Howard Trotter, Business Manager of Birmingham-based window and door manufacturer Shelforce, reacts to the news that three quarters of the fire doors inspected in the UK did not meet the required standard.
InstallerSHOW is back from 21st to 23rd June and it’s bigger and better than ever this year in a new home at Birmingham’s NEC. InstallerSHOW will bring together over 300 exhibitors, 100 speakers and 10,000 visitors over the three days, with a packed exhibition of all the latest plumbing, heating and electrical products, plus a host of ideas and solutions to help the industry decarbonise buildings on the route to net zero.
It is an inconvenient truth, but some developers do not want or like to build affordable homes. Many claim they will suffer from significantly reduced profit margins – taking their earnings below 20% - and this is the prime excuse given at the planning stage to try and avoid the issue, according to Global, the country’s fastest growing supplier of home warranties – but says the company - it does not have to be like that.
Most developers do not have a choice and planners will insist that they will have to include some element of affordable properties into the mix, but with the pressure on margins it is inevitable that some will cut corners and deliver poor quality. This in turn can put even more of a strain on margins – a situation, claims Global, that could be avoided by getting it right first time.
Current planning conditions state that developers building between five and nine homes must ensure 20 per cent of them are affordable - more than nine, then this figure rises to 30 per cent. That figure can further rise to 40 per cent for greenfield sites.
Managing a portfolio of projects in the housing sector is a skilled juggling act. With so many different targets to hit, competing priorities and limited resources, focus need to be on high impact items. How do you plan and sequence your portfolio to deliver maximum value?
Overwhelmingly, 97% of organisations believe that project management is critical to business performance and organisational success, according to a PwC study. Yet delivering a portfolio of projects successfully is never straight forward and around 70% of projects fail, according to PMI.
There has never been a sharper focus on how we heat and power our buildings. With fuel prices soaring and deadlines for energy-efficiency improvements fast approaching, housing developers and social landlords are at the forefront of the challenge to decarbonise our homes, both new and existing. It’s with this in mind that the elemental content theatres, which are free-to-attend and running alongside InstallerSHOW at Birmingam’s NEC in June, have been put together.
Designed for an audience of social housing and built environment professionals, the three-day conference programme will feature thought-provoking discussion and an opportunity to learn about the key issues facing the industry when it comes to energy and heat.
Housing associations under pressure to make budgets work harder and ensure tenant satisfaction with the properties they provide and maintain, should consider the installation, performance, sustainability, aesthetic, and cost benefits of low maintenance PVC-U solutions for both exterior and internal living spaces. Hazel Verschuere, building products director from Deeplas explains more.
With over 1500 housing associations in operation in the UK, responsible for two million homes that provide safe and secure living spaces for five million people*, the importance of the role of housing associations cannot be underestimated.
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