You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
Short on time? Wednesday’s housing news in five minutes
A round-up of the top stories this morning from Inside Housing and elsewhere
Top story: Designers and contractors knew Grenfell cladding system would fail in a fire, inquiry hears
More shocking revelations emerged from the Grenfell Inquiry yesterday. Contractors, architects and fire safety consultants working on the tower’s refurbishment exchanged emails acknowledging that the new cladding system would fail in a fire, the inquiry heard.
Crest Nicholson scraps offsite target as part of new strategy
Housebuilding giant Crest Nicholson has retreated on its ambitions around offsite manufacturing, Inside Housing reveals.
The FTSE 250 firm, which reported full-year results yesterday, said that offsite is “some way from being a mature model it can transition to”. A source told Inside Housing that a target set in 2018, under previous management, was “no longer applicable”.
Lunchtime long read
Pictures: Getty
With the second phase of the Grenfell Inquiry underway, fire safety is back in the spotlight. Inside Housing visited a ‘mock trial’, which sheds light on who might be responsible if the installation of fire doors goes wrong.
Quote of the day
Picture: Jon Enoch
“There is no point in ‘fire stopping’, as we all know; the ACM will be gone rather quickly in a fire!”
A shocking line from an email sent by an employee of specialist cladding contractor Harley Facades, which emerged at the Grenfell Tower Inquiry yesterday
Click here to read a piece looking at the firms involved in the Grenfell refurbishment
In the papers
Picture: Getty
The new chair of National Parks England has suggested that more affordable housing should be built in areas such as the Lake District to help those driven out by second homes. In an interview with The Guardian, Carl Lis also called for government action on landbanking by developers in protected areas.
The Guardian also published a round-up of key revelations from day two of the Grenfell Inquiry.
House price growth has seen a small uptick in January, according to latest figures. Nationwide’s monthly tracker revealed annual house price growth rose 1.9%, up from 1.4% in December, the Financial Times reports.
Local news
Picture: Getty
Council chiefs in Maidstone, Kent, have urged the government to ease an “impossible” target for housebuilding. The authority’s target has jumped 40% under an updated formula introduced last year, Kent Online reports.
Housing association First Choice Homes has partnered with a local charity as part of an £80,000 spend to help tackle food poverty. The Oldham-based landlord is working with food surplus redistribution charity The Bread and Butter Thing. Customers’ bags are filled with a minimum of £35 worth of items made up of fresh food and dry staples at a cost of £7, the Oldham Evening Chronicle reports.
Related stories
The big issues that impact the regeneration and delivery of social housingSPONSORED ARTICLE
