The current market remains depressed with housing starts well down on normal, resulting in the manufacturing and merchant sector operating well below capacity and skilled job losses in the housing sector.

The Labour Government is committed to private and public homebuilding and to the delivery of 1.5 million new homes by the end of the current parliament. Despite the announcements on new towns and falling interest rates, this target is very unlikely to be met.

Initiatives include an overhaul of the planning system to facilitate increased development, new targets for local delivery of new homes including council houses and investment in retrofit.

Key to success will be to address the demand side close the affordability gap, particularly for first time buyers.
 

The Future Homes Standard assessment is the methodology which will be used to demonstrate that new dwellings comply with the Future Homes Standard.

This will replace the Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) version 10.2 for the energy rating of dwellings.

The Home Energy Model: Future Homes Standard assessment is still under development, and the Government has stated that that a new version of SAP will run alongside HEM for an undetermined period.

The Building Alliance is working with others to support the process to produce software that is fit for purpose and in good time to support the smooth introduction of the Future Homes Standard.

The Grenfell inquiry Report highlights the systemic failures of a construction sector driven by a race to the bottom, incompetence, very poor behaviour and inadequate regulation and control. It is totally unacceptable that multiple buildings over18 metres high and thousands over 11 metres high are yet to be remediated and that this continues to blight the lives of residents who are hostages in unsafe buildings causing financial and mental health issues.
 
The failures of course run much deeper than might be imagined. The issues start with a culture of cost cutting driven by a procurement cycle where the cheapest price is often outweighing other considerations including quality and, sadly, life safety.

Government’s constant war to cut ‘red tape’ have also allowed for the greater use of combustible materials, despite a historic record of disasters dating back to the Great Fire of London. The industry gave the government numerous warnings before 72 people died in the Grenfell Tower fire.
 
The warnings did not just come from industry experts. Trust in local and national Government has been further eroded by a refusal to listen to the voice of the tenants.

The residents of Grenfell repeatedly and accurately predicted the disaster that was about to happen but sadly they were ignored. For seven years since we have continued to play a game of chance, hoping that another Grenfell tragedy does not occur.

The Grenfell Inquiry itself identified both incompetence and poor behaviour as key factors resulting in the tragedy.
 
We should not be surprised that organisations seeking commercial advantage are prepared to work closely with manufacturers to ensure regulatory testing produces a positive test result.

If that wasn’t bad enough, we have witnessed wholly unacceptable behaviours of those involved in the specification, design and installation of the changes to Grenfell Tower, which changed a non-combustible concrete building into an inferno.
 
Not only did companies and individuals take on work that significantly exceeded their competence, but some also acted dishonestly to win orders, with a total disregard for the life-threatening consequences.

Action is required now to ensure the end of a culture that resulted in this tragic loss of life and has blighted so many people’s lives.
 
The Building Alliance is committed to addressing this critical issue and rebuilding trust and confidence in our industry. 

This includes sitting on Government Advisory forums, Chair of the West Midlands Social Housing Group, producing industry guidance, speaking at conferences and extending knowledge through training.
 
In his role as a Visiting Professor at Birmingham City University Mike Leonard is working with ABBE to launch a new qualification on Behaviours and he also pioneered the first Fire Engineering Degree Apprenticeship.

The Government intend to make the changes set out in the consultation, reversing the changes made in December 2023 to what was previously paragraph 61 regarding the word ‘advisory’ and removing the reference to the exceptional circumstance in which the use of alternative approaches to assess housing need may be appropriate.

Revised planning practice guidance on assessing housing needs and additional guidance on setting a housing requirement have been published.

The Government confirmed that local planning authorities are again required to demonstrate a five-year housing land supply.

There are many authorities who’s local housing need figures will be substantially larger than their adopted or emerging local plan  housing requirement figures, and to help close the gap, Government are introducing a new requirement that authorities with plans adopted under the old standard method must provide an extra year’s worth of homes in their 5-year housing pipeline.