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Variety the great spice

2002-05-17T00:00:00Z

The simple function of registered social landlords is to provide decent homes for those in greatest need. The approaches that housing associations are adopting as they struggle to meet those needs, particularly in the South, are becoming ever more varied and innovative, as this issue of Homes recognises. Network Housing ...

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The industry’s Beckenbauer

2002-05-17T00:00:00Z

Mott MacDonald’s merger with Franklin + Andrews, exclusively revealed in ¾«¶«Ó°ÊÓ last week, reopens the debate about the future of QSs. Martin Bishop, Franklin + Andrews’ chairman, thinks copycat mergers are likely, as is another round of soul searching for QSs (page 20). Bishop saw no future in independence, and ...

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Land and freedom

2002-05-10T00:00:00Z

How far should Whitehall intervene in the housing crisis? Last week's disclosures that the House Builders Federation is lobbying Downing Street to get more land for homes and that Lord Falconer is planning "prefabs for key workers" (see news) has polarised opinion. Interventionists argue that the shortage of homes for ...

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A fiasco in extra time

2002-05-03T00:00:00Z

'Ere we go, 'ere we go, 'ere we go – again. It came as no surprise to the construction or soccer fraternities that the latest round of the epic Wembley Stadium fixture slipped into extra time this week (page 11). As the government's 30 April deadline passed, a German bank ...

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Prudence's big gamble

2002-04-26T00:00:00Z

So, what did Gordon Brown do for – or to – us in the Budget? Depending on your degree of cynicism, he either put 42 new hospitals in the post, or republicised those already sent. Either way, the good news is that a glistening 21-century NHS will boost employment through ...

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Built on sand?

2002-04-19T00:00:00Z

Poor housebuilders. For nearly a decade, they've given the City what they thought it always wanted – year-on-year growth in profits and, latterly, double-digit margins. The response from the Square Mile? Utter indifference. The sector is rated at less than half the stock exchange average. Even contractors, with their 2%-if-you're-lucky ...

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Labour's philosophical fog

2002-04-12T00:00:00Z

So, health minister John Hutton has suddenly realised what construction knew months ago: it is already too late to deliver his new hospitals before the next election. His offer to subsidise bids, truncate tender lists and hire more Whitehall project managers has, therefore, the hallmarks of political panic (pages 28-29). ...

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Where will we live tomorrow?

2002-04-05T00:00:00Z

First transport. Then hospitals and schools. And now housing. Our latest national crisis is the shortage of affordable new homes. London is worst affected, but even Reading's prices are out of reach of nurses and teachers. Once again, we are paying for decades of underinvestment. At a time when the ...

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How Part L will change your life

2002-03-28T00:00:00Z

Nick Raynsford's decision to make buildings greener by overhauling the ¾«¶«Ó°ÊÓ Regulations was always going to have dramatic consequences for the industry. When first mooted in 2000, it threatened everything from masonry construction to the dear old lightbulb – and might have forced the Queen to fit PVCu windows in ...