Howard Chapman, Buildingtalk Editor, writes… Balfour Beatty offer advice on how to make the most of a year now promising growth and opportunity. The exhibition season kicks off next month with Build It LIVE: UK offering products, seminars and advice on building or renovating individual homes. Ken Livingstone and Kevin McCloud will be speaking at[…]

Howard Chapman, Buildingtalk Editor, writes… UK house sales are at their highest for 6 years, according to RICs, and new house building also booming, with Bovis Homes reporting a 77% growth, and Barratt house sales and profits are up.  However, some politicians say ‘hoarding’ via land banks is holding back building. But major house builders[…]

Howard Chapman, Buildingtalk Editor, writes… Get cracking with fracking is the message from the UK Prime Minister this week as an energy supply crisis looms.  After years of dithering, including by Ed Miliband when he was Energy Minister, we are facing the prospect of power shortages. So tax incentives to councils are part of a[…]

Howard Chapman, Buildingtalk Editor, writes… We begin this first Buildingtalk newsletter of the year with a quick look back at some of 2013’s most read stories. Almost 500 readers used the link to the Buildingtalk website to read all about the Geberit toilet installed at The Shard, with this highest loo in Europe featuring in[…]

Howard Chapman, Buildingtalk Editor, writes… House building news this week: latest ONS statistics show that new residential construction orders are up 41.6% and are now nearly 20% of all construction output. Planning permissions for new homes are up 33%, the highest since 2007.   With London’s population growing faster than anytime in history, Boris Johnson[…]