Month: July 2019

The latest news this week in the Property Industry:

How much could prime property prices be increased by under new plans by Boris?

In 2014, George Osborne shook up stamp duty thresholds across the UK. Five years later, Boris wants to roll them back. The changes, made by the then Chancellor, saw the tax thresholds for prime and super-prime properties increase from 5-7% to 10-12%, a move that brought an immediate decline in buyer sentiment and a resulting dip in sold prices across the top end of the market.Read More…

Property market remains resilient as average house prices settle in June

Halifax have released their latest figures this morning and revealed that, despite a less than certain political and financial climate, the UK housing market remains steady. According to the lender, on a monthly basis, house prices fell by just 0.3%, 5.7% higher than in the same three months a year earlier. Halifax says the average price for a home in the UK now stands at £237,110. Read More…

Where is currently the UK’s quickest selling postcode?

The latest research from estate agent comparison site, GetAgent.co.uk, takes a look across the UK to find where homes are selling the quickest in current market conditions. GetAgent’s data looks at all estate agent property sales across each postcode and not only how long they take to sell as a whole, but how this differs between first listed to under offer, and under offer to completion. Read More…

Vast majority of property investors believe government is failing the UK property market

New research from MT Finance has revealed that an overwhelming 97% of property investors do not think the Government is doing enough to support the UK property market. When asked what changes the government could introduce to better support the UK property market, 50% of the 135 property investors surveyed said scrapping the 3% stamp duty surcharge would improve conditions in UK real estate. Read More…

Professional landlords starting to dominate the market

Challenging market conditions, including a combination of increased tax, industry regulation and political uncertainty, seem to have caused a dip in the number of small-scale and accidental landlords in recent years. This has coincided with a rise in the number of professional landlords with large rental property portfolios. In view of this trend, letting agents must ensure they provide a service that meets the expectations of experienced landlords, according to PayProp. Read More…

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The latest news this week in the Water & Utilities Industry:

Onsite Assessment Bolsters Wastewater Technician Training

An overhaul of British water’s wastewater treatment technicians’ training means plant operatives will now undertake onsite assessment to complete the course. The requirement has been made more rigorous to raise standards and incorporate larger plant sizes, up to 1,000 population equivalent (PE). Read More…

Welsh Water CEO Jones To Retire In March

Welsh Water chief executive Chris Jones has decided to retire from the company at the end of March 2020. Jones has served as a director at Welsh Water for nearly 25 years and was a founder of the Glas Cymru not-for-profit ownership model.The requirement has been made more rigorous to raise standards and incorporate larger plant sizes, up to 1,000 population equivalent (PE). Read More…

Scottish Water Horizons Takes Part In Innovative Energy Project

Flexible energy specialist Flexitricity has announced that it has partnered with eight organisations across a range of sectors to trial an innovative solution with the potential to revolutionise the demand side response (DSR) industry. Read More…

Southern Water To Cut Customer Service Jobs

Southern Water has confirmed that many customer service roles will be moving to outsourcing giant Capita. The company said in a statement on its website that it is “two years into a challenging business transformation programme” after the BBC reported that around 200 customer service jobs could be cut at its Worthing and Falmer offices. Read More…

Thames Water Uses Military Tanker To Keep Sewers Running

Thames Water is using a tanker designed for use by the military and united nations relief teams to keep its sewers running smoothly. The JHL recycling jet vac tanker is being used by the company to access remote sewers and culverts across the most difficult terrain, helping to prevent pollution in more isolated locations. Read More…

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The latest news this week in the Construction Industry:

Construction Buyers Report Biggest Output Drop In A Decade

Construction buyers reported the sharpest fall in output in June for more than ten years. The bellwether IHS Markit/CIPS UK Construction Total Activity Index dropped to 43.1 in June, down sharply from 48.6 in May and below the 50.0 no-change mark for the fourth time in the past five months.Read More…

Kier Transfers 120 Maintenance Staff To Highways England

Kier has transferred around 120 staff to highways england as the road agency starts to take phased control of maintenance in the midlands and the south east.Read More…

Slow MMC Housing Uptake Risks 300,000 Homes Target

Government must ramp up efforts to promote modern methods of construction in housing supply or it will fall far short of its target to build 300,000 homes a year by mid-2020s. That is the warning from its housing committee, which is calling for a host of fresh measures to promote faster construction. Read More…

£229M Crest Nicholson And Sovereign Housing Jv Announced

A new £229m joint venture between Crest Nicholson and Sovereign Housing Association is to deliver 920 affordable and intermediate homes at Harry Stoke, Bristol. Crest Nicholson and Sovereign Housing Association announced the formation of a partnership to deliver 920 new homes within the next phase of the 2,700 home residential community at Harry Stoke. Read More…

Lower Thames Crossing boss quits project

Lower Thames Crossing project director Tim Jones is set to leave his post. Jones has served as the £6.8bn project’s director for the last two years, taking it through design and public consultation phases. However, he has decided to hand over the reins as Highways England begins thorough ground investigations on either side of the river Thames. 

Read More…

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This weeks latest news in the Rail Industry:

Network Rail submits indicative bid for troubled British Steel

Railway infrastructure company Network Rail have submitted an indicative bid to take over parts of British Steel in an attempt to save the troubled business. The state-owned company are concerned about disruption to the rail network if British Steel were to permanently close.  Read More…

Plans for Cardiff’s £1bn transport network unveiled

The network proposes a new ‘Cardiff Cross Rail’, a new light rail and tram system running from east to west of the city. Speaking at a Welsh Government Conference on Active Travel, council leader Cllr Huw Thomas called for major changes to the city’s transport infrastructure.  Read More…

Hydrogen trains could replace local electrification

Local commuter trains powered by hydrogen could replace the need for electrification on smaller routes, an industry expert has suggested.  Read More…

TfW starts work on £100m South Wales Metro depot

Transport for Wales (TfW) has begun work on a £100m depot for the South Wales Metro to support vehicles on the system. The depot at Taff’s Well is set to play a key part in the network which aims to be running from 2022, part of a wider £5bn investment to transform Wales’ transport infrastructure.  Read More…

‘The challenge of completing Crossrail’

With a new plan now in place to deliver Crossrail, Hedley Ayres, National Audit Office manager, major projects and programmes, takes a look at how things went wrong. As has been extensively reported, Crossrail is around two years late and, if all its £17.6bn of funding is used, could end up costing around £3bn more than expected.  Read More…

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