10 industry news
Larkfleet submits plans for ‘elevating house’
Build To Rent package expected in white paper
asserting that the upcoming White Paper will address the issue. A “package for Build to Rent” will be
H T
he Larkfleet Group has applied for plan- ning permission to build an experimental house that could rise on
jacks above flood waters. If tests are successful, the house could provide a model that would enable housebuilding on thousands of sites across the UK which at present cannot be developed because of the risk of flooding. If planning permission is granted by South
Holland District Council, Larkfleet plans to build a three-bedroom detached house in Weston Hills, near Spalding, Lincolnshire, that can be raised up to 1.5 metres above ground level by eight mechanical jacks. Work on the house, which will sit on a steel
ring beam in place of conventional foundations, could begin in 2017. Experiments with raising and lowering the house, including testing the long-term maintenance and operation of the jacking system, will run for up to five years. Because the house will be of modular steel-
frame design it can then be disassembled and re-erected on another site. It is anticipated that houses of this design
would be jacked up well ahead of the arrival of flood waters, based on advance warnings from organisations such was the Environment Agency. The mechanical jacking system, powered by a central motor, gear box and drive shafts, could lift the 65 tonne house to the full 1.5 metre height above ground in less than five minutes. Rooftop solar panels and a battery would pro-
vide the house with some continuing electricity supply when raised above the ground, and the water and sewage would remain connected through flexible hoses. However, it is not envis- aged that residents would remain in occupation during floods. Instead, the householders would pack up, lock up and jack up the home before taking refuge in temporary accommodation on higher ground elsewhere.
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included in the White Paper, Barwell being keen to attract institutional investment to the housing market. Construction News has reported Barwell as
saying : “Both the secretary of state and I have made it really clear that we are keen to attract institutional investment into the housing market in this country, and you can rest assured that there will be things about that in the White Paper. “In terms of the package for Build to Rent,
[developers] can absolutely be sure that there will be things we want to talk about in the White Paper.” He also revealed that the Government was
looking at the need to speed up the planning process, saying: “I’ve had feedback from lots of people that they would be interested in paying
ousing Minister Gavin Barwell has reiterated the government’s com- mitment to the Build to Rent sector,
a premium fee and get a premium service.” The Housing White Paper is expected to be
published this year, although the Minister was unable to confirm it would be released before 2017.
Allow councils to borrow, FMB tells Chancellor
A
llowing local authorities to borrow in order to build new homes could help fix the housing crisis and mitigate any
emerging economic uncertainty, according the FMB. Brian Berry, chief executive of the FMB, said
that now is the time for the new Chancellor to “Think creatively about how to address the country’s growing housing crisis.” He said: “We simply aren’t building
enough new homes to meet current demand, which is why we’re calling for the Chancellor to empower local authorities to borrow money to build thousands of new social homes.” Berry noted that the Government has
recognised the magnitude of the housing crisis, and acknowledged its efforts in bringing forward new measures to tackle the issue. “Nevertheless,” he said, “the gap between the number of homes we are building and the 250,000 a year figure widely accepted to be necessary in order to address the housing
shortfall remains significant. “Local authorities, who are well placed to
identify local housing needs, can play a critical role in financing an increase in housing output in a safe and sensible way. “We currently spend £1 on housebuilding
for roughly every £4 spent on housing benefit. Investing in a longer term solution would therefore make sense even in more certain economic conditions.” In the time of political and economic
uncertainty that we live in, Berry concluded that “A sensible programme of investment like this could both significantly boost housing output and provide a welcome shot in the arm to a sector that is still jittery overits prospects for the next few years. “The Chancellor has spoken of a fiscal ‘reset’
ahead of his statement. In this spirit, we hope he seriously considers a policy that would both act as a simple low-risk stimulus and would help the Government achieve its housing targets.”
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