INDUSTRY VOICE


Rachel Fryers appointed BMF advisor


THE BMF HAS appointed Rachel Fryers, Director of Merritt & Fryers in Skipton, as a Board Advisor with effect from 1 April 2021. Before taking her position in the family firm, Rachel spent almost 20 years as a landscape architect, gaining a breadth of experience within large multidisciplinary infrastructure and construction teams, delivering a wide range of projects from new towns to schools, hospitals and prisons.


Since her return, she has overseen the expansion of the award-winning business. Rachel is motivated by a desire to see the industry embrace environmentally sustainable practices. She is also a champion of workplace training and education. As a director of one of the smaller independent merchants, she is well placed to support their development within the supply chain.


In addition to its board of directors, the BMF may appoint


WHAT NET ZERO means for homes - and how our supply chain can help builders get there - was the topic under discussion at last month’s UK Housebuilding and Housing Supply Conference. Brett Amphlett (BMF Policy & Public Affairs Manager) spoke in a joint session about green homes and green spaces with Julia Baker, Balfour Beaty’s Biodiversity Specialist.


In recent years, builders have moved to embrace sustainability and low-carbon thinking when building new homes and improving existing properties. This has fresh impetus because BMF members can now see joint ambition from politicians and builders - backed by legally- binding carbon obligations and


BMF DIARY DATES


In light of the contining changes to events due to COVID-19 precautions, please check the BMF website at www.bmf.org.uk for the latest events updates in this ever-changing environment.


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Goodbye gas, hello hydrogen the 300,000 new homes’ target


- ahead of the UN COP26 Climate Change Conference in Glasgow in November.


Speaking to an audience of local authorities, housing associations and social housing providers, Brett explained his catchphrase “Goodbye Gas, Hello Hydrogen” and encouraged the industry to adopt net zero into mainstream construction. He outlined work being done to improve the energy and thermal performance of homes and to generate small-scale heat and power onsite.


With local government officers on the Zoom call, Brett emphasised the crucial role that councils have to de-carbonise heating and electrify homes. He explained proposals from Whitehall on more stringent Building Regulations - notably: • no more fossil-fuel heating in new homes by 2025 and ending gas boiler connections in favour of heat networks (esp. urban homes) and heat pumps (esp. rural homes). • new homes to be built with electric vehicle charge-points to future-proof them ready for the ban on buying new petrol & diesel cars and vans by 2030.


Brett ended by flagging up these proposals to local councils that will have to enforce them in future.


www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net March 2021


up to two non-voting advisors to strengthen the advice available to it on merchant, supplier or regional issues.


Richard Hill, BMF Chairman said: “We are delighted to welcome Rachel as a Board Advisor. She brings a wealth of valuable experience from the independent merchant sector that will help inform BMF activities as the construction industry steps up to help rebuild the post-Covid economy.”


Cities risk levelling down Covid 80% OF EFFORTS to ‘level up’


the English economy is in towns and cities outside London and the South East - a policy challenge that is now much bigger due to Covid-19 - according to municipal leaders we met last month. They fear the possibility of ‘levelling down’ because dominant local industries have been badly hit. The BMF took part in an invitation-only virtual conference, organised by the Centre For Cities think-tank, to hear directly-elected mayors and local authority leaders discuss the impact of Covid-19.


Cllr Abi Brown told the BMF that prior to the pandemic, Stoke had completed 190% of housing need as required by its Housing Delivery Plan - 97% of which were on brownfield land. Conversely, Sir Peter Soulsby had next-to-no brownfield land left in Leicester, the city that has


endured the longest continuous restrictions.


Cllr Judith Blake said youth unemployment in Leeds had doubled under Covid and the city has seen a 96% increase in Universal Credit claims. Andy Burnham said furlough masks the true unemployment rate in Greater Manchester - and ‘levelling up’ must not be about a few Northern transport schemes. Steve Rotheram looked ahead to a post-pandemic cultural revival in Liverpool, coupled with renewable energy projects already underway, including tidal power.


Jesse Norman MP, Treasury Minister, gave a stout defence of UK Government policy and said that further devolution was coming. He added that more civil servants and Whitehall functions would be relocated out of London - and the new National Infrastructure Bank would be based in the North.


The BMF welcome the following new members:


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