Seeking out the opportunity areas
Richard Jones, group head of regeneration and growth at EC Harris, argues that developers must now focus on recognising the up and coming areas for development – it is time to look for the potential in an area
The industry can deliver, given the right conditions
The home building industry could build large numbers of new homes, given the right conditions. But this will require reversing the drift of much public sector thinking over the past two decades, argues John Stewart
Keeping housing high on the agenda
I confess that I was one of many who earlier this year had written off the Scottish referendum as something of a foregone conclusion.
Our transfer window never closes
<p><em>Housebuilder</em>'s annual industry SWOT analysis reveals that skills shortages on site and in the office are the biggest threat to growth. Ben Roskrow says that the industry has a big job on to tackle this lack of talent</p>
Prepare for double digit material price inflation
Mark Oliver, managing director of H+H, argues that building material prices must rise by 10 to 20% if there is going to be ongoing investment in the UK by the global firms that now dominate the building materials market
Trades on the train
Stephen Byfield, managing director of communications consultancy PPS, reflects on the construction workers making their early morning commute from Cambridge to London
Unpredictable politics
HBF executive chairman Stewart Baseley looks at the critical point that housebuilding has reached in the political arena, with the Scottish referendum this month, the party conference season and, of course, the run up to the general election
Turning the heat down
Richard Jones, group head of regeneration and growth at EC Harris, is hearing evidence of a cooling market although the contracting sector seems to tell a different story
Onwards and upwards
Steve Menary steps into the latest results season and finds that everyone is pushing things forward
Wishful thinking dominates supply debate
Much of the debate about our housing supply crisis uses mental gymnastics to avoid facing up to messy reality, argues John Stewart
