The Debate: Should London’s suburbs be spikier? October 17, 2024 A housing crisis and London’s relatively flat skyline have prompted calls for building taller (or ‘spikier’) in the suburbs. Growth bros on Twitter are desperate for London to “densify”, i.e. cram more buildings into a smaller space by building taller structures or extending current buildings upwards. Yet London’s outer regions are typically flat with parks, [...]
Housing is an opportunity, not a problem September 28, 2024 Operating in a sector so often labelled as ‘in crisis’, it’s easy to forget that housing is a safer investment than many realise, says Chris Benn City grandee Sir Nigel Wilson published a report this month that outlined how Britain will need to invest £1tn over the next decade to realise its growth potential. It’s [...]
We need more new towns like Brent Cross – but we need them in the right places September 25, 2024 Brent Cross is London's newest park town. Its proximity to London has been crucial to making it a success, writes Tom Goodall
Right to Buy isn’t to blame for depleted social housing stock September 10, 2024 Right to Buy created a generation of homeowners and enabled mass transfer of capital wealth from the state to the people. No wonder Labour want to abolish it, says Emma Revell Imagine you could introduce a policy which could create more than 2m new homeowners over the next 40 years. Would you do it? Or [...]
How brickies built the UK’s fastest growing radio broadcaster September 5, 2024 Video may have killed the radio star, but builders are bringing it back. Fix Radio CEO Louis Timpany tells Morning Wire how he built the UK’s fastest growing national broadcaster.
Building on the green belt won’t fix the housing crisis September 5, 2024 Labour’s plans to relax protection for the green belt will incentivise developers to build expensive houses for commuters while leaving city centre brownfield sites to rot, says Sam Fowles Labour has put solving the housing crisis front and centre, promising to build 1.5 million new homes by the end of the parliament. But its key [...]
Build, Baby, Build: The Apprenticeship Levy is a tax by another name August 23, 2024 SME house builders need to attract young talent more than ever, but the inflexible Apprenticeship Levy is standing in the way, says Rowland Thomas The new Labour Government’s pro-development approach and commitment to getting Britain back building has been largely welcomed by the housebuilding industry. However, even if the Government delivers on its promise to [...]
Hold the champagne, the housing market upturn is meaningless without rental reform August 21, 2024 The recovery in the UK housing market recovery is redundant while the rental sector remains in pieces, writes Purplebricks CEO Sam Mitchell.
Overlooking the role of migrant workers will be the death of our housebuilding ambitions August 17, 2024 Labour’s pledge to get Britain building again is encouraging, but we can’t reach their targets without construction workers – and, crucially, immigration, writes Haman Manak Out of all the sectors addressed in Labour’s early days of government, housebuilding has been one of the big winners. Starmer and co have promised to build 1.5m homes over [...]
Danger! Labour want all our new homes to be ugly August 9, 2024 Labour thinks it's 'ridiculous' to consider beauty when building new homes and towns. That's a travesty, says James Price