Sunday morning thoughts and reflections

On a gloomy Sunday morning what better things to do than reflect on the world! This week we have commenced reviewing the submissions to the Yorkshire Residential Property Awards and I’ll you if people say residential developments are boring they should read some of these – certainly some high quality submissions but I’ll say no more and you’ll have to wait until the winners are announced in October. We have also been asked to host an event for women in construction – it makes me think to previous events we have hosted ourselves in the sector and to be honest you struggle to think of women in senior positions in construction. In this day and age that can’t be right but I guess is there the role models to make women want to enter what has historically been a male dominated sector.

Construction industry leaders from across the sector have urged employers to do more to promote and encourage women into the industry and into leadership positions. The challenge I see is that is their currently sufficient reinforcement of success and engagement in the industry for women. I have worked with a number of women in the industry who are more than capable of doing the role they do and they do it with significant success but is there the profile around it? Given there is research showing women produced three times better returns than men in listed businesses makes you think why would you not want to encourage more women into the industry.  The industry needs to take ownership of this and drive it continually forward.

But there is even more to think about in the industry which seems to have enough issues to keep an army busy for years! Firstly I am surprised by the attack David Cameron has started on overseas money. Yes he means well – we need to be more transparent but let’s be honest most overseas money coming into the UK is from reputable sources and is helping fund the likes of PRS – which in turn helps on the housing crisis. It resonates strongly with me due to a charity I am involved in that this negativity does nothing but damage reputations of good honest people. The message is clear from Mr Cameron “we need to stop foreigners owning so much London property and inflating prices to the point honest British folk can’t afford to live there” well I do disagree strongly for the points raised above.

And from blue to another with Boris Johnson drawing up plans for fixed targets of around 25% for affordable homes on major sites in London in a move aimed at speeding up development in the capital. The problem though is that 25% is below the 35% to 50% targets for affordable homes adopted by London boroughs. So why would we take a step back? The simple fact is in London to get on the housing ladder takes either luck, family support and a lot of saving so affordable homes are needed. The flip side though is that some schemes are likely to be unviable with more than 10 – 15% affordable homes – so does this target not only move things in a worse direction to what is already adopted but could also make some schemes redundant – much need homes redundant.

 

Feel free to contact me 0113 288 2276 or lee.a.wilkinson@uk.pwc.com if you wish to discuss this blog or anything relevant to property and construction.

Enjoy the weekend

Lee

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Good and bad news for the construction sector

There is a good feeling about returning to work feeling refreshed after a few weeks off work but sadly the feelings around the construction and housing sector aren’t. After spending a week enjoying the sights and amazing buildings in Northumberland and Scottish Borders it is regrettable to hear that the construction adviser role has been axed by the business minister Sajid Javid – which ultimately raised concerns about the delivery of Construction 2025.



The Construction 2025 includes four specific targets, a 33% reduction in the cost of construction, a 50% cut in greenhouse gas emissions in the built environment, a 50% cut in the time taken to build, and a 50% cut in the trade gap that exists between construction exports and imports. But now I am concerned that given the leadership council has been reduced from 30 to 12 and the adviser role axed that delivering this is unlikely. This is summed up effectively by Graham Watts, chief executive the Construction Industry Council, said: “The future of Construction 2025 now is ambiguous, and I think it’s likely the specifics will be buried. There will be new targets and new objectives - essentially they’ll move on. The industry needs some clarity on this as soon as possible.”



It hasn’t all been bad news after it was revealed there could be twice as much brownfield land in England and Wales than official government figures have suggested, raising the prospect that many more homes than expected could be built on former industrial sites. To me brownfield land is a useful resource to help deliver the homes needed for the country but there is still the issue that planning is too complicated and time consuming.

But the second piece of good news was the plans to grant automatic permission, in principle, for homes on brownfield sites that are identified in a new statutory register of brownfield land. This effectively gives automatic planning permission – sounds good but also extremely dangerous and surely there needs to be some element of checking a development before letting a developer go full steam ahead. So it is welcome news but more details are needed.

There is a need for land to become available quicker and therefore I am all for the changes to the permission process but I still think there needs to be an element of checking otherwise you run the risk of people taking advantage. These plans should help unlock areas that need redevelopment but remember these sites are usually contaminated land or need significant infrastructure investment and this needs careful management to ensure it is fit for purpose. It’s all a good move and things are in the right direction but let’s just be sensible about what developments we simply rubber stamp.

Feel free to contact me 0113 288 2276 or lee.a.wilkinson@uk.pwc.com if you wish to discuss this blog or anything relevant to property and construction.

Enjoy the weekend

Lee