Friday, 25 May 2012

Inside Housing
Nick Duxbury Editorial

Nick runs the news desk on Inside Housing, and covers sustainability stories for the magazine and website.

Stories by this author.

  • Landlords fear lenders could scupper green deal

    25/05/2012

    Landlords fear the government’s flagship retrofit scheme could be derailed by lenders because it might reduce property values.

  • Social landlords sign up with retrofit finance body

    23/05/2012

    A host of social landlords have joined the Green Deal Finance Company which has now doubled its membership since it was incorporated in March.

  • Landlords to float on stock exchange

    18/05/2012

    A consortium of 10 housing associations is to list a company made up of 10,000 social homes on the junior London stock exchange in September.

  • Government policies 'are failing housing'

    17/05/2012

    The government’s housing policies are failing to mend Britain’s ‘broken housing market’, according to a damning report from three leading housing bodies.

  • Landlords sceptical about green deal

    11/05/2012

    Social landlords believe the government’s flagship retrofit scheme will be unpopular with their tenants.

  • Power players join forces to ‘stress test’ green deal

    03/05/2012

    Landlords, energy companies and major retailers have joined forces to provide the first comprehensive stress test of the government’s flagship retrofit scheme.

  • Green energy consultancy rebrands after buy out

    30/04/2012

    Green energy consultancy Camco Advisory Services, which works extensively across the housing sector, has rebranded following a management buy-out of the company from its international parent.

  • Landlords get option of free solar panels

    20/04/2012

    A contractor and supplier have developed the first model to allow social landlords to install photovoltaic panels on their tenants’ roofs for free under the government’s reformed solar subsidy system.

  • Coalition ministers split over green initiative

    19/04/2012

    A rift has opened up between ministers at the helm of the Communities and Local Government department over plans to require households to carry out energy-efficiency work if they extend their home.

  • Grand Designs presenter attacks green deal row

    17/04/2012

    Celebrity green architect and TV presenter Kevin McCloud has waded into the row over reports the government will scrap plans to link building regulations with the government’s flagship energy efficiency programme, the green deal.

  • Shapps refutes claims he wants green deal ditched

    16/04/2012

    Housing minister Grant Shapps has rejected claims that he wants the government to abandon its multi-billion pound flagship energy efficiency scheme.

  • Landlords win access to £190m fuel poverty fund

    13/04/2012

    Government responds to Inside Housing’s Green Light campaign by redesigning the energy company obligation

  • Plans to raise £200m for energy-efficiency fund

    13/04/2012

    The Housing Finance Corporation is in talks with the European Investment Bank to create a £200 million investment for up to 20 housing associations to carry out energy-efficiency works.

  • Government amends fuel poverty subsidy funding

    11/04/2012

    The government has amended its flagship retrofit policy so that social landlords are no longer entirely excluded from fuel poverty subsidy funding.

  • Ruling hands ALMO £10m

    30/03/2012

    A landmark legal ruling on solar subsidies will result in a £10 million profit for an arm’s-length management organisation.

  • Charity leaves 'under-resourced' work programme

    29/03/2012

    A London-based charity has dropped out of the government’s flagship welfare to work programme claiming that it is insufficiently resourced to get homeless people into work.

  • Government loses appeal over FIT rate

    23/03/2012

    The Supreme Court has today rejected the government’s attempt to appeal against two previous court rulings that it acted unlawfully in cutting solar subsidies retrospectively in December.

  • Analysts improve UK growth forecast

    21/03/2012

    Chancellor George Osborne today revealed that the UK economy is set to grow more quickly than expected this year.

  • EU threatens government with house price rise fine

    16/03/2012

    The UK government could be fined millions of pounds by the European Union if it judges that house prices are rising too quickly, under new rules.

  • Ministers’ homelessness prevention plan attacked

    16/03/2012

    The government’s new homelessness strategy could flop because it does not contain any plans to penalise poorly performing councils.

  • Homelessness figures rise by 14 per cent

    08/03/2012

    The number of people accepted as homeless in England has soared by 14 per cent in the last year, government figures today reveal.

  • Fuel poverty to rise by 38% despite green deal

    02/03/2012

    The number of fuel poor households living in English social housing is expected to soar by 38 per cent by 2016 as the government’s flagship energy efficiency policies fail to tackle the problem, exclusive figures show.

  • Unlocking ambitions

    02/03/2012

    A year after becoming a housing association, First Choice Homes Oldham is counting its blessings, as Nick Duxbury discovers

  • Council ‘dumbing down’ rough sleeper numbers

    24/02/2012

    A homelessness charity in north Wiltshire has accused a council of under-reporting the number of rough sleepers on its streets.

  • Housing central to new political party

    24/02/2012

    A new political party has been formed to campaign specifically on housing and raise its profile in the capital.

  • Supreme Court appeal puts FIT rates at risk

    23/02/2012

    The government will be able retrospectively change tariffs for already installed solar schemes if it wins a legal battle over the cutting of solar subsidies, campaigners have warned.

  • Big win for Green Light campaign

    17/02/2012

    Social landlords are set to be exempted from an extra 20 per cent cut to the feed-in tariff as part of a government overhaul of the solar subsidy system unveiled last week.

  • Landlord planning to be first green deal provider

    10/02/2012

    A small south west housing association is looking to become one of the first landlords to set up as a provider under the £14 billion green deal plan.

  • Social housing could be saved from extra FIT cut

    09/02/2012

    The government is consulting on plans to protect social housing solar photovoltaic panel schemes from an especially heavy cut to solar subsidies as part of an overhaul of the feed-in tariff system.

  • Solar subsidy to be linked to PV panel costs

    09/02/2012

    The government will today move to shore up the future of the bruised solar sector by announcing an overhaul of the way renewable subsidies are paid.

  • New energy secretary urged to resolve FIT row

    06/02/2012

    Friends of the Earth has called on the newly installed energy secretary to step up and sort out ‘the mess’ over solar subsidies.

  • Davey to take on green role as Huhne resigns

    03/02/2012

    Liberal Democrat MP Ed Davey is to become the coalition government’s new secretary of state for the environment, overseeing key initiatives such as the green deal.

  • Carbon cut targets slashed for house builders

    03/02/2012

    The government has scaled back carbon reduction targets for house builders that will come into force ahead of the move to ‘zero carbon’ in 2016.

  • Landlords to be forced to improve energy efficiency

    01/02/2012

    The government is planning to use building regulations as a means of increasing take-up of its flagship retrofit scheme, the green deal when it is introduced in October.

  • Landlords dust off PV schemes

    27/01/2012

    Social landlords are moving to capitalise on a brief window of opportunity, in which cuts to the feed-in tariff could be reversed, by kick-starting abandoned schemes.

  • New regulation to cause a dip in eco-standards

    27/01/2012

    Eco-standards could slump across the social housing sector as a result of government regulatory reforms, a leading green body has warned.

  • Judges reject government’s solar cuts appeal

    25/01/2012

    The government has lost its appeal against a High Court ruling that an earlier than expected cut to solar subsidies is illegal.

  • British Gas: Government CERT targets unrealistic

    24/01/2012

    British Gas has warned the government that energy companies will not meet suppliers’ obligation targets – meaning they could be fined up to 10 per cent of its global turnover by watchdog, Ofgem.

  • Crime watch

    20/01/2012

    The government wants to make the unlawful sub-letting of social homes a criminal offence. So what are the challenges and will its proposals bring an end to the practice? Nick Duxbury investigates

  • Firms line up with green deal concerns

    20/01/2012

    A group of leading companies including major high street retailers Marks & Spencer and Homebase have called on the government to amend its flagship retrofit scheme so social landlords are not excluded from subsidy to tackle fuel poverty.

  • Government proposes new FIT cut date

    19/01/2012

    The government has moved to address the uncertainty surrounding the feed-in tariff by proposing a cut from 3 March if the government loses its legal battle.

  • Group to call on Cameron to resolve FIT row

    13/01/2012

    An environmental campaign group will call on prime minister David Cameron to personally intervene to resolve the ongoing legal clash between the government and solar bodies over its early cut to solar subsidies.

  • Landlords await feed-in tariff ruling

    13/01/2012

    Social landlords and solar lobbyists will today find out whether the government has successfully appealed a High Court ruling that an early cut to solar subsidies was illegal.

  • Places for People launches second UK retail bond

    12/01/2012

    Places for People is tapping up retail investors on the bond market for the second time in seven months to help fund its capital expenditure programme.

  • FIT ruling ‘too late’ for sector

    06/01/2012

    Most abandoned social housing solar photovoltaic schemes are unlikely to be revived even if a legal battle leads to government solar subsidy cuts being reversed until April.

  • Government lodges appeal against solar cut ruling

    04/01/2012

    The government has lodged an appeal against last month’s High Court ruling that an early cut to solar subsidies was illegal.

  • Campaigners claim FIT legal victory

    21/12/2011

    Campaigners fighting government plans to slash solar subsidies are claiming a major victory in court.

  • Legal showdown over proposed cuts to FIT

    16/12/2011

    Friends of the Earth and two solar companies are set to clash with the government over its cut to the feed-in-tariff in a legal showdown next Tuesday.

  • 38,000 households denied energy savings

    16/12/2011

    More than 38,000 social households across Britain will miss out on energy savings worth an estimated £7.2 million a year as a result of this week’s cut to the feed-in tariff.

  • Willmott Dixon sets up green deal arm

    16/12/2011

    Willmott Dixon has set up a new company so it can become a ‘major’ green deal provider as part of the government’s flagship retrofit scheme.

  • Councils could be forced to take green deal role

    09/12/2011

    Local authorities could next year be ‘required’ to take part in the government’s flagship retrofit scheme, the green deal.

  • Solar firm makes PV viable despite FIT cut

    09/12/2011

    A solar firm has worked with lenders, accountants, lawyers and a housing association to develop a lease model to work with the new, low-rate feed-in tariff.

  • The green deal dilemma

    09/12/2011

    The exclusion of social landlords from key fuel poverty funds leaves a weak business case for the green deal, as Nick Duxbury discovers

  • Green deal ‘won’t work’ for social housing

    02/12/2011

    The government’s flagship green deal retrofit scheme will fail to achieve national carbon reduction targets and exacerbate fuel poverty in social housing unless it is amended, experts have warned.

  • Report: ‘Housing staff should police riots’

    02/12/2011

    Front line housing staff should ‘patrol the streets’ to prevent future riots, according to the official report into the summer’s disturbances.

  • Solar cuts threaten 4,500 jobs at Carillion

    01/12/2011

    Carillion Energy Services emerged as the biggest casualty of the government’s early cut to the feed in tariff so far as it announced that the solar reforms meant 4,500 jobs were under threat.

  • Borrowing forecasts rise as economy falters

    29/11/2011

    Chancellor George Osborne has increased UK government borrowing forecasts and reduced growth predictions in his autumn statement today.

  • Councils to take on £30bn as HRA debt skyrockets

    25/11/2011

    Councils have seen the debt burden they are set to shoulder as part of self-financing reforms to the housing revenue account balloon to £29.6 billion.

  • Fuel poverty campaign hits House of Commons

    25/11/2011

    Inside Housing lobbied parliament this week after the UK’s first Green Party MP tabled an early day motion to the House of Commons to support our Green Light campaign.

  • Government sets out right to buy plans

    21/11/2011

    The government has outlined the first details of how it will make the reintroduction of the right to buy work for councils and housing associations in its housing strategy.

  • Landlords await their fate ahead of strategy

    18/11/2011

    Prime minister David Cameron is expected to announce new funding and plans to build up to 450,000 new homes in the government’s long-awaited housing strategy.

  • Last rent-a-roof PV scheme?

    11/11/2011

    Westcountry Housing Association has become the first, and possibly the last, social landlord to complete a rent-a-roof solar photovoltaic scheme on its properties.

  • The final countdown

    11/11/2011

    Last week the government placed a stick of dynamite under social landlords’ sustainability plans with a shock cut to the feed-in tariff. Nick Duxbury examines the fallout

  • Second legal challenge to FIT cuts emerges

    10/11/2011

    The government is facing its second legal challenge in a week over its proposed cuts to the feed-in tariff from a consortium of solar companies.

  • Landlord reducing PV investment due to FIT cuts

    07/11/2011

    Peabody is hacking back its multi-million investment in solar panels by half as a result of the government’s cuts to the feed-in tariff.

  • Tariff cut leaves solar plans on the scrapheap

    04/11/2011

    The sun set on landlords’ solar ambitions this week as an unexpectedly savage cut to a subsidy payment for solar photovoltaic panels left the majority of social housing PV schemes unviable.

  • Landlords reluctant to sign green deal pledge

    28/10/2011

    The social housing sector is holding back from signing a pledge of support for the government’s flagship retrofit scheme because of fears it will be excluded from millions of pounds of subsidy funding.

  • Economists call for more investment in housing

    21/10/2011

    Leading economists have called on the government to invest in housing as a way to prevent a ‘double-dip’ recession.

  • ECO subsidy threat to low-income tenants

    20/10/2011

    Money raised from energy bills to subsidise the government’s national retrofit programme could exacerbate fuel poverty for thousands of low-income households, an independent report has warned.

  • Landlords to be blocked from fuel poverty funding

    14/10/2011

    The government is planning to exclude social landlords from accessing millions of pounds of funding to tackle fuel poverty.

  • Young people struggling to get own home

    13/10/2011

    Rising living costs, an increase in youth unemployment and the continuing difficulty in getting on the property ladder is forcing people to stay at home or remain in the private rented sector for longer according to research from HomeLet.

  • 'House building ice age' warning issued to govt

    12/10/2011

    Housebuilders have warned government to stand firm on its planning proposals or risk a ‘house building ice age’.

  • Contract renegotiations put solar deals at risk

    07/10/2011

    Housing associations are facing the prospect of eleventh-hour renegotiations over photovoltaic panel ‘rent-a-roof’ deals worth hundreds of millions of pounds, following guidance published this week.

  • Eco-energy scheme delay

    07/10/2011

    The government has had to postpone the launch of its £860 million renewable heat incentive as a result of concerns from the European Commission.

  • Companies give green deal finance a boost

    04/10/2011

    Banks, energy companies and retailers have come together to form a not for profit company that will reduce the cost of finance in the government’s flagship retrofit scheme, the green deal.

  • Banks block landlords’ solar plans

    16/09/2011

    Social landlords’ plans to install photovoltaic panels on their homes are being blocked by banks refusing to sign off hundreds of millions of pounds worth of ‘rent-a-roof’ deals.

  • Cameron steps into planning reform row

    16/09/2011

    Prime minister David Cameron has stepped in to defuse an escalating row over the government’s proposed planning reforms.

  • Brokerage to allocate ECO funds

    09/09/2011

    The government is planning to introduce an independent brokerage to allocate energy company obligation funding to ensure equal access for green deal providers in its flagship retrofit scheme.

  • Energy efficiency fund for London

    09/09/2011

    London mayor Boris Johnson has unveiled a green refurbishment fund for public sector buildings in London worth £100 million that can be accessed by councils and housing associations.

  • Landlords team up to save water

    09/09/2011

    A consortium of midlands-based landlords has joined forces with water companies to launch an efficiency project across 11,100 social homes.

  • Energy firms must double insulation

    08/09/2011

    Big energy companies could face multi-billion pound fines if they don’t double the amount of insulation they install through a government scheme

  • Green deal faces ‘carbon black hole’

    02/09/2011

    The government’s flagship retrofit scheme could fail to meet national carbon reduction targets, leaving a 26 per cent ‘carbon black hole’, a housing association has warned.

  • Labour: workers to get social housing priority

    05/08/2011

    The Labour Party is drawing up a national housing policy that will give people with jobs priority for a social home.

  • Olympic borough plans to buy private sector homes

    22/07/2011

    An east London local authority is considering buying up swathes of private rented sector accommodation in an attack on ‘unscrupulous landlords’ as part of its Olympic legacy plans.

  • Proving their worth

    19/07/2011

    There has been some interesting news on the green investment bank this week, but the big story for me has been the 2011 Sustainable Housing awards.

  • The green week

    12/07/2011

    Today sees the launch of Sustainable Housing’s weekly green news bulletins.

  • Framework to help landlords buy PVs

    08/07/2011

    North Somerset Housing is offering landlords free use of a framework to purchase solar photovoltaic panels in a move which it believes could save landlords six-figure sums.

  • Grainger mulling social housing arm

    24/06/2011

    The UK’s largest listed private landlord is exploring the idea of setting up as a registered provider of social housing.

  • Top 50 associations lead on development

    24/06/2011

    England’s 50 biggest housing associations have bid to deliver up to 80 per cent of the 150,000 affordable homes the government wants to build.

  • Landlords holding back institutional investment

    23/06/2011

    A reticence on the part of landlords rather than investors is responsible for holding back institutional investment into the social housing sector, according to a top finance lawyer.

  • A smart idea?

    20/05/2011

    The Big Issue is moving into the digital age with plans to equip its street vendors with smart phones and turn them into citizen journalists. Nick Duxbury hits the streets to find out if it can work