TOPPING OUT - GERALD COLE
Cold comfort
Six hot tips to keep your new home cool
Some 30 years ago, shortly after my wife and I bought our current house, my in-laws offered us a moving-in present: a set of shutters for the main facade. Naturally I was appalled.
They were entirely decorative, just two bracketing each window – which each boasted four panes – and intended to be fixed permanently in position. To my youthfully prejudiced mind they were not only useless but, worse, unbelievably twee. Nowadays, of course, if anyone made a similar offer, I’d bite their hand off....
GUEST BLOG - Opinions from house building industry insiders
Levelling up time for small builders
You can’t level up without proper planning policy, argues Rico Wojtulewicz, Head of Housing and Planning Policy for the National Federation of Builders
The government has announced a £1.5bin ‘Levelling Up Home Building Fund’ to help small- and medium-sized housebuilders (SMEs) build 42,000 homes and it will form part of their ‘Levelling Up’ white paper. The details of the strategy are expected to be released during this month, but many will ask if it’s old money, old strategy; or, as required, a sign that the government finally understands levelling up needs policy enablement to best use funding promise?
To example this, it is worth exploring a previous failure and comparing that to what a coherent approach might be....
News
Surge in women apprentices
There was a 138 per cent increase in the number of women taking up apprenticeships in construction between 2017 and 2021....
Builders’ merchants’ revenue rises despite fall in sales volumes
Builders merchants recorded the highest revenue since their building index began in 2014 for the second quarter of this year despite a year-on-year drop in sales volume of 11 per cent....
Iconic Straw Bale House opens to the public
Architect Sarah Wigglesworth will open her iconic north London home to the public for the Open House 2022....
