Predictions for 2022: Brace yourself (part forty-five)

Graeme Dixon

Partner, Horwich Farrelly

Working within property litigation, it will be interesting to see what the ramifications of the government’s commercial rent (Coronavirus) bill will be in 2022 as we’re only starting to see how this is being used in disputes. 2021 showed how resilient we are as a nation and this will continue into 2022. The mandatory changes imposed during a series of lockdowns last year highlighted how flexible the office and retail market can be. We will need to continue this adaptability to achieve success in 2022 with the pandemic being far from over.

David Woolman

Director, Woolbro Group

After enduring a frenzied year of demand sparked by the stamp duty holiday, it’s unlikely the residential sector will have to contend with anything as frantic over the coming 12 months. However, developers must use this forthcoming lull to pile pressure on Michael Gove to come up trumps on planning reform. Though his predecessor’s proposals failed to tackle the core of the issue – that being the over-politicisation of the planning process at a local level – the Planning for The Future whitepaper was a still welcome step forward. Sadly, the sector has, by and large, come to terms with the high probability that the former housing secretary’s ‘once-in-a-generation’ blueprint for reform is set to be watered down beyond recognition by his successor. And if the extent to which the Conservatives were spooked by the Amersham by-election is anything to go by, then it looks even less unlikely that 2022 will deliver anything close to the radical reform Robert Jenrick was dead-set on pursuing only a few months ago. But while this looming U-turn will be at complete odds with the traditional Tory value of boosting homeownership, it will certainly keep anti-development constituents and planning committees in the party’s southern strongholds happy!

Leon Ballard

Co-founder, Least

At present the property industry is laser focused on becoming consumer-led. In doing so, the use of technology will be critical in meeting user-expectations towards speed, transparency and efficiency. It seems logical to predict that proptech will continue to mature and provide the foundation for the built environment to become more flexible and accessible to end users. Doing so, technology will serve to remove the unnecessary processes and the interminable negotiation that has dominated real estate transactions. We see a future where the leasing process is expedited by digital solutions and the time and resources required to complete a transaction are reduced. Providing that high levels of momentum are sustained, proptech will enable the industry to digitise and commoditise. As a result, I would expect to see the demise of archaic legal processes in place of innovative solutions.

Jeff Blaylock

Head of networks, Built by Nature

Reflecting on the past year, we have seen whole-lifecycle frameworks become more prominent in discussions with our partners, and we expect the role of embodied carbon to become part of the mainstream conversation in 2022. Low-carbon materials need to be leveraged now to develop our future building stock. With this in mind, market-ready solutions, such as mass engineered timber, are key to keeping the impact low from the start of a project. In 2022, Built by Nature’s accelerator fund and knowledge-sharing network will focus on expanding into the areas of technological innovation, finance mindset-shifts and city-scale pilots to expand this space. A great example set to be published early next year is the New Model Building, a pre-warrantied, open-source system for a UK multi-storey residential building. There are more of these to come as the year progresses and we look forward to the next round of funding announcements in Q1 2022.

Continue to part 46 here