Build, Build, Build

September 08, 2020

At the end of June this year, Prime Minister Boris Johnson delivered a speech now referred to as ‘build build build’ in the West Midlands, in which he unveiled the most ‘radical reforms to our planning system since the Second World War, making it easier to build better homes where people want to live’.

The new regulations will give ‘greater freedom for buildings and land in our town centres to change use without planning permission and create new homes from the regeneration of vacant and redundant buildings’. Under the new rules, existing commercial properties, including newly vacant shops, can be converted into residential housing more easily, in a move to ‘kick start the construction industry and speed up rebuilding’.

Currently, the Government is pushing forward with the objective of building 300,000 new homes annually by 2025. Last year, the number of new homes registered to be built in the UK rose 1% to a 13-year high with 161,022 registered, but this falls far short of this target.

It is no surprise then that the Government is now making it easier to build on brownfield sites.

Recently we have been working closely with developers which have been developing on brownfield sites to provide infill housing, as well as social housing within existing developments.

“Over the years we have worked with developers who have turned redundant land, perhaps where factories have been, into dwellings, revitalising rundown city areas at the same time,” says John Witherden, Managing Director of Aworth Survey Consultants. “With the recent announcement by the Government aimed at driving ahead more development, I imagine we’ll see more of this type of work moving forward.”

The types of services Aworth has been providing to developers of brownfield sites recently include topographical surveys, rights of light surveys and underground services surveys.

If you’d like to know more about our work in this area, do get in touch: 01825 768319.

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