Onsite at Insite: A view from the BRE

Date: 04/10/2011

I must admit to having some reservations walking past the scale model of the Dambusters’ Mohne Dam approaching the BRE in Watford this morning. Today was the first day of Insite11: the industry’s showcase for the latest innovations in sustainable refurbishment.

What would the mood be like at a tim...

A wet weekend in summer

Date: 21/07/2011

Our marketing team had been planning it for ages and months previously (when I thought it was going to be hot) I, along with a number of colleagues, had enthusiastically volunteered to play in our annual 5-a-side charity football tournament. But when I drew back the curtains on Saturday morning I was beginning to have second thoughts….it was bucketing down! How could I get out of it? Cou...

Life without Grant

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Housing Minister Grant Shapps says that the government will invest £6.5 billion in affordable housing over the next four years and the new homes bonus will provide enhanced incentives for affordable homes.

Now that doesn’t sound too bad until it transpires that only two thirds of that is for new affordable homes and half of what’s left is already committed, leaving &ld...

Bertram Street

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One of the biggest challenges facing local authorities and other housing providers is the much-needed retrofitting of seven million older, solid walled homes in the UK, two million of these are in London. This is essential to reduce carbon loss and cut fuel bills. Up to 40% of the heat loss from these notoriously difficult to treat homes is lost through the walls and in most cases internal wall...

The real story behind the Housing PFI headlines...

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Housing Private Finance Initiatives have been under the media microscope recently, following a report by the National Audit Office (NAO) that focused on the Government procurement process for Housing PFI. 

United House was involved in the report, with Andrew Mickleburgh, our PFI expert, invited by the NAO to sit on the expert panel for the study and report.

Much of the crit...