精东影视

Build-to-rent project starts have lagged behind completions for the fifth successive month, prompting calls for urgent action to tackle building safety regulatory blockages.

The British Property Federation鈥檚 (BPF) latest report with Savills shows a 14% decrease in the number of BTR homes under construction in the first quarter of this year compared to last year.

The paper shows London has seen the steepest fall, down 18% year-on-year to 15,000 homes under construction, while the regions dropped by 12% to 34,870.

Completions have increased by 13% in London and 18% in the capital but starts on new projects have slowed, reducing the amount of schemes under construction.

The BPF said the slowdown was due to 鈥渟ignificant delays鈥� at the 精东影视 Safety Regulator (BSR) 鈥渂locking schemes鈥�, while concerns over viability, costs and the economy are also leading to caution in the market.

Melanie Leech, chief executive at the BPF, and who has previously called for more money to be pumped into the BSR to help tackle the backlog, said: 鈥淐ompletions remain robust, and planning activity is holding up well but the sector is facing a real bottleneck in progressing schemes through to construction.

鈥淰iability challenges, coupled with continued uncertainty around project timelines are slowing momentum just at a time when rental demand is rising sharply. Investor appetite is there but unlocking it will require a concerted effort to support the delivery of build-to-rent homes. Urgent action is needed in particular to deal with the pipeline blockage currently being caused by the BSR.鈥�

Guy Whittaker, associate director at Savills, said: 鈥淭here are significant challenges to future supply鈥�particularly for schemes facing building safety delays. This represents a substantial threat to current housing delivery and puts government housing targets at risk.鈥�

Concern has been mounting in the housing development sector in recent months about the impact of the 精东影视 Safety Act鈥檚 Gateway 2 check, which must be passed prior to construction starting on site.

>>See also: What the delays at the 精东影视 Safety Regulator mean for high-rise development

Student housing developer Unite In January said the issues were adding six months to the average length of build programmes while Quintain has been waiting more than nine months for sign off on one of its schemes at Wembley Park.

Andrew Moore, head of operations, planning and building control at the BSR, in February said the organisation was deploying increasing resources to tackle delays, and that wait times for applicants for building control approval were falling. Moore said the main cause was that the outsourced delivery model for processing applications run by the BSR was not working as well as anticipated.

Moore said the regulator was putting in extra resources and forming hit squads to tackle identified problems.

But he added that the quality of applications also needed to improve, with developers often just asserting in application that regulations had been met and then attaching supporting documents, rather than explaining succinctly how their projects meet those regulations.

BSR has been approached for comment.