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A NEW collection of 24 pioneering homes which aim to transform the lives of people with disabilities – including technology which can open doors and adjust the height of kitchen worktops at the touch of a button – is being built in Glasgow.
 
Leading care and housing provider Blackwood has revealed that the next phase of its revolutionary Blackwood House is being developed at Glamis Road in Glasgow.
 
The new development, in the Helenvale area, will be made available to tenants later this year and follows the hugely successful launch of the Blackwood House in Dundee.
 
Helenvale will consist of 24 wheelchair accessible two-bedroom flats, which have been carefully developed with accessibility in mind. By combining innovative construction with the latest technology, Blackwood aims to help disabled people live their life to the full by providing housing and care services which are tailored to their individual needs.
 

Essex housing association CHP has today taken management of 30 new homes available for shared ownership in Thurrock. These are the first properties to be handed over to CHP as part of its new partnership with Legal & General Affordable Homes.
 
The 30 new flats are located at the new Renovo development in West Thurrock and will be followed by a further 30 which CHP will take management of in the summer. The apartments are a mix of one and two-bedroom properties.
 
CHP is one of 14 organisations chosen nationwide to manage properties built by financial services firm Legal & General under their new affordable homes initiative. The new partnership represents a shared vision that an affordable home is the cornerstone of a healthy and good quality of life.

Energy Billing, a provider of pre-payment and energy metering products and services, is encouraging organisations to tackle the issue of legacy systems, providing more accurate energy readings and eradicating the problem of debt.
Some district heating systems have been installed for more than twenty years now. As with any system, over time performance can decline, but for these systems it can mean energy readings could become inaccurate.

Planning permission has been granted for 122 new homes to be built in Chorley by Trafford Housing Trust (part of L&Q) under the Laurus Homes brand.
 
The 10.5-hectare £28.5 million site, formerly known as Strawberry Fields, is off Euxton Road next to the £8.4 million Digital Hub, which opened last year and aims to provide high value jobs.  The development will comprise a mix of two, three and four-bedroom family houses available for sale, with properties also available for affordable rent and shared ownership. 
 

Organisations across the construction industry are increasingly facing more people challenges, relating to both their own workforce and their supply chain. Whether this means tackling poor diversity practices and skills shortages, or combatting exploitation and modern slavery, the reality is that all these HR issues are linked.

In response, the People Matter Charter has been created by the Supply Chain Sustainability School and its delivery partner Action Sustainability to help organisations up and down the supply chain bring these challenges together into one workforce strategy. The Charter has eight commitments that can apply to any organisation, of any size – and 24 have already signed up, ahead of the official launch in January.

According to Stephen Hodgson, chief executive of the Property Care Association, retrofit insulation changes the way a building works in ways not always apparent.

While this does not mean that buildings shouldn’t be insulated, he says there needs to be a greater awareness of the implications of what might seem like innocuous improvements to the building fabric & insulation projects.

Take a look at what one housing association in the West Midlands are doing to play their part in going plastic-free.