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Thanks to today’s Budget 2020 meeting, the new Affordable Homes Programme will get a much needed £12bn multi-year settlement and £400 million for ambitious Mayoral Combined Authorities and local areas to establish housing on brownfield land across the country.
Tom Slingsby, chief executive of property developer Southern Grove, which focuses heavily on creating affordable homes, comments:
“This cash boost for affordable homes will underpin building for many years to come and is a declaration of war on a housing crisis that isn’t going away.

Even though fire sprinkler systems are to form an important part of the Phase 2 Grenfell Tower Inquiry, which began in January this year, many pro-active HA and local authority landlords have already started implementing major programmes of fire protection upgrades, including the retro-fitting of fire sprinklers.

New build and current council housing in Renfrewshire will benefit from a £75million investment as Renfrewshire Council outlines its three-year Housing Capital Investment Plan.

Initially, £24million will be invested in 2020/21 to support planned investment programmes, regeneration, new build homes and retrofitting in projects throughout Renfrewshire.

Brand-new council housing will be developed in Gallowhill and Foxbar, with around 60 and 40 new homes respectively, and work is expected to start later in 2020 on a further 101 new build homes in Ferguslie Park and 39 in South West Johnstone.

This fresh investment builds on 95 new build homes in Johnstone Castle and 80 new homes in Bishopton which are nearing completion.

Online electricals retailer AO has teamed up with Greggs to provide and deliver fridges, freezers and other white goods for struggling families. Following a successful pilot, the new partnership was rolled out nationwide across 500 schools in disadvantaged areas on 3rd February.
 
Teachers at participating schools can now identify the families who would benefit most from a Greggs Foundation grant which will pay for a fridge, freezer, cooker or washing machine to be delivered by AO. Known for their excellent customer service and going above and beyond for customers, AO have established a dedicated service for vulnerable customers that ensures any special circumstances are taken into account.

Local councils should be given the legal authority to enforce higher standards of air quality in homes, schools and public buildings, according to the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA).

The Association believes the government should use its Environment Bill, which will have its second reading in the House of Commons tomorrow, to beef up local rules on indoor air quality (IAQ) in light of alarming new evidence about the impact of pollution on child health.

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) and the Royal College of Physicians carried out a wide-ranging survey of buildings that revealed shocking rates of asthma and other allergic conditions including conjunctivitis, dermatitis and eczema were directly linked to poor IAQ.

“Too many of our homes and schools are damp and poorly ventilated – this is adversely affecting the health of children,” said RCPCH paediatric respiratory consultant Jonathan Grigg. He added that it was welcome that the country was finally paying attention to the quality of outdoor air, but that the indoor issue was not receiving the attention it needed.

Inholm, the second phase of Northstowe and one of the UK’s largest modular neighbourhoods gets the green light.

South Cambridgeshire District Council’s Planning Committee has today 12th February 2020 approved plans for Inholm, a contemporary Fenland village and the second phase of Cambridgeshire’s new town, Northstowe. Once complete, Northstowe will comprise 10,000 new homes. The new village of Inholm will be the largest in the UK to be manufactured offsite using modern volumetric construction. 
 
It is being brought forward by the innovative modern house builder ‘House by Urban Splash’, a new company backed by regeneration specialists Urban Splash, Homes England and Japan’s biggest house builder, Sekisui House. 

This May sees the return of ASCP’s annual conference, exhibition and Awards ceremony - the unmissable event dedicated to supporting safety and compliance professionals within the social housing and facilities management sector.
The two-day event, taking place on the 20th and 21st of May and hosted at the prestigious Celtic Manor in Newport, will incorporate the AGSM National Conference and AESM LIVE, with over 600 attendees expected to walk through the doors. The event will also host the annual ASCP Safety and Compliance Awards. Rewarding individuals & organisations who go the extra mile, finalists will attend a gala awards evening on the 20th May.