All Comment articles – Page 4
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Insight
Be up front about fire risk
An industrial multi-tenant property is only as safe as the riskiest tenant.
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Insight
Haysmacintyre’s Paul Atkins on why careful management of tax liabilities is key to navigating cashflow
For developers, the current environment is proving difficult to navigate. After several years of sustained growth in the housing market, prices have been dropping, which, combined with wider economic challenges – not least a sharp rise in interest rates – and the introduction of stringent new regulations, has left developers ...
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News
Logistics: highs and lows
The government’s call for evidence on ‘Freight, Logistics and the Planning System’, a consultation that opened in July, closed earlier this month and we must now await a government response in the fullness of time, whenever that might turn out to be.
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Insight
How will the next government tackle property issues?
Editor: There are several well-documented, interconnected issues affecting the UK property market: the affordability crisis; the imbalance between supply and demand; empty and derelict properties; the planning system; and sustainability.
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Insight
Privatisation may fix planning system
Editor: Britain’s planning system is saddling us with all kinds of social and economic problems and must take a large share of the blame for the housing crisis that is freezing a whole generation out of home ownership.
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Insight
It’s time for a change at the top
Last week’s two by-elections were terrible results for the Conservatives. It’s true that if Reform UK’s vote, which attracts some hard-right Tories, had been added to their vote they would have very narrowly won in Mid-Bedfordshire.
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Insight
UKGBC’s Simon McWhirter on why the built environment needs a paradigm shift
To deliver a sustainable, net zero future, the built environment needs a paradigm shift. We must channel our deep dismay at the government’s short-sighted rollback into a powerful, collective voice focused on the changes we need.
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Online
Creating a greener, fairer urban future
More than 55% of the world’s population lives in urban areas, a figure that the United Nations Human Settlements Programme predicts will reach more than 68% by 2050. At the same time, urban areas contribute to over 70% of global GDP around the world.
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Insight
Fruition’s Parul Scampion on the political chokehold on SME developers
In the modern landscape, political uncertainty has become an ever-present shadow on businesses of all sizes. However, it is the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that bear the brunt of this instability; it undermines the ability to plan, invest and contribute to the critical task of providing much-needed new homes. ...
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Insight
Prestbury Investments’ Nick Leslau on the US investment cycle and its impact on the UK
I am currently in California, a place I haven’t visited since just before Covid-19. Recently, reading that some of the planet’s biggest real estate investors such as Blackstone and Brookfield have been handing back keys to lenders, I have been keen to understand the scope of the problems in the ...
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News
Is infrastructure on track?
The National Infrastructure Commission (NIC), an independent agency formed to give advice to government, now publishes a major review of infrastructure progress once every five years – the first National Infrastructure Assessment having landed in 2018.
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Insight
UK housing’s mixed weather map
“On a bad day… you can see Wales,” a chief executive of a national housebuilder joked some years ago while unveiling homes by the Severn Estuary outside Bristol. Since then, local prices have soared, forcing many workers in the booming Somerset area to buy on the other side of the ...
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Insight
Housing needs Georgian renaissance
Editor: Among opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer’s recent promises about housing, the one that stood out was his pledge to build Georgian-style homes in urban areas. It is easy to see why: Georgian architecture has created some of the UK’s most desirable and aesthetically pleasing homes.
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Insight
RAAC: keep calm and tackle the problem head on
Editor: With the media rightly focusing on the widespread concerns surrounding the use of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) across schools and housing, investors should not panic, but should still examine its potential presence in commercial buildings in their portfolios.
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Insight
Vistry Group’s Jack Brayshaw on waiting for the Future Homes green light
Since the government announced the Future Homes Standard (FHS) in 2021, the housebuilding industry has been working hard to prepare for the new building regulations that come into force in 2025, requiring all homes to be 75% to 80% more energy efficient, and ready to transition to net zero emissions.
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Insight
Net zero brings values into focus
How a business rises to the challenge of reaching net zero reveals a lot about its core values, two leading lawyers from Mishcon de Reya tell Property Week.
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Insight
Local authorities lead the way in implementing net zero housing
It may seem far away, but restructuring our economy to meet net zero by 2050 is a huge undertaking. Despite the challenge, some impressive policy to achieve the government’s legal target is coming forward.
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Insight
ULI’s Lisette van Doorn on why carbon pricing is key to decarbonise real estate
How can real estate collectively address the sector’s impact on the environment to achieve a carbon-neutral, or even carbon-positive, built environment?
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Insight
AXA IM Alts’ Phillip Shalless on the role of community-focused real estate
When it comes to the design and operation of new buildings, environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations are right at the top of the agenda.
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Insight
SEC Newgate’s Laura Leggetter on how gender equity leads to better community engagement
Have you ever thought about the height of the shelves in your office kitchen? Where the main entrance is – or how well it’s lit? How about the amenities around your office: not just the places to grab a sandwich or take clients for a drink, but also the nursery ...