Just a couple of weeks ago I was at the CESW awards in Bristol; yet again it was a great showcase of the interesting projects that are going on across our region. It was the first time for a few years that a project or organisation from Dorset hasn’t been on the Winners list, but aside from that there were winners from every other county in our region, showing the geographical spread of best practice.
What is interesting to note, especially in light of the housing commitments that the new Labour Government are making, is the prevalence of both Modern Methods of Construction and Refurbishment and Retrofit of existing buildings. I think it likely that both of these sectors will need to be at the heart of any housing policy if the construction industry is to get close to meeting the targets set for new homes. Both of these sectors also rely on innovation and collaboration to be successful, core values of the Constructing Excellence movement, which means that our members should be ideally placed to rise to this challenge.
The Labour Government has confirmed that mandatory housing targets will be reintroduced, meaning that local authorities will have to plan for the number of homes identified under the standard method for calculating housing need, rather than producing their own assessment.
This could have an immediate impact. As many local authorities have an adopted local plan with an annual housing target lower than the need identified under the standard method, and several have emerging plans with lower draft annual targets.
A further problem is that the standard method alone would not produce enough homes to meet Labour’s five-year ambitions. At a national level, the calculation totals around 290,000 homes per year. In reality, it will take years for changes to planning regulations to have an impact on construction activity. More clarity is needed on whether Labour will revise the standard method itself to produce higher targets nationally or identify high growth locations where local authorities would be expected to go beyond the current baseline.
When it comes to the thorny problem of green belt, deputy prime minister Angela Rayner is expected to instruct local authorities to regularly review their green belt boundaries, marking a clear change from her predecessors’ policies. Particular attention will be paid to the ‘grey belt’, that is, previously developed or low-quality land that has limited environmental credentials. Where land in the greenbelt is developed, new “golden rules” will require developers to provide 50 per cent affordable housing with a focus on social renter accommodation coupled with plans for more schools, GP surgeries and transport links.
Other challenges will be harder to resolve. Large scale development needs to be supported by infrastructure investment.
Grid capacity and water availability are delaying schemes in many parts of the country.
More grant funding is needed to resolve the lack of financial capacity among affordable providers.
Investment is also being called for in Education, Healthcare and the Prison Estate.
The next few years should certainly be an exciting time to be part of the Construction industry. Historically, the UK construction sector has been a vital sector for the UK economy and a key driver of growth. In spite of the challenges the sector has recently faced, construction continues to be one of the largest UK sectors and a key source of the UK’s value added and employment.
