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Focus on sustainability, energy and the future of housing at the Build Show

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The Build Show, part of the UK’s largest construction trade event UK Construction Week, has released the details of its seminar programme taking place in The Home Building Theatre.

Day one focuses on challenges and opportunities for house builders covering funding, exciting new and innovative approaches such as 3D printing and offsite construction with insight from the likes of John O’Brien, Associate Director – Construction Innovation at BRE.

The spotlight in the afternoon will be on energy and sustainability. THE BUILDING ENERGY PERFORMANCE GAP will look at closing the gap between design and built performance with confirmed speakers to include Anthony Briden, Senior Energy Consultant at PRP Architects; Alasdair Donn, Principal Energy Solutions Engineer at Willmott Dixon; Andrew Dainty, Professor of Construction Sociology at Loughborough University; Douglas Drewniak, BEPIT Research Engineer at Bioregional, Steve Hornblow, Project Director for NW Bicester, A2Dominion Housing Group and many more.

Day two kicks off with a seminar about OPPORTUNITIES IN THE CUSTOM AND SELF-BUILD MARKET which will showcase a session by Philip Singleton, MD of Graven Hill Village Development Company, about Graven Hill Village – the UK’s largest self-build scheme.

Looking ahead the afternoon will ask important questions about FUTURE-PROOF HOUSING DESIGN AND MATERIALS with experts from the industry exploring the changing role of architects in housing design and creating liveable homes and communities for the long term. Does good housing design have to cost more? How can we plan for spaces that people want to live in? And what will the house of the future look like? Speakers include Nicolas Khalili RIBA ARB PM, Managing Director at HWO Architects and Gwyn Roberts, New Homes and Communities Lead at BRE.

The final day of seminars will take a closer look at the topic of FUTURE-PROOFING HOUSE BUILDING. Feeding into this session, the CONSTRUCTION METHODS TO SAFEGUARD THE FUTURE OF THE UK HOUSING MARKET segment will explore the goals and aspirations for the future of house building with its differing construction methods and their impact on the housing requirements. BIM4 Housing Chairman, Patrick Wilson explains the benefits of structured data and how this can determine build methods and outcomes. Wienerberger will lead discussions on HOW THE HOUSE BUILDER BENEFITS FROM STRUCTURED DATA in the build process, including internal processes, asset management and developed metrics. Nick Tune, CEO of coBuilder UK will also comment on WHAT IS DIGITAL DATA, WHY WE NEED IT, HOW TO COLLECT AND DISTRIBUTE IT TO OUR ADVANTAGE.

Nathan Garnett, Event Director for the Build Show, commented: “Central to this year’s show, the seminar schedule has been a real focus of our organisation – ensuring we cover the most pressing topics to offer the most value to our visitors. We really believe that the show offers a powerful opportunity for the industry to propel itself forwards into a stronger, more united and prosperous future. Indeed, as the first major event following the decision to leave the EU, the Build Show will play a significant role in shaping strategy and settling nerves within the sector.”

Taking place at the Birmingham NEC from 18 – 20 October, the Build Show sits alongside Timber Expo, Civils Expo, the Surface and Materials Show, Energy 2016, Plant & Machinery Live, HVAC 2016, Smart Buildings 2016 and Grand Designs Live as part of UK Construction Week.

For more information or to get your free ticket to attend the Build Show, please visit www.buildshow.co.uk or follow @BuildShow on Twitter.
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Creating homes from disused offices

Giacomini UK is on a mission to create homes out of underused office spaces around the country!

In recent months Giacomini has been involved in many projects that transform commercial office units into residential areas. The latest project is on a site in Crawley, called Babcock House, where 185 apartments are being created in a disused eight storey office block.

The Babcock House site will create 185 units comprising of studio accommodation as well as one and two bedroom flats – all designed to a very high specification, along with having excellent communal facilities.

The work will involve re-roofing the building, renovating the external façade and installing 185 of Giacomini’s twin plated heat interface units to allow each apartment independently controlled, efficient heating and hot water in the multi-dwelling building.

Since regulations surrounding planning permission were altered, meaning that Class B1 offices could be converted to Class C3 residential dwellings without the need for specific planning and development permission, there has been a noticeable growth in projects of this nature.

Matt Lowe, Giacomini UK’s managing director, commented “The planning permission policy change for projects like this aims to support an increase in housing supply, bring empty properties into productive use and encourage regeneration of office space. The Crawley development is the latest project we have been involved in where we are utilising disused space to bring revenue and housing to the local economy whilst complementing the buildings’ existing features.”

The project, estimated to cost £16.5 million, is due to be completed by September 2016.

For more information on Giacomini, and its heat interface units, please visit www.giacomini.co.uk.
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Green light for former prison redevelopment

(image courtesy of City & Country)

Plans to build new homes on the site of a former grade II-listed prison in Portsmouth have been given the go-ahead.

Portsmouth City Council has approved City & Country’s planning application to construct 230 new homes at the site of the former Kingston Prison.

The Ministry of Justice sold the prison in 2014 after it had closed in 2013.

The scheme will involve restoring the grade II-listed cell block and converting it into apartments. The proposals also include the retention of the listed walls and gatehouse, which will feature a small café.

Prior to the application being submitted to the city council, the local community was invited to a series of public consultation events, with over 5,000 residents and community representatives attending and providing feedback on the proposals.

Richard Winsborough, associate director (planning) at City & Country, said: “Restoring these buildings was of paramount importance to us when we purchased Kingston Prison and we are pleased that members at Portsmouth City Council recognised the need of delivering a new future for the redundant site.

As well as providing fantastic, characterful new homes, the development will open up the prison to the wider community and enable the enjoyment of these magnificent buildings for years to come.”

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We must tackle the housing crisis – Lords economic affairs committee

The Government must lift its target by 50% and build 300,000 homes each year to tackle the housing crisis, says Lords economic affairs committee.

In their report, Building More Homes, published today, the cross-party House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee have stressed that Local authorities and housing associations must be freed to build substantial numbers of homes for rent and for sale. The report criticises the Government’s housing policy for:

  • Setting a new homes target which will fail to meet the demand for new homes or moderate the rate of house price increases.
  • Restricting local authorities’ access to funding to build more social housing.
  • Creating uncertainty in the already dysfunctional housing market by frequent changes to tax rules and subsidies for house purchases, reductions in social rents, and the extension of the Right to Buy. All of these changes reduce the supply of homes for those who need low cost rental accommodation.
  • A narrow focus on home ownership which neglects those who rent their home.

The Committee makes wide-ranging recommendations to address the housing crisis, including:

  • Restraints on local authority borrowing should be lifted. Local authorities should be free to borrow to fund social housebuilding as they are other building programmes. This would enable local authorities to resume their historic role as one of the major builders of new homes, particularly social housing.

The current historically low cost of borrowing means local authorities could make a large contribution to building the houses we need for the future. Further, the new Prime Minister has announced that the Government will abandon their fiscal target. This paves the way to increase local authority borrowing powers.

  • Council tax should be charged on development that is not completed quickly. The Government’s reliance on private developers to meet its target of new homes is misguided. The private sector housebuilding market is oligopolistic (An oligopoly is a market structure in which a few firms dominate) with the eight largest builders building 50% of new homes.

Their business model is to restrict the volume of housebuilding to maximise their profit margin. To address this the Committee recommend that local authorities are granted the power to levy council tax on developments that are not completed within a set time period.

  • Maximise the use of public land. The Government must take decisive steps to build on the very substantial holdings of surplus publicly owned land. The Committee recommends that a senior Cabinet minister must be given overall responsibility for identifying and coordinating the release of public land for housing, with a particular focus on providing low cost homes. The National Infrastructure Commission should oversee this process.
  • Local authorities should be given the power to increase planning fees to help fund a more efficient planning system and the upper cap on these charges should be much higher than the current limit.

Lord Hollick, Chairman of the Committee, said: “We are facing an acute housing crisis with home ownership – and increasingly renting – being simply unaffordable for a great many people.

“The only way to address this is to increase supply. The country needs to build 300,000 homes a year for the foreseeable future. The private sector alone cannot deliver that. It has neither the ability nor motivation to do so. We need local government and housing associations to get back into the business of building.

“Local authorities are keen to meet this challenge but they do not have the funds or the ability to borrow to embark on a major programme to build new social homes. It makes no sense that a local authority is free to borrow to build a swimming pool but cannot do the same to build homes.

“The Government are too focussed on home ownership which will never be achievable for a great many people and in some areas it will be out of reach even for those on average incomes. Government policy to tackle the crisis must be broadened out to help people who would benefit from good quality, secure rented homes. It is very concerning that changes to stamp duty for landlords and cuts to social rent could reduce the availability of homes for rent. The long term trend away from subsidising tenancies to subsidising home buyers hits the poorest hardest and should be reversed.

“If the housing crisis is to be tackled the Government must allow local authorities to borrow to build and accelerate building on surplus public land.”

Lord Hollick has recorded a video setting out the key recommendations in the report. Watch video below:
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Willmott Dixon to build 1,000 ‘offsite’ homes a year

Contracting, residential development and property support business Willmott Dixon intend to future-proof their residential construction business against a worsening skills shortage.

The company currently deliver 2,000 homes each year. Their latest announcement suggests that they plan for half of these to be constructed using offsite methods and materials going forward.

By signing 3 year strategic agreements with leading suppliers of timber frame (Robertson Timber Engineering) and light-gauge steel frame systems (Fusion Building Systems), Willmott Dixon hope to drastically reduce current reliance on traditional construction methods due to rising costs and lack of skills.

Residential construction chief operating officer, Charlie Scherer says “This is an important step in our strategy to provide a high quality product that utilises all the benefits of factory-made systems while also reducing our exposure to the labour price escalation we’ve seen in recent years. We aim to be building 1,000 homes a year by 2017 using systems provided by Robertson and Fusion, with the consistent quality also aiding our zero defects strategy.”

“These two deals are the cornerstone of our ‘Capacity Building’ strategy. This is our people, engineering and technology programme that is central to counterweight the resource challenges in industry, and deliver cost-effective, sustainable build solutions for our clients.”

Tim Carey, product director for Willmott Dixon, added “If we are to address the significant capacity gap that currently exists in the construction sector, we need to think strategically about our supply chain. The selection of Robertson and Fusion will help maximise efficiencies across our projects, enabling us to deliver as many high-quality homes in as short a time frame as possible whilst ensuring they are delivered to the quality our clients deserve.”

About Willmott Dixon:

Willmott Dixon has built nearly 50,000 homes since the 1974, and operates across the South, Midlands and North, building for developers, housing associations and local authorities. The mix includes affordable, care residential, retirement villages, housing for sale and private rent, plus student accommodation. Projects vary in scale, from a standalone 90 unit care homes to multi-phase ten year estate regenerations that create a new ‘destination’ for communities.

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Architects and developers unveil a new kind of home for the 21st century

Urban Splash and shedkm announce the first phase of their new and innovative ‘hoUSe’ project.

Offering customers bespoke, architect-designed homes along the canal in New Islington, Manchester, the development gives buyers the power to choose the layout of their home.

The first 43 hoUSes adopt a traditional terraced approach but internally layouts can be configured to tailor one, two, three, four and five bedroom homes with an open-plan or more traditional feel. The hoUSe project represents an alternative to the established mass house-building schemes across the UK in terms of design and delivery.

These homes in New Islington are made of volumetric timber pods that are delivered to site with minimal disruption to neighbours. The benefits of building homes in this manner is that all standards and tolerances can be monitored in a factory-controlled environment, meaning the houses are warm and incredibly energy efficient, as well as flexible to plan and adapt. With a striking modern design, featuring familiar pitch roof motifs, the hoUSe has proved incredibly popular with the first 43 homes selling out prior to launch. It’s not just the method of construction that is revolutionary but also the manner in which hoUSe was conceived.

Architects shedkm and developers Urban Splash came together to generate the concept in the first instance and this evolved into a delivery system and a search for the right sites; it can easily be adapted for a range of different locations across the UK.

The hoUSes on the New Islington plot are long and slender and range from two to three storeys. The grey exteriors are broken up by thick-banded black window bays that offer occupants with views out over Manchester, while also allowing an abundance of sunlight to enter the rooms. Internal configuring means that owners can select between ‘loft’ or ‘garden’ living, which means that you can opt for the communal areas to be located at the base or top of the house. This approach to upside down living was pioneered by shedkm and Urban Splash at Chimney Pot Park, where gardens were located at first-floor level to create parking spaces below and best use the space available of a tight urban site. This development is now regarded as an exemplar housing scheme in the area.

Director at shedkm, Ian Killick said “We’re delighted to see the first phase of the hoUSe project completed at New Islington. This concept has been a long time in the making and we believe that it is a game-changer to tackle the current housing shortage this country is facing. They also happen to be homes that people are proud to live in.”

Urban Splash Chairman Tom Bloxham MBE added “hoUSe is born from our desire to create something for customers who want to live in well-designed homes and stay in the city centre. We noticed that within UK cities there is a real lack of diversity in terms of new residential stock and our traditional customers – those who had bought and enjoyed Urban Splash flats – would ultimately get older, richer and end up moving to Victorian and Georgian terraces in the suburbs.”

“hoUSe is our way of offering them something in the city. It’s a really exciting prospect and I am as excited by this as I was by our first lofts over 20 years ago. At prices less per square foot than city centre flats, lower maintenance costs than old Victorian houses or blocks of flats, big floorplates, high ceilings and huge windows they have already been well received and I’m certain will be a big part of Urban Splash’s future.”

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Modular home factory to open in Leeds

Legal & General Capital (LGC) has today announced the launch of its modular housing business, Legal & General Homes, which will seek to modernise the home building industry by providing modern, precision engineered factory manufactured houses through its new factory in the North of England.

The UK’s housing supply is in crisis. This is a chronic production problem; we simply don’t supply enough houses to meet the demand by customers, both young and old. The UK has an annual output of around 130,000 homes, with a requirement for 250,000. Legal & General is aiming to build thousands of modular houses to help tackle this long term problem.

Legal & General Homes has signed a long-term lease with Logicor on a 550,000 sq ft warehouse in Sherburn-in-Elmet, 15 miles east of Leeds, representing the largest modular homes construction factory in the world. Initially employing 400 to 500 local people, it expects to deliver its first houses from the factory in June. The customer response to our modular housing has been extremely positive from a wide range of developers.

Paul Stanworth, Managing Director of Legal & General Capital, said: “Sustainable, durable modern materials and proven technology will enable us to create high-quality homes meeting a wide range of housing needs and help solve the UK’s housing crisis. Modern modular housing in the UK has so far been restricted to the top end of the market: the scale of our Sherburn facility will enable many more people to benefit from new, environmentally-friendly construction techniques which have already become mainstream in Europe.”

A flexible, cost-effective solution, it will produce high quality homes tailored to meet customers’ designs and needs, ranging from 20-storey apartment blocks to rows of terraced, semi-detached and detached houses. The technology has been proven right across Europe, including countries such as Austria, Germany and Scandinavia where off-site manufacturing of housing is increasingly common place. Time spent building on site will be reduced by more than 70%, compared to traditional techniques, manufacturing sections in advance and delivering them to the site to be installed.

Tom Ground, Chief Executive of Legal & General Homes, commented: “Legal & General Homes aims to deliver a new solution to the problems we face in the UK, addressing the shortage of suitable, affordable and sustainable housing by manufacturing higher quality, energy efficient, lower cost housing.”

Legal & General Homes will not have the typical defects associated with house building by using cross laminated timber and automated technology to remove shrinkage, cracking, wet trades, plaster jointing and nailing – reducing repair costs as the building settles. Its homes will be precision engineered in order to make them energy efficient, great to live in, and better for the environment than traditional homes.

Roger Marsh OBE, Chair of Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (The LEP) commented: “I am delighted that The LEP was able to play a significant role in securing Legal & General’s investment into Selby. The confidence shown not only brings over 400 jobs to the area, it highlights the strength of the City Region’s workforce within the manufacturing sector and underlines our attractiveness to international investors due to our location at the heart of the UK which ensures easy access to both domestic and global markets.”

“The investment, which is the second in the region by Legal and General in the last 12 months following the joint venture with Scarborough Group at Thorpe Park, will also see The LEP and Legal and General work together to help meet the region’s growing housing demands.”

Leader of Selby District Council, Cllr Mark Crane, added: “This is a real vote of confidence in the Selby district as a great place for business investment. Our transport links, the availability of affordable business space, and the quality of life here in Yorkshire all contribute to the growth potential of our area. This isn’t just about jobs, this is about housing too and we’re excited by the products that will be made at this site. We’ve been working with Legal & General for some time now, and we’ll continue to do so, to finalise plans for this major investment in the Selby district.”

Charlie Howard, Managing Director – UK, Logicor, said: “We are very pleased to lease this building to L&G Homes. The Big555 is the UK’s largest readily available warehouse, located in Sherburn Distribution Park which provides strategic access to Yorkshire, the North West, the North East and the Midlands.”

As one of the largest UK property investors, with significant volumes of patient long-term capital under management, Legal & General has identified high quality housing stock as a key asset for society and wants to work with the Government, local authorities, housebuilders, social housing providers, charities and other specialist organisations to create more housing stock in the UK. It recently announced the launch of a Build to Rent partnership with PGGM, through which it will invest £600m into building purpose built private rental housing across the UK, providing over 3000 homes.

Our Mortgage Club provides large scale distribution of mortgages. In 2015 the Club completed £46bn of mortgage lending, with around one in five new UK mortgages going through it. It is part of the company’s Housing Partnerships Division, which includes Legal & General Surveying Services who managed over 490,000 mortgage valuations and surveys in 2015, and Insurance which provides a full range of protection products for homeowners, tenants and landlords.

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Zedfactory to unveil groundbreaking solution to homes shortage at Ecobuild

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Industry renowned architects and pioneers of the zero carbon agenda, Zedfactory, are set to unveil a groundbreaking solution to the housing shortage at Ecobuild. The solution claims to require no land whilst offering zero energy bills and the ability to relocate the property in the future, providing next generation future proofing.

The Government has pledged to build 400,000 homes over the life of this Parliament and there is currently little sign of that being delivered. In addition, as towns and cities expand, buildings are being demolished as a result of them no longer being suited to requirements. There needs to be an alternative visionary on how this will happen and Zedfactory believe they have found a solution.

Founded by Bill Dunster, OBE, Zedfactory are well-renowned as leaders in the field of zero-carbon design and development. Offering the full range of architectural services, from master-planning and design of large-scale ‘eco villages’ to one-off individual building commissions, the company has a unique track record of pioneering Zero (fossil) Energy Development (ZED) buildings in the UK.

ZEDfactory collaborates with the best global industrial partners to deliver replicable new construction industry solutions to assist timeless problems ranging from zero carbon urban design, architecture and product design in many climatic zones at a wide range of densities.

By looking at the way in which towns and cities grow and how the needs of their occupants change, coupled with unrivalled expertise in the creation of low energy buildings, Zedfactory have created a solution that could change the way the UK builds new homes.

ZEDliving – which will be exclusively unveiled at Ecobuild – is an affordable urban lifestyle solution that creates homes that require requiring no land, have no energy bills, no carbon footprint and help to reduce air pollution.

“If an affordable and low risk future powered by renewable energy is now possible, it is irresponsible not to provide it given accelerating climatic change,” commented Bill Dunster. “ZEDliving offers this. We are refining the zero carbon agenda and making it economically viable today by our homes being capable of having net zero annual energy bills. This offers a tangible benefit to everyone affected by rising fuel prices.”

“We are thrilled that Zedfactory have chosen Ecobuild to unveil ZEDliving, a unique solution to the delivery of future homes,” commented Martin Hurn Ecobuild Event Director. “Zedfactory has a reputation for delivering architecture that challenges and inspires. Their new solution looks set to continue this trend.”

Zedfactory will be exhibiting on stand number E4220. For further information about Ecobuild 2016 which takes place from 8th to 10th March at London’s ExCeL, please visit www.ecobuild.co.uk.

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Ecobuild conference puts spotlight on housing

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Some of the most influential and outspoken names in the UK housing industry will present their visionary and powerful opinions in the housing themed sessions on Day 1 at Ecobuild. Supported by BRE, the conference covers property issues ranging from the need for high quality volume housing and commercial viability of ultra-low cost and low energy homes, to the challenges of refurb and retrofit.

The programme, being hosted by broadcaster Cathy Newman, embodies state of the art design and construction, leaving no stone unturned to establish what our future housing needs are and what can be done to deliver it. Among speakers giving their forthright, expert – and at times – provocative views include Tony Pidgley, Chairman of Berkeley Group; David Sheridan, Chief Executive of Keepmoat, and Rowan Moore, Architecture Critic for the Observer. All three will provide a unique and inspiring look at what makes good housing.

Professor Phil Jones, Chairman of Architectural Science at Cardiff University, is another of the day’s dynamic speakers. Prof Jones led the team which developed SOLCER, the UK’s first purpose-built, low-cost energy smart house which is capable of exporting more energy to the national electricity grid than it uses. The property was built for a mere £100,000. Prof Jones’ teaching and research activities cover a range of subjects in the field of energy use, environmental design and sustainability in the built environment.

With each session designed to give a glimpse at the future of housebuilding and home creation, Colin Usher, director of John McCall Architects, provides a presentation on “Living for Tomorrow”, in which he offers common sense solutions to low-energy, cost-effective future living. In 2014, John developed a house which runs on a utilities bill of just £15 per year.

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91-year-old tenant helps architecture students design homes for the future

Housing experts from De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) are teaming up with a 91-year-old tenant and a leading housing organisation to help architecture students design homes of the future.

Leicester School of Architecture and DMU’s Centre for Comparative Housing Research (CCHR) are working alongside social housing and care provider emh group and extra care scheme tenant Mona Walkden, 91, to comment on the proposals of Architecture students for an international competition.

The European Federation of Assisted Living is challenging Architecture students to design new homes for the elderly.

By 2060, more than half of Europe’s population will be past retirement age – a fact which presents huge challenges to the housing sector to ensure homes are fit for purpose, accessible and affordable.

To help students understand the issues, April Knapp, regional development manager of emh group, and 91-year-old tenant Mona Walkden came to DMU to talk to students about design and needs of tenants for a special session.

Mona, who lives in Leicestershire, said “I found it very interesting. I think atmosphere is so important and my feeling as that I would like them very much to look at fitments and see how difficult it is for elderly people in wheelchairs to use sinks and open cupboards as often there are problems.”

“I’m very fit for my age but I live with people who are disabled and it gives you an insight into the problems they face. I feel that my job is to try to get the best living accommodation that you can possibly get for tenants.”

Chan Kataria, emh group Chief Executive, said “With an ageing population, the need for more suitable housing for the older generations has never been more acute.”

“We have started to address the situation with Oak Court, our extra care scheme in Blaby, Leicestershire, which is pioneering health and housing integration, but thousands more homes are needed across the country in order to meet the future needs of a rapidly changing society.”

Dr Jamileh Manoochehri, from the Leicester School of Architecture welcomed the invitation from Prof Richardson to take on the task of designing for an aging population.

Dr Manoochehri said “The Architecture students are considering what constitutes dwelling and they are taking up the challenge of designing accessible dwellings that continue to feel like home. “

“Each student is working on a different approach, some are concerned with overcoming the physical limitations that come with aging and others are investigating means of countering the isolation of the aging population by making use of the typology of the courtyard, or by designing homes that accommodate pets; and by establishing natural links between the interior and the natural world outside.”

Professor Jo Richardson, director of DMU’s CCHR, approached emh group to help set up the event. The CCHR has carried out research on the future of housing and in particular highlighted the increasing need for affordable rental accommodation.

Prof Richardson said “The changing population demographic is a huge challenge not only for the housing sector but health, business and the economy.”

“This will be an opportunity for our students to learn from Mona and April’s experience and expertise.”

“We are pleased to be able to use our close links with leaders in the field such as emh group to benefit students in their studies.”

Judges will be looking for high-quality ideas which address issues but also fit into people’s lifestyles and allow independent living as far as possible.

Judges will consider entries from across Europe. The winner, who will receive 10,000 Euros in prizes, is due to be announced in March.

See more here.

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