$80m in a 50-year deal to exclusively provide advanced safety technology to 4,400 schools across Florida. This resulted in an addressable market valuation of US$777 million.

The iLamps supplied under this programme are fitted with integrated AI safety technology including weapon identification, gunshot detection, next-generation Automatic License Plate Recognition, facial recognition, early fire detection, smoke warnings, vehicle speed detection and private wireless connectivity.

Another version of the iLamp is being developed in collaboration with a major tech firm to equip rugby clubs in the UK and France with AI-assisted cameras for tactical analysis, along with lighting for night training.

 

Visit www.conflowpower.com

and www.ilamp.com for more information

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Award for Subsea Tie-back Project

DeepOcean, a Norwegian ocean services provider, has secured a contract to deliver subsea construction and tie-in services for a field development on the UK Continental Shelf, with the project being developed as a subsea tieback to an existing host facility.

The awarded scope includes installing a flexible production riser, a flowline, and an umbilical that will connect the host facility to a subsea tree.

The contract also covers the protection of the flowline and umbilical, in addition to commissioning the newly installed infrastructure.

Engineering and project management for this subsea construction and tie-in work will be spearheaded by the company’s Aberdeen office.

According to the company, the offshore operations will be carried out in two phases.

The initial phase will involve subsea construction and tie-in activities, followed by commissioning using a second offshore construction vessel from DeepOcean’s chartered fleet.

DeepOcean UK managing director Robin Mawhinney said:

“We are delighted to announce the award of this subsea tie-back project.

“This award acknowledges our significant track record in subsea construction and, at a time where there is a huge focus on homegrown energy solutions, we are proud to support our client with our specialist engineering, operational excellence and delivery certainty to realise this key project for the life extension of the existing infrastructure.”

In a recent development, DeepOcean won a contract from Equinor for subsea construction and installation works on the Snorre export and import gas project (SNEIG), with offshore operations planned for 2026.

The SNEIG project is part of the broader Snorre expansion, which is designed to extend the operational life of the Snorre oil and gas field beyond 2040.

The field area was discovered in 1979 and has been in production since 1992.

Last month, DeepOcean partnered with TotalEnergies, Equinor, Aker BP, Tenaris and LS Cable & System to introduce a new subsea flowline heating technology called FlowHeat.

FlowHeat is designed to reduce manufacturing and installation expenses by up to 35% and lower carbon emissions by 30% by separating the pipeline and heating installation processes.

Source: Offshore Technology

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Britain’s Home Repair Backlog Deepens

Britain’s Home Repair Backlog Deepens as One in Nine Homeowners Wait Over a Year for a Roofer

With the Autumn Budget a less than a week away, Fix Radio’s National Construction Audit reveals worsening trade shortages, delayed projects and a generation turning away from construction careers

Key findings:
• One in nine homeowners waited over a year to book a roofer
• 75% haven’t hired a decorator in three years
• 17% are renting because mortgage rates are too high
• Only 6% of parents encourage children to consider construction careers
Ahead of this Autumn’s Budget, where the Chancellor is expected to set out plans for housing, skills and infrastructure, Fix Radio, the UK’s only national radio station for builders and tradespeople, has released its 2025 National Construction Audit.
The report highlights a workforce stretched to breaking point, with long delays, affordability pressures and a deepening skills gap threatening Britain’s ability to deliver new homes and essential repairs. Trade backlogs have surged, shortages are spreading beyond major cities, and parental encouragement into the trades has collapsed from 18% last year to just 6%.
Trade waitlists at breaking point
General builders and handymen now report the longest queues, with 12% of homeowners waiting more than a year, followed by landscape gardeners (12%), roofers (11%) and bricklayers (11%). Roofing demand remains at record highs: 43% of homeowners waited two months or longer for a roofer, driven by severe weather and ageing housing stock. Bricklaying shows similar pressure, with only 1% securing help within a month.
Discretionary projects are being delayed or abandoned entirely. Three in four haven’t hired a decorator in three years, and almost two-thirds haven’t brought in a landscape gardener. Even essential trades are under strain: 5% waited more than a year for plumbing or heating support, while 8% waited over a year for electrical work.
Cost pressures reshaping Britain’s housing choices
Affordability is dictating how and where people live:
• 20% chose a less-preferred location to save money
• 17% are renting instead of buying because of high mortgage rates
• 11% have downsized to reduce costs
• 6% moved home this year specifically to cut expenses
Energy efficiency is rising as a factor in buying decisions (11%), although upfront costs remain a barrier.
Construction delays slowing new builds
Labour shortages are now affecting the new-build supply chain, causing:
• 4% to delay moving in due to unfinished construction
• 3% to see mortgage offers expire
• 5% to abandon new-build plans for older homes
• 3% to pay for temporary accommodation
Although the percentages seem small, they represent tens of thousands of disrupted moves, adding further pressure to completions and budgets.
A generational workforce crisis
Only 6% of parents are encouraging their children to consider construction careers, while 40% say they are not. With one in five workers now over 50, the lack of new entrants threatens to deepen existing backlogs and derail future housing delivery.
Year-on-year comparison
Wait times have lengthened across every core trade. Roofing and bricklaying backlogs now stand at 11% waiting more than a year, up from typical waits of 2–3 months in 2024. Shortages seen in major cities are spreading into smaller towns, and affordability pressures continue to intensify.
Clive Holland, host of The Clive Holland Show on Fix Radio, Fix Radio, said:
“The Autumn Budget is being framed as a growth plan, but there’s no growth without the workforce to build it. This year’s Audit shows the same pattern across the board: long waits, fewer trades, and only six percent of parents encouraging their kids to consider construction.
That’s a national alarm bell.“Homeowners are waiting months – sometimes a year – just to get basic repairs done. If we don’t rebuild pride in the trades and properly invest in skills, Britain’s housing ambitions will stay stuck on paper.”
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FMB calls on Reeves to scrap housing tax threat

 

The Chancellor needs to scrap the Government’s proposed landfill tax quarry exemption which will add up to £28,000 to the cost of homes on small sites in next week’s Autumn Budget, says the Federation of Master Builders (FMB).

Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the FMB, said: 

“At a time when the Government is failing to meet its 1.5 million housing target the idea of an additional tax adding up to £28,000 for each new home on small sites is a nonsense. The Chancellor needs to act decisively and abandon the proposed landfill tax quarry exemption in her Autumn Budget on 26th November. This measure will help all housebuilders but particularly the smaller local ones who are being squeezed out of the housing market. Just 9% of all new homes are built by SME housebuilders as they are being held back by rising costs and delays in the planning system.”

Berry continued:

“With inflationary pressures still biting and SME housebuilders facing rising costs and subdued demand the Chancellor need to focus on getting the housing market moving. Greater investment is needed to support underfunded local authority planning departments as well as measures to incentivise building companies to hire the next generation of tradespeople. Funding for apprentice support services and financial incentives for small firms to take on trainees would help secure the building workforce that is needed to build the homes for the future.”

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5 billion litre potable water shortfall in UK by 2050

 

New report from NHBC Foundation projects five billion litre potable water shortfall in UK by 2050

 

The NHBC Foundation has published a new report – the Water Compendium. This comprehensive report examines water efficiency and water reuse in residential development in an international context. It features comment and analysis from ten countries demonstrating leadership in water management in the urban environment, with a focus on housing developments.

 

Demand for water globally is rising due to a range of factors including population growth, urbanisation and increasing need from agricultural, industrial and energy sectors. Across the globe total freshwater use was four trillion m3 per year in 2014. According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), during the last six decades municipal water consumption grew at the fastest rate when compared to other uses.

 

The Water Compendium reveals that in the UK we can expect a projected short fall in potable water of five billion litres per day by 2050. To address this gap the government has announced ambitious targets, some of which relate to reductions in domestic water supply.  While every country is unique, the Water Compendium encourages us not to ignore critical insights and learn from successes in other geographical areas.

 

The countries studied in this new publication, which included Japan, the Netherlands and the United States,  were assessed against the same set of parameters and presented in a unified format for easy comparison. Each country report provides information on the geographic, climatic and statistical indicators, as well as a brief review of their approach to water efficiency targeting and decentralised water reuse. Country reports also include the description of applicable requirements, central and regional/local policies, incentives (where available) and a project that serves as an example of an innovative scheme representative of good practice in that country.

 

The Water Compendium also provides definition of water reuse terminology. Decentralised water reuse is defined as the process of collecting, treating and reusing alternative water at or near its source. Types of alternative water sources that are most often reused in residential developments include rainwater, stormwater, greywater and wastewater.

 

Additionally, this report also looks at and clarifies sustainability rating standards; some new developments and refurbishment projects are designed and constructed to achieve certain ratings under different sustainability standards. Higher ratings often serve as a prerequisite for attracting sustainability-conscious investors, buyers and tenants. Most popular rating schemes include water efficiency as an assessment category and the introduction of water reuse can be driven by the desire to achieve higher ratings.    

 

Richard Smith, Head of Standards, Innovation & Research at NHBC commented,

“Water is our most precious resource and vital to us all. The Water Compendium not only highlights the need to understand and manage water usage but also considers practical, real-world examples of how safe, clean water can be made available to everyone. That’s why I’m delighted this report from NHBC Foundation is so comprehensive – it looks at the issue of domestic water use and how this impacts house building in a broader context, considering solutions from a global perspective.”

 

The Water Compendium report from NHBC Foundation is available to download free here

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Hybrid heat pump systems prove the pragmatic route to decarbonise UK homes

Ewan Sutherland presenting from Worcester Bosch Group   

Inta calls for urgent policy rethink as hybrid heat pump systems prove the pragmatic route to decarbonise UK homes

A panel of industry experts has warned that hybrid heating systems, where an air source heat pump works alongside an existing boiler, could play a crucial role in cutting carbon and costs across Britain’s ageing housing stock, if government policy finally recognises their potential.

The comments came during Inta’s ‘A Missed Opportunity? Why Hybrid Heat Must Be Part of the UK’s Net Zero Plan’ webinar, chaired by Katrina Young of Energy Systems Catapult, and featuring senior representatives from Worcester Bosch Group, the Energy & Utilities Alliance (EUA) and Inta.

Speakers agreed that hybrids offer a realistic, near-term pathway to decarbonisation, especially for older or space-limited homes unsuited to a full heat pump retrofit. Following the discussion, Inta and the panel called for:

  • Hybrid eligibility under BUS and successor schemes, with a proportionate grant level.
  • A staged, practical retrofit pathway, encouraging households to start with the heat pump, keep the boiler as backup, cut carbon now and upgrade further later.
  • Technology-neutral policy, measuring outcomes in real British homes rather than theoretical model properties.

Data shared by Worcester Bosch showed that a well-controlled hybrid can deliver up to 80 per cent of annual space-heating demand via the heat pump, with the boiler only needed for hot water and peak winter conditions. Installers also reported that most replacements are “distress purchases”, making hybrids a practical first step that avoids the cost and disruption of complete system redesigns.

However, the panel warned that policy is lagging behind technology. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) provides up to £7,500 for heat pumps but excludes hybrids, despite a £295 million budget confirmed for 2025–26.

Mike Foster, Chief Executive of the EUA, said:

“Ministers say they want carbon out of homes, fast. But current policy still behaves as if the only acceptable answer is a full electric heat pump swap in one go.” The group highlighted that hybrids can reduce grid strain during cold snaps and support a gradual upskilling of the installer base.

Stuart Gizzi, CEO of Inta, added:

“We know hybrids are a solution. That’s why we created a standalone hybrid control unit and continue to provide pragmatic products that help installers and homeowners take realistic steps towards decarbonisation. The industry recognises this is the right thing to do, but the government needs to start listening. We should be thinking 50 years ahead, not just 25.”

The panel concluded that policy should be technology-neutral, support hybrid eligibility under BUS, and promote a staged retrofit pathway that cuts emissions now while preparing homes for the future.

CLICK HERE to view the full webinar

‘A Missed Opportunity? Why Hybrid Heat Must Be Part of the UK’s Net Zero Plan’

 

CLICK HERE To learn more about Inta’s hybrid control technology

 

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