Predictions for 2016: Paul Monaghan

What are the challenges, key developments and government policies that look set to shape 2016? Building asked key industry insiders to make a call on what they think will become the major talking points of the next 12 months. First up, Paul Monaghan, director of Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, makes his predictions.

Big challenge:

“The industry is totally at capacity. This is clearly more a London and South-east thing, but the biggest challenge is finding contractors at the right price because so many keep turning down things, particularly contractors who can build all the way through and not just manage sub-contractors.”

Big story:

“Much as I would love schools to be back on the agenda and for the government to take an interest in the school environments, the key issue is still that we are not building enough houses. That will remain on the agenda because the buy-to-let market and the Asian market, which has been driving the mini-boom for the last couple of years, are calming down. The key areas they need to address are brownfield sites around Zone 3 Tube stations.”

Big project:

“The Design Museum is a very intricate project. It’s a beautiful, old building and the museum having its second headquarters in a much more architectural setting and with more space is really interesting. The Design Museum exists to communicate design and this new building should be a really good advert for that.”