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First 18 Get Britain Building projects fast-tracked for funding
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The Homes and Communities Agency has been inundated with more 170 applications for its £420m Get Britain Building programme to kick-start stalled housing jobs.As a result the agency has fast-tracked 18 schemes to unlock £46m to start construction of 1,300 new homes.The remainder of the bids will now be assessed with a shortlist of sch... read More
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Government must create house building jobs for UK’s sake
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The Modern Masonry Alliance is urging the Government to take decisive action to stimulate the building industry to avoid a double dip recession.The Alliance has called on the Government to directly fund building of an extra 20,000 social homes to stimulate the flagging UK economy.Latest official data shows construction heading for a second ful... read More
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Council have key role in beating housing crisis
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Councils need to play a bigger role in helping the country to solve the present housing crisis. An in depth report by the Homes and Communities Agency and Local Government Association argues councils need to play a more pivotal role in delivering housing.The report, entitled ‘Meeting Local Housing Demand’, lays out several options a... read More
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Unemployment figures worst for 17 years
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Unemployment reached a 17-year high today after an 118,000 increase in the jobless total, which saw a record number of young people out of work. The latest set of grim figures prompted calls for the Government to help employers create jobs and stimulate house building. Mike Leonard of the MMA said, "As we predicted in September 2010, when w... read More
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Generation locked out of broken housing market
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The housing market in England is broken, with more social and affordable housing urgently needed, according to a new report.The National Housing Federation has published a hard-hitting report, which spells out the true extent of the housing crisis taking hold across the country.
For young professionals and low income families alike, the triple ... read More
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Cut the VAT Campaign - November 2011
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The effects of a reduction in the rate of VAT on the labour element of housing repair, maintenance and improvementOn 10th March 2009 the European Council of Finance Ministers (ECOFIN) announced that it would allow EU Member States to permanently reduce VAT to five per cent on the repair, maintenance and improvement (RM&I) of private dwellings.N... read More
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Shapps in row over release of shocking housing start figures
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The Government is coming under fire for releasing appalling affordable housing start figures a day after the high profile launch of its housing strategy to build more homes.It has been accused of trying to hide bad news after new figures showed a 99% fall in the number of affordable homes built last year.
Shapps came under fire on the BBC T... read More
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Government unveils a ‘Get Britain Building' housing strategy
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The Government has seized on the slogan of the Get Britain Building Campaign for a central part of its strategy to tackle the housing crisis.Later today the Government will detail a raft of measures designed to get more homes built in England.
These include plans for a revamped council right-to-buy scheme, offering homes at 50% of their val... read More
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Industry must unite behind Get Britain Building campaign
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Calls are growing for the industry to unite behind one banner to convince Government to use construction as a driver for economic growth. This week Bill Bolsover, the chairman of the Construction Products Association, said the time had come for the industry to speak with a single effective voice.Speaking to members at the CPA annual lunch, he s... read More
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Developers get £500m to ‘get Britain building again'
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Communities secretary Eric Pickles has released details of a £500m fund for private developers to restart stalled housing and commercial schemes hit by site infrastructure problems.The Growing Places Fund will provide bridging finance to get projects going, where they have halted because of problems with road access, contaminated land and... read More
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Plan B call to Osborne as double-dip recession fears grow
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Chancellor George Osborne is coming under increased pressure to change course and invest in growth. Yesterday's GDP figures sparked renewed calls for the Chancellor to stimulate the economy and create jobs.Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls said the latest figures showed the government was "off track" and needed to change economic course.He predicted the c... read More
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Building for Growth Parliamentary Briefing
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On 20th October 2011 the Federation of Master Builders gathered together MPs and experts from across the construction industry to discuss the ‘Building for Growth' policy recommendations. The recommendations are designed to help ensure the construction industry can play a central role in the economic recovery, and are driven by a number o... read More
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Cameron pledges ‘Tory housing revolution'
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David Cameron yesterday promised to inspire a new Tory housing revolution and reaffirmed his commitment to planning reform and building more affordable homes.In his speech to the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester, the Prime Minister said he recognised there was a failure in the housing market, which he blamed on the debt crisis and th... read More
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Government reveals plan to build extra homes well advanced
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Housing minister Grant Shapps has revealed that some 50,000 plots have already been identified to build extra affordable homes.
Speaking at a fringe session at the Tory party conference organised by the Home Builders Federation and National House Building Council, he accepted the country faced a housing crisis but said the Government's plan ... read More
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Cameron fires up plan to build 200,000 homes
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Prime Minister David Cameron plans to rekindle the council house right-to-buy scheme to generate extra cash to build more homes.
He also said plans would to rolled out to hand house builders thousands of acres of land on a build now and pay later basis.Together the two measures could create 400,000 industry jobs and deliver 200,000 homes, es... read More
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CBI chief calls for urgent action to stimulate house building
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The influential head of the CBI has called on Government to bring forward fresh measures to kick-start house building.
In a speech to business leaders, John Cridland, director-general argued that boosting activity in the housing market and construction sector could be a major "game-changer" for growth.
"I want to see the Chancellor use his aut... read More
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Ed Balls sets out emergency Plan B
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Shadow chancellor Ed Balls has set out a stimulus package that would see VAT slashed to 5% for home improvements and extend the bankers bonus tax to pay for 25,000 affordable homes.He also called on the government to bring forward genuine long-term investment projects covering schools and transport.Balls told the Labour Party conference that th... read More
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British building boom 'would create 200,000 jobs'
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More than 200,000 new construction jobs will be created and the UK economy boosted by £75bn if housebuilding returns to pre-war levels, according to economic research....Published By: The Telegraph Finance read more
... read More
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Housing ownership to fall to lowest level since mid-1980s
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England's housing associations warned today that the housing market is heading for an unprecedented crisis as it forecast steep rises in the private rental sector and a house price boom.The National Housing Federation blamed the bleak outlook on an under-supply of homes.This will see the number of people who own their own homes in England slump to ... read More
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Scotland's Plan B success shows way for UK recovery
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Construction employment in Scotland has risen by 10% in the last year, stoked by its commitment to keep up capital spending.
First Minister Alex Salmond today called on the Chancellor George Osborne to examine Scotland's success in stimulating its economy and adopt a Plan B based on investment in construction in the rest of the UK.
He said: "... read More
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Call intensifies for Coalition to adopt Plan B
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The Government is coming under mounting pressure to adopt a Plan B alternative to its deep spending cuts.
The industry campaign to invest in the built environment as a means to get Britain back on the path to economic recovery by creating new jobs is now gaining momentum in the political mainstream.
Its campaign to persuade Government to inve... read More
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Cameron agrees its time to Get Britain Building
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Prime Minister David Cameron today conceded he needed to get Britain building again as latest GDP figures were knocked by a sharp fall in construction.
The Prime Minister adopted the industry's campaign slogan when he expressed concern about the latest output figures which showed the overall economy grew by just 0.5% during the first quarter of... read More
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Growth Budget takes step in right direction
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The house building industry has broadly welcomed the Chancellor's Budget to try to tackle the housing crisis.
But leaders have also warned that long-overdue measures to reform planning must be followed through.
George Osborne unveiled a widely trailed £250m package to help first time buyers get a foot on the housing ladder, planning ref... read More
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Recovery at Risk as 90% of Builders Fear Rising Inflation warns FMB
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The Government's hopes for an SME led recovery have been dealt a serious blow by the latest results from the building industry, according to the Federation of Master Builders (FMB), the largest trade association in the UK construction industry.
The latest results from the FMB's quarterly State of Trade Survey, the only survey of small and med... read More
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Plan B is key to solving Britain's unemployment woes
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The Government could wipe out the country's soaring unemployment problem if it adopted bold measures to stimulate house building.
According to latest figures, unemployment ballooned to a 17-year high of 2.5m in January, a level that threatens to seriously hamper economic recovery.
Get Britain Building Plan B campaigners have urged Chancellor Ge... read More
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One in 10 jobs lost since construction peak
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Pressure mounted on the Government to stimulate construction after the latest jobs figures showed another big quarterly decline.
Since the industry peaked in September 2008 a staggering 246,000 jobs have been shed from construction, according to the new Government figures.
This equates to about one in 10 of the workforce.
The new figures for t... read More
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Housing gap to hit 750,000 homes by 2025
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England faces a shortfall of 750,000 homes by 2025, centre-left think tank the Institute of Public Policy Research has warned.
Assuming the economy bounces back to historic build levels, the gap between supply and demand could be equivalent to the entire housing demand of Birmingham, Liverpool and Newcastle.
Using the government's own projecti... read More
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Time has come for Government to adopt Plan B growth plan
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The Get Britain Building campaign has urged Government to adopt a back-up plan to stimulate growth and job creation.The coalition of industry bodies launched a Plan B growth strategy to stimulate economic activity late last year as the economic recovery showed signs that it would falter.
Backers of the campaign have called on the Coalition Gove... read More
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One-third of builders forced to cut more jobs in 2011
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Local builders are entering their fourth successive year of decline, according to the latest Federation of Master Builders trade survey.
One-third of builders said they see no alternative but to cut jobs over the next 12 months as workloads are expected to continue to fall.
Government cuts are making matters worse, it added, with more than half... read More
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Economists support call for Government to draw up a plan B
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Leading economists are backing the call for Government to set out a plan B to swing into action if the economy is thrown into recession by the new austerity measures.
There is mounting concern that the Chancellor George Osborne's gamble with the economy could plunge the UK in to a double dip recession.Their fears bring fresh impetus to the Get Bri... read More
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PLAN B
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The Autumn Spending Review on October 20th threatens to deliver the most severe cuts in public spending in our lifetime.We must be concerned that this will undermine the start of the construction led economic recovery as evidenced in the first two quarters of 2011.The ‘Get Britain Building’ campaign led by the MMA, British Precast, BMF ... read More
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Ed Balls calls for £6bn windfall to be spent on housing
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Labour leadership contender Ed Balls has called for an extra £6bn to be spent on building 100,000 new affordable homes.
He believes a recent £12bn Treasury windfall from improved public finances should be spent on easing the housing crisis and creating 750,000 construction jobs.
Treasury figures in July showed that Britain bor... read More
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Final Lap of the “General Deception”
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With just two days of the "General Deception" campaign left to run, I for one am clear that none of our political parties have done enough to deserve a mandate to govern for the next five years.
Never before have we seen such a high level of orchestrated campaigning, master minded by the very spin doctors who have conspired to deceive us over... read More
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Political parties blind to construction solution
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After a week of manifesto pledges and the leaders' debate, it is hard to avoid the nasty conclusion that construction is being sidelined. All parties are playing it safe in a phoney war that fails to tackle the big issue.
Where are the bold policies to reduce the huge deficit without killing the fragile recovery?
Without more creative ideas ... read More
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Lib Dems plan £3.1bn building stimulus to create jobs
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The Liberal Democrats would start a future term in office with a one-off £3.1bn Green stimulus package to create 100,000 jobs.
The party will concentrate on building new homes and driving forward the low carbon economy in a first year spending boost to the construction industry.
In a fully costed manifesto that promises a fairer society, t... read More
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Welcome to "The General Deception!"
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This week will see the main political parties unveil their manifestos which will no doubt be the whole truth and nothing but the truth!
Somehow I suspect not, as our politicians fall over themselves to deprive us all of the real facts about the damage that has been done to the economy. They seem reluctant or perhaps unable to tell us about the pai... read More
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Labour pledges to support fragile recovery
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Labour has launched an election manifesto that pledges to support the recovery and veers away from any big spending commitments. Unveiling the battle plan on which to fight the general election, Gordon Brown pledged not raise income tax in the next parliament, but refused to rule out a rise in VAT.
The manifesto pointedly reinforces Labour goal to... read More
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Tory manifesto backs Crossrail and promises procurement shake-up
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The Tory Party has pledged to back Crossrail and offer smaller firms a bigger slice of Government work if it wins the next election.Launching the Conservative manifesto today, David Cameron said he planned to give more power to people and business.Cameron vowed to block the bulk of Labour’s planned 1% rise in national insurance and save more ... read More
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And they’re off!
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After months of speculation, Mr Brown has visited the Queen and asked for Parliament to be dissolved and the General Election will now take place on the 6th May 2010.
Unprecedented levels of debt, a very uncertain economic outlook and massive under employment combined with the low levels of trust will make this General Election the most important ... read More
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Wolseley joins the Get Britain Building coalition
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Wolseley has become an official supporter of the Get Britain Building Campaign.The leading distributor of plumbing and heating products, also a major supplier of construction materials, has joined the coalition. Get Britain Building is spearheaded by the Builders’ Merchants Federation, the Modern Masonry Alliance, British Precast and the Fede... read More
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House building rate needs to be increased
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The rate of property development in the UK needs to be sped up, a workers representative body has claimed. Comments from the Trades Union Congress (TUC) followed the publication of figures from the Land Registry, which revealed that the price of a home rose by 0.9 per cent during September. The rate of growth has increased from the 0.5 per cent cli... read More
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Government pledges £1.5bn housing investment
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An investment of £1.5bn in the housing sector has been announced by the Prime Minister. Gordon Brown said the funding will help build thousands of new homes as well as create jobs.
The plans will involve both local councils and housing associations and will come into effect in just a few months.
It is estimated that a total of 20,000 new en... read More
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The VAT trap
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Two people created new homes in the same village, but only one received a big tax bill... Article from Mail online Property sectionBy Mark Hughes-morgan
Both have built new homes over the past year, and they live only a few hundred yards from each other in an Oxfordshire village. But while architect David Hoblyn has had to pay £30,000... read More
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UK's biggest construction coalition calls on Scottish Government to prevent 16,000 job losses
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Get Scotland Building, the biggest coalition in the country's construction industry's history, was launched today in the Scottish Parliament to demand that the Scottish Government does all it can to prevent 16,000 predicted job losses in the Scottish construction sector and to create conditions in which small and medium sized construction businesse... read More
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Bank expert warns unemployment could grow by a million
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As many as one million further job cuts are likely to be made across the UK before unemployment reaches its peak. That is according to top economist and member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) David Blanchflower, who has expressed his belief that the current unemployment situation is only likely to get worse until the end of... read More
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Social housing cash 'going to south'
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The south of the UK is receiving more funding from the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) than the rest of the country, it has been claimed.Some £2.8bn has been spent by the HCA between 1st December last year and 31st March on redevelopment and social housing.However, Inside Housing magazine reports that of that total, half - £1.4bn - w... read More
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Housing association plans north-east development
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NomadE5 is set to build 500 new affordable homes in the north-east of England after being awarded a £25m loan from Abbey.The housing association is also set to receive an additional £25m from the Homes and Communities Agency, allowing it to build each home at an average cost of £100,000, Inside Housing reports."We have been able t... read More
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UK's biggest construction coalition to prevent 300,000 job losses launches at Welsh Assembly
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The Get Britain Building campaign has been launched at the Welsh Assembly. The campaign is the biggest construction coalition in the UK's history and aims to prevent the predicted 300,000 job losses in the sector.
The campaign has cross party support and argues that current Welsh government proposals do not go far enough in tackling the ... read More
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Build now or put our long term economic future at risk
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Leaders of the Get Britain Building coalition have issued a stark warning to the Government ahead of this week's critical budget statement.With factories closing and a predicted 450,000 job losses by 2010, campaigners say the industry is already at breaking point and requires urgent intervention to stimulate demand and provide social hous... read More
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Politicians and industry unite to Get Britain Building
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Politicians from all parties and construction industry representatives have united to help kick start the ailing construction industry which is suffering its worst recession since 1980 with eight firms going bust every day and house building at its lowest level since 1924. Get Britain Building, the biggest coalition in the UK's building industry&rs... read More
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