Press
| Labour calls for £10bn house building boost | |
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Shadow chancellor Ed Balls has called for a short-term rise in borrowing to fund the immediate release of £10bn for a major national housing programme. Mike Leonard, CEO of the Modern Masonry Alliance agreed, "Britain needs jobs and growth, and building 25000 public rented homes is the way to achieve it!
In a speech on the economy today ahead of...
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| Revised Part L will hit smaller house builders | |
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The Modern Masonry Alliance is calling on the Government to delay planned changes to Part L of the Building Regulations in 2014.
The Alliance has warned that the changes would severely disadvantage smaller house builders while large developers could ride out its introduction by relying on pipelines of already consented schemes.
Additional costs would hit...
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| Councils call for lifting of housing borrowing cap | |
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Councils are calling on the Chancellor to lift restrictions on the amount they can borrow to fund house building in next month's spending review.
Local authority leaders are urging the Chancellor to give the construction industry a shot in the arm by removing unnecessary restrictions on council investment in new housing.
Research shows that councils...
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| London Mayor names 25 firms on £5bn homes delivery panel | |
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Twenty-five firms, including housing associations in partnership with contractors and mainstream house builders, have made the London Development Panel to deliver a massive new homes programme over the next four years.
London Mayor Boris Johnson estimated the selected firms would build £5bn of housing-led, mixed-use development on public...
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| Government names 45 projects for £700m Build to Rent funding | |
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Up to 10,000 new homes for private rent will be underway by 2015.
That is the pledge of housing minister Mark Prisk, who today unveiled the first
45 projects to be taken forward using £700m in Build to Rent funding.
Backers of the private rental building projects, a quarter of which are for London, can now go forward for final due diligence checks...
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| HCA smashes targets to get Britain building | |
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The Homes and Communities Agency has beaten its main delivery targets for 2012/13.
Provisional agency year-end figures show the agency has hit goals for land reclamation and disposal and creation of office and commercial floorspace, and is on track to meet targets under the Get Britain Building fund.
During the year it leveraged nearly £1bn of...
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| Big house builders say Help to Buy will see extra homes built | |
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The country's volume house builders are preparing to build more homes in the wake of the launch of the Government's Help to Buy scheme.
Some critics and commentators have warned that Help to Buy could do more to stoke house prices than building volumes in coming years.
But several major house builders have backed the Budget initiative and confirmed...
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| MMA welcomes shot in the arm for housing | |
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The Modern Masonry Alliance has welcomed Government plans to give the housing market a fresh stimulus through its new Help to Buy scheme.
As well as a £3.5bn package to help for those joining or moving up the housing ladder into new homes, he also unveiled an extra £225m for affordable housing and boosted the Build to Rent fund from £200m...
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| MMA warns UK cannot afford to waste opportunity for housing stimulus | |
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The Modern Masonry Alliance has led the call for the Chancellor to deliver a real housing boost in the forthcoming Budget.
The alliance believes that George Osborne has a golden opportunity to drive the economy through the building of new homes and upgrading existing stock to help tackle the housing crisis.
Chief executive of the MMA, Mike Leonard, has...
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| CBI joins call for housing to be Budget priority | |
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Britain's business leaders are urging the Chancellor to use the Budget to boost the housing market to build confidence and kick-start the economy.
The CBI said that given its social and economic benefits, housing should form the main plank of this month's Budget.
Business leaders have called for an extra 50,000 affordable homes, fresh measures to...
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| Bold Government action needed as housing starts drop below 100,000 | |
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The house building industry is calling on the Chancellor for decisive action to stimulate the house building sector in the wake of dismal figures for housing starts.
Latest official Government figures reveal housing starts in England fell 11% last year to 98,280.
The figures fall woefully short of the 230,000 starts needed to meet demand and represent half...
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| Only 3 weeks to Ecobuild - register for your free ticket | |
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British Precast and the Modern Masonry Alliance will host a Concrete and Masonry Village at Ecobuild 2013.
The North hall based Concrete and Masonry Village will feature many of the sector's leading SMEs as well as the trade associations that represent the concrete and clay industry.
Exhibitions in the Village will feature samples on their stands and...
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| RICS launches special commission into housing crisis | |
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The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has set up a commission to look at ways to boost housing supply.
The body said that it was deeply concerned that one year on from the government's housing strategy, house building is still lagging well behind required levels.
It is calling on RICS members and all other interested parties to submit evidence of...
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| Latest NHBC registrations hint at recovery | |
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New home registrations in the last three months of 2012 showed signs of a recovery despite annual figures dropping 9%.
The latest numbers from theNational House-Building Council showed that from October to December registration rose 17%.
During this final period private homes starts were up 14% and public housing showed its biggest rebound for several...
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| Poor GDP figures sparks call to build way out of recession | |
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Fresh figures from the Office for National Statistics show the UK economy shrank in the last three months of 2012.
While the economy contracted by 0.3%, construction managed to buck the overall downward trend with marginal growth of 0.3%.
But overall construction GDP is still running at a depressed level, down 11% on last year.
The data will fuel...
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| NewBuy rates jump as ‘second steppers’ scheme launched | |
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The NewBuy initiative has recorded the highest reservation rate since it launched in March last year, according to the Home Builders Federation.
The better figures, which show more than 100 people per week now reserving a home under the 5% deposit scheme, coincided with the launch today of NewBuy Part Exchange by housing minister Mark Prisk.
This will...
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| Construction4Growth set out 10-point plan at Downing Street meeting | |
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Twenty leading industry figures met at 11 Downing Street today to set out a three-pronged plan for growth in construction.
They met with the skills minister and the government's chief construction adviser to discuss ways to boost the industry.
Construction4Growth calls for greater investment in construction to drive growth and create jobs.
The push...
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| Planning minister unveils ‘Boles bung’ for house building | |
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Communities that embrace new housing developments will get up to a quarter of the revenue raised from the community infrastructure levy for the project.
Planning minister Nick Boles has unveiled details of the generous cash incentives available to communities that take a proactive approach by drawing up a neighbourhood development plan, and securing the consent...
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| Mid-term pledge sets course for housing | |
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The Government has reiterated its pledge to speed up housing delivery in its mid-term review.
Conservative prime minister David Cameron and his Liberal Democrat deputy Nick Clegg marked the halfway point in their government by setting out their plans for the remaining term.
Among a long list of commitment's the prime minister said: “We will build...
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| Government dumps conservatory tax plan | |
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Communities secretary Eric Pickles has scrapped plans to force householders seeking to build extensions to make extra consequential improvements to their property's energy efficiency.
The Government U-turn on the 'conservatory tax' as it was dubbed came after research found as many as four out of 10 home owners would be put off making any home...
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