industry news 9 Tom Shaw, director, Buildings – Ramboll:
“We need to do more than simply increase funding, but concentrate on encouraging the industry to innovate and explore methods of building and construction that will enable homes to be built at a lower cost and in shorter periods of time. Methods such as off-site manufacture could revolutionise house-building in the UK, but requires attention and investment to do so.” Mat McNab, executive director, Buildings – Ramboll: “We welcome the extra funding
for homes in the UK, but questions still remain over timescales and methods of delivery. If these funds are not spent quickly and effectively then we will not see the pace of change essential to providing the country with the necessary economic and social impact. We have had little clarification so far.” Michael Thirkettle, chief executive of
McBains Cooper: “For years successive govern- ments have announced ambitious house building targets which are never met, so the Government’s commitment to spend on social and economic
infrastructure is good news. “We are disappointed that there was no
announcement to streamline the planning process or free up land on the greenbelt – much of which is derelict land rather than areas of beauty. “We were also disappointed not to see further
investments in training and apprenticeships in the UK construction industry, as we will need to train and re-train UK people in readiness for any restrictions in the supply of skilled foreign workers following Brexit."
High Court case serves as a warning to housebuilders on covenants
A
law firm has warned housebuilders and property developers to check for building schemes and restrictive
covenants when planning a development, following a High Court case which prevented the planned redevelopment of a single property into four dwellings. Despite a homeowner obtaining planning
permission to develop land which was subject to a building scheme, the other members of the building scheme were able to enforce a covenant which restricts use of the property to a single private dwelling-house with a garage for one family. Building schemes are common when large areas of land are divided up into plots during
development, and they allow each owner of a plot to enforce covenants against each other. The court agreed with the other home owners in the scheme and considered that the scheme and the covenants did restrict the planned development. As planning was already in place, they were not premature in bringing a claim. Samantha Bell, a property litigation
solicitor at Gordons law firm, commented: “Planning permission indicates an intention to build in accordance with that permission, and in this case serves as a warning that developers could find themselves in court if they obtain planning permission which, if implemented, would breach covenants for the use of land.”
Wilmott Dixon frees up residential arm W
ilmott Dixon has announced that it is splitting the company into three distinct “sister businesses” to
give its residential and support services divisions greater independence. The company said that with the Residential sub-
sidiary as well as its Fortem supports services business having made “good operational and strate- gic progress,” it will now “implement plans to strengthen both companies further by allowing each to benefit from greater independence to pursue their individual growth plans.” “In 2017 this will see them move out from under
the Willmott Dixon umbrella to become ‘sister’ rather than ‘subsidiary’ businesses to Willmott Dixon, whilst remaining owned and controlled by the family.” The three sister companies will be Willmott
Dixon Holdings (including subsidiaries Willmott Dixon Construction and Willmott Dixon
respond online at
www.hbdonline.co.uk
Interiors), Willmott Residential (subsidiaries Prime Place, Be:here and Willmott Partnership Homes) and Wimpole Equity Holdings (includes Fortem). The contractor published its accounts for the six
months to 30 June 2016, announcing profit up by £4m on 2015 to £12m, and a “secured and probable” forward order book of £1.15bn including 7,500 homes in the pipeline.
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