Housing Focus – Page 11
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FeaturesWhere are the homes?
After a tough few years, things are looking up for housebuilders, judging from their profit figures. So why are we still in the middle of a housing crisis?
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FeaturesThe Alan Cherry Debate 2012: Design quality in an age of austerity
How can construction professionals deliver well designed homes that don’t cost a fortune? A high-profile panel including Lord Rogers and Nick Raynsford, and joined by communities secretary Eric Pickles, tackled the issues at the annual Alan Cherry Debate
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FeaturesHousing ventilation: Bit of an air con
In the race to build ever more airtight homes, it appears that housebuilders are sacrificing air quality, with some 95% of new dwellings failing Part F ventilation standards
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FeaturesInterview: Barratt's chief executive Mark Clare
Barratt’s chief executive Mark Clare may not have seen the recession coming - he is, after all, the man who splashed out £2.2bn acquiring Wilson Bowden just months before it hit - but he certainly has a clear vision of where the company is heading now. He talks to Building ...
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FeaturesIngrid Skinner: First we take West Hampstead
Ingrid Skinner has big plans to turn Taylor Wimpey’s fledgling London division into a £100m-turnover business - and all without leaving Zone 2. She talks to Building. Photography by Anthony Lycett
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FeaturesFlood-proof house: Home and dry
Would you build a house on the Norfolk Broads, one of the most flood-prone areas of the UK? LSI Architects did and its sophisticated design meant getting the project through planning was plain sailing.
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FeaturesCost model: Small projects
With low availability of space and pressure to reduce costs, more small projects are being built - especially with high demand for affordable housing, care homes and office fit-out. Peter Fordham, Simon Hughes and Paul Donlen of Davis Langdon, an Aecom company, cost it up
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FeaturesThe North/South housing divide: A tale of two markets
With so many firms focusing their efforts on London and the South-east - Crest Nicholson and Linden Homes are just the latest - you might be tempted to write off the North. But it’s not that simple.
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FeaturesHousebuilders Salary Survey: Trick or treat?
Some housebuilders this year will find a nice bonus in their paypacket, and that’s on top of a decent salary. But for others, something altogether less welcome is in store. Building knocks on a few doors …
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Features
Housebuilders Salary Survey 2011: The results
Compare average salaries between regions, job titles and see whether they have gone up since last year
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FeaturesOffice to residential conversions: New direction
As the value of prime residential soars and the office sector wobbles, commercial developers are hoping to cash in by converting offices to homes. Building looks at the strategies of some of the key players
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FeaturesTop 150 Contractors and Housebuilders 2011
Looking at recent trading updates you’d be forgiven for thinking that the industry was on the road to recovery. But there’s a few big hurdles to jump over yet, and this will take some time. Martin Hewes’ annual league tables of the UK’s top contractors and housebuilders show exactly how ...
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FeaturesPete Redfern: How the recession made me stronger
In 2008 Taylor Wimpey’s chief executive was battling to rescue the firm from the brink of collapse, just months after the merged company became the UK’s biggest housebuilder. Today it’s back in growth and a far stronger business. Building talked to him about surviving tough times
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FeaturesCase studies: houses built to 2016 zero-carbon standards
The government’s recent announcement that ’zero-carbon homes’ need not include appliances will allow future green housing to ditch peculiar solar panel-toting designs to resemble, well, normal houses. Building tours some schemes that fit the bill
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FeaturesThe construction strategy: Together at last?
The government and the construction industry. It’s been a long, love-hate affair but the new construction strategy is an offer to try to work things out
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FeaturesAffordable rent: a numbers crisis
The government hopes that allowing housing associations to charge higher rents will lead to more new homes built with less subsidy. But many in the sector think it will have exactly the opposite effect.
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FeaturesWhich domestic renewables incentive is best?
Adam Mactavish of Cyril Sweett provides a brief review of the incentive schemes for domestic renewables
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FeaturesThe Budget: Can George win the day?
How do you fight off the threat of a double-dip recession with no weapons in your armoury? For George Osborne putting together next week’s Budget, the most obvious solution is likely to be deregulation. Here’s a look at what changes to expect
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FeaturesWho wants to be in social housing?
Six months on from the collapse of Rok and Connaught, their competitors are scrambling to take their places against a backdrop of cuts and jittery clients. And now the big players are looking to muscle in on the social housing market
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FeaturesHome truths: Localism and development
The government maintains that localism will boost development, but the latest planning figures show the exact opposite. Just how scared should developers be by this new political reality?