New research released by Wales Co-operative Centre, with support from the Nationwide Foundation, has found that residents’ experience improved mental wellbeing and happiness as well as skills development from living in co-operative and community-led housing (CCLH) schemes.

Housing minister Esther McVey has appointed a modern methods of construction (MMC) champion. Consultant Cast’s chief executive Mark Farmer will take up the role aimed at providing the government with independent scrutiny and advice on how to increase the use of MMC in homebuilding.

Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, has recently written to local councils urging them to utilise the funding which the Government has made available to them for the establishment of electric vehicle charging infrastructure

The government has launched a competition to for architects and housing providers to design homes of the future fit to tackle the problems of clean growth and an ageing society.

Writing in Housing Today, Luke O’Donovan reports that at a recent debate on the quality of new homes, architect Paul Karakusevic, of Karakusevic Carson Architects, described most volumetric modular homes – ones that are fully constructed offsite – as a “blight” on their locations. Similarly, Cany Ash, of architect Ash Sakula, said the government’s ever […]

Writing in BIM+, Jacob Wardrop, director at 28Hands, part of the Arup Group, explains that despite the growth and prominence of mobile messengers and chat apps, email remains an integral part of daily work life. However, its abundant use has created an overload of information, leaving many businesses struggling to keep up with the volume […]

Back in May Construction Index carried an article confirming that Sekisui House has set up in the UK with £22m of its own money and £30m from the government’s Home Building Fund, administered through Homes England.

Traditional Danish seaweed thatching could be updated into a sustainable contemporary building material, according to research by Kathryn Larsen. Copenhagen School of Business and Design student Larsen became interested in the potential for seaweed architecture after studying the Viking practice of thatching roofs using eelgrass on the island of Læsø

Countryside Properties plans to ramp up its offsite housing activity by opening two new factories to build modular homes, taking its potential offsite output to 7,500 units a year by 2023. The housebuilder’s expansion of its offsite operations will add two new £6m plants in the Midlands and the South-east

Writing for Build-It’s Self-Build Zone. Andy Butcher reminds us that one of the most important parts of a project is to ensure you’re dealing with well-designed, properly-realised foundations. Considering 30% of build costs will be underground, there is a lot to think about. “What’s more” he adds, “the work will need to be thoroughly mapped […]

Writing in BIM+. Denise Chevin uncovers the strategies of some of the new players flooding into the market hoping to capitalise from Government backing and growing investor interest in the offsite sector.