All articles by Josephine Smit – Page 3
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FeaturesCherry on top
Alan Cherry is the ambassador of housebuilding – the multimillionaire chairman of Countryside Properties has the ear of a number of policymaking bodies. And as we find out, he’s not afraid to speak his mind.
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NewsMix and match
Jeremy Paxton is a property developer with a sense of fun – as you might guess from this holiday home estate, which puts chocolate box cottages next to hard-core modernist homes. But there's a price to pay, as we find out …
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FeaturesSpeaking volumes
First he was big, then he went small. Now he wants to go bigger again. Josephine Smit talked to Geoff Potton, the expansive head of Antler Homes
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FeaturesJust one little problem …
New homeowners haven't exactly been gushing with praise for housebuilders – one recent inspection found 400 defects in a single new home. But with customers now more savvy about what to look out for, the pressure's on for housebuilders to smarten up their act.
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Comment
Who cares?
"Once they had my money, they just didn't care," was a common refrain from new homebuyers surveyed by warranty provider Zurich Insurance for its Customer First survey. For all the customer care programmes and defects reduction initiatives, Zurich's survey (page 6), shows customers are still not very satisfied with the ...
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FeaturesIt's a mini adventure
English Partnerships is now in the driving seat for key worker housing development in the capital. But with tiny returns for developers, who will go along for the ride?
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NewsSex in Coronation Street
The government is handing out £500m to councils who can turn their dull, grey northern terraces into bright, exciting northern terraces.
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FeaturesHaven't we moved on?
Sir Stuart Lipton reckons that housing design and building techniques are stuck in the Roman times. That may make you want to throw him to the lions, but could he possibly be right?
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Reality check
It'll never happen. That was the view of some housebuilders in the audience on hearing the lugubrious economist Roger Bootle's storm warning for the UK housing market's future at our Future Homes conference last month.
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FeaturesLateral perspective
Terry Farrell has launched two London housing schemes: one a 16-storey block of flats, the other a handful of £4m homes. He thinks one could be the answer to the South-east's housing shortage. So which would you put your money on? (PS: That is a trick question …)
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NewsThe green lobby wants low energy, sustainable, recyclable ecohomes:
is this what they have in mind?We report on the escalating demands of the environmental pressure groups
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Housebuilders disclose land assets to disprove claims of price fixing
Companies submit their landbanks to Treasury's housing review as proof they are not hoarding land to keep prices high.
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FeaturesThe best possible taste
Fancy a home in Dubai built in the Arab eclectic style on a man-made island shaped like a palm tree? For a mere £500,000? Well, the Beckhams do – and we know what connoisseurs they are …
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NewsBerkeley's London boss argues himself out of a job
Managing director of London office resigns after completing a business review to simplify the group.
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FeaturesWhy are we so fascinating?
Prime time slots are crowded with foppish designers, avuncular engineers, opinionated architects and diabolical builders. We find out what the attraction is, what the programmes are like, how they've changed the perception of building – and how you, too, can get your phizog on the box.
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FeaturesDavid Pretty
Barratt is Britain's best known housebuilder – but not always for the right reasons. Here its new chief executive tells us how he intends to preserve the firm's legacy, and silence some of its critics.
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News20 years after World in Action, Barratt goes back into prefab
Housebuilder plans off-site manufacturing plant two decades after documentary killed demand for timber frame.
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NewsIt'll end in tiers…
The government is considering giving its social housing development grant to private housebuilders. Cue howls of fury from the associations and bitter complaints that it will lead to a housing lottery.
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FeaturesCopthorn's Challenge
Many buyers will think orange render and thatched roofs go together like bacon and hot strawberry jam. In fact, a developer has shown that they make for bold styling – but why risk using it on a mass-market development?
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Features
Open to the elements
You don't often see a wind turbine on the top of a high-rise apartment block. But that's just one of the ideas Manchester's Macintosh Village team has come up with to create this super-eco-friendly residential building.