news news in brief
Essential Living has received full planning permission for its redevelopment of the Berkshire House office block in Maidenhead, Berkshire. The 14-storey scheme is the first office-to-residential private rented sector (PRS) conversion to win
approval.The plans for 68 PRS homes received a detailed consent with conditions around detail design and materials. The scheme will be one of the first UK blocks designed from scratch for renting. Martin Bellinger, chief operating officer at Essential Living, said: “We’re delighted to have received approval for our plans to redevelop such an iconic yet underutilised building in Maidenhead. Alongside the improved connectivity that Crossrail will bring, we intend for the development to act as a figurehead for the regeneration of the town centre, encouraging more people to live centrally and revitalising the local community.
Solihull-based housebuilder David Wilson Homes Mercia has announced that it will be launching a new site in Harborne, near Birmingham, within the next 12 months, leading to the creation of more than 100 new jobs for local people. Lordswood Gardens in Harborne is just one of six new sites that the developer plans to launch this year across the West Midlands. John Fitzgerald, managing director at David Wilson Homes Mercia, said: “The site in Harborne will provide 90 desperately needed new homes for local people at a time when there is a chronic shortage of housing. In addition to the local construction jobs underpinned in building the new homes, the local people who move into the new housing will also spend their wages locally. This translates into a significant boost for local retailers at a time when concerns remain about the national financial picture. It's exactly what this area needs."
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) is forecasting a rise in gross lending from an estimated £170bn this year to £195bn next year, and £206bn in 2015, and it anticipates that net advances are likely to rise from £10bn this year to £15bn next year and £20bn in 2015. It suggests that the volume of business written under the Help to Buy scheme may be relatively modest, “such that it has a smaller but more positive market impact than many commentators suggest”. CML chief economist Bob Pannell said: “Gross mortgage lending climbs above £190bn next year, its highest level since 2008. While this is largely on the back of the continuing revival in housing market activity, we also expect to see a meaningful turnaround in remortgage activity. Despite a strong pick-up in gross mortgage lending, we have pencilled in relatively modest net lending figures – £15bn in 2014 and £20bn in 2015.”
Miller Homes tops transparency table
Miller Homes, has secured top place for transparency in the 2013 NextGeneration benchmark, an assessment of how UK housebuilders manage and deliver sustainability within their business. For 2013, Miller Homes achieved the highest score in phase one of the benchmark, demonstrating a sector-leading position in public transparency with its reporting, and retained third place ranking overall for the sixth consecutive year with an improved score of 84% (76%). Stewart Lynes, managing director of Miller Homes Scotland, said: “Being sustainable and aiming to deliver the best quality, standards and value for all our stakeholders, including our customers, our employees and our investors, is at the very heart of our business. A key element of our sustainability strategy is our commitment to being accountable and operating in an open and transparent way. This recognition from NextGeneration reinforces that commitment and it is extremely rewarding to be identified as the leading housebuilder for public disclosure. “The results of this year’s benchmark provide a clear indication as to the progress we have made over the past year and we will continue to review and update our approach to ensure it remains relevant for the future.”
Julie Hirigoyen, head of sustainability at Jones Lang LaSalle, administrators of the NextGeneration benchmark, said: “Miller Homes has consistently been a top performer in the NextGeneration benchmark and should be very proud of its achievements in this year’s rankings, particularly during phase one. They have shown a renewed commitment to disclosure within the organisation and, as best practice reporting guidelines evolve, this will stand them in good stead for the future.”
Major rise in
The latest HBF Housing Pipeline report shows a big increase in the number of planning permissions being granted for new homes. The report – produced for HBF by Glenigan – shows that 44,251 permissions were granted in Q3 in England on 826 sites. This is up 31% year-on-year and 19% on the previous quarter. It also represents the highest total number of permissions granted in a Q3 since 2007 and the highest number of sites granted planning approval in a quarter since Q2 2008. The total number of approvals for the year to September 2013 is 166,978. The HBF says the upturn reflects the “positive planning principles” of the National Planning Policy Framework planning system introduced in 2012. “It is also undoubtedly an indicator that developers are looking to get work underway on new sites as they build out their existing sites more quickly as a result of the enormously successful Help to Buy equity loan scheme. Since its introduction in April it has resulted in over 18,000 reservations of new homes, bringing a renewed level of confidence to the industry and directly leading to a significant increase in build rates,” it adds. Stewart Baseley, executive chairman of the HBF, said: “This is the latest indicator to show how the industry is looking to quickly increase output. We have already seen evidence of a rise in new homes starts and these figures show the industry’s intent to increase and sustain that over the next few
planning permissions
years. Developers are building out current sites more quickly and are now looking to invest in new sites and begin development sooner than previously planned. The figures reflect the positive principles of the new planning system. They are also a clear demonstration that builders are looking to increase supply as a result of increased market confidence generated by the Help to Buy equity loan scheme. “But if we are to see the required increase in supply continue we need to see all local authorities playing their part. Increasingly, we are seeing onerous conditions being attached to permissions that unnecessarily delay work starting on new sites. There are now tens of thousands of plots with permission but which housebuilders cannot start. This is a situation that local government – and ministers – need to urgently address if we are to see recent homebuilding increases sustained.” Glenigan’s Allan Wilén said: “Glenigan has tracked a progressive strengthening in planning approvals during the course of this year. The latest quarterly rise in planning approvals bodes well for 2014, indicating that housebuilders are responding to the rising demand from house purchasers, which is in part supported by the Help to Buy scheme. Furthermore, the sharpest rises in planning approvals during the quarter were outside of London and the south-east, pointing to a broadly based upturn in new housing market activity and project starts during 2014.”
10| January 2014 showhouse
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