All articles by Josephine Smit – Page 5
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FeaturesDifficult neighbours
How the government will tackle impossible house prices in the South and impossible houses in the North
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News
Weir returns with Peabody Trust
Former Wilson Connolly director John Weir this week returned to the housebuilding industry as a consultant to housing association Peabody Trust.
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FeaturesEverything and the kitchen sink …
A housing association in Coventry has lured tenants out of council hands by offering improved homes with a new kitchen and bathroom. Josephine Smit met two of the residents who made the leap.
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Features
The great kitchen and bathroom giveaway
Britain's public housing is getting a makeover to meet the government's decent homes standard – kitchens and bathrooms are being fitted at a rate of knots. Trouble is, once they're done the tenants go right ahead and flog them, playing havoc with housing association balance sheets and depleting the already ...
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NewsWe're going to struggle
Darren Richards, engineer and prophet, wants to turn prefab housing from vague talk into a working system. The problem is that resistance to it is deeply rooted in Britain's popular psychology and industrial culture. Josephine Smit finds out why.
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NewsHousing associations spurn government prefab cash
Housing Corporation admits it is finding it difficult to give away £80m of grants for off-site manufacturing.
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NewsWimpey to close Laing Homes' Milton Keynes HQ
Integration of Laing's housebuilding business expected to cost £7m, mainly in redundancy payments.
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NewsEx-Wilcon boss wins £52,600 payout for unfair dismissal
Wilson Connolly's former group design and marketing director John Weir was awarded £52,600 at an employment tribunal last week for unfair dismissal.
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NewsKnowing the score
Housebuilding is becoming like the Premiership, with key players transferring more often than David Beckham changes hairstyle, and a superleague of huge firms starting to emerge. But amid all this game-playing, it's easy to lose sight of one vital question. Who's winning?
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Comment
Techno-toys r us
The evolution of home technology holds the promise that Le Corbusier's dictum, "the home is a machine for living in", will be less of a design philosophy and more of a literal reality.
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FeaturesThe smart money
Housebuilders are waking up to the potential of home automation, but have they really understood the market? Josephine Smit gets the gadgets out
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FeaturesInside the toys house
The Boormans moved from a home whose technological wizardry began and ended with an entryphone, to a £2m house so full of gadgetry, James Bond might have trouble keeping up. Continuing our series of revisits, Homes went to see how the family is enjoying its box of tricks.
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FeaturesAnd the living is easy
Summertime … and you don't want to break into a sweat turning lights on and off yourself. So Josephine Smit checked out two cool schemes that look after all your security, lighting and entertainment needs – leaving you free to enjoy serious cocktail time
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NewsHousebuilders face double whammy on social housing
Oxford council raises affordable housing quota to 70% as Housing Corporation issues funding warning.
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NewsLet me explain …
If housebuilders are TV's public enemy number one, they have only themselves to blame, says Josephine Smit. With just a little communication, they could spare a lot of grief, make their customers so much happier – and attract so many more
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News
PPG3 sites can be worth 50% extra
Companies that build well-designed houses that comply with government brownfield planning rules can expect sites to fetch 50% more than those with standard homes.
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Comment
Variety the great spice
The simple function of registered social landlords is to provide decent homes for those in greatest need. The approaches that housing associations are adopting as they struggle to meet those needs, particularly in the South, are becoming ever more varied and innovative, as this issue of Homes recognises. Network Housing ...
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FeaturesA day on the tiles
When a housing association asked architects to break the mould of traditional housetypes at a Stevenage estate, it never guessed the result would turn so many heads. In the latest in our series of revisits, Fred Rothwell, William Sutton Trust's technical director, finds out how residents Eddie and Tina Wilton ...
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NewsHome chic home
A greenfield landowner is trying to ditch the carriage lamps and half-timbering and bring a contemporary look to the suburbs. But loft-style homes? With raw finishes? And gabion walls? In Harlow? Whatever will the locals think …
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Features
Outside the box
Housing associations are not, perhaps, best known for lifestyle design or innovative marketing, says Josephine Smit. But here are two schemes, one in Glasgow, the other in east London, that are turning convention on its head
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