Lifeline for ChildLine

Designer Contracts, the UK’s largest flooring contractor, has stepped into help leading children’s charity, ChildLine, with extra funds to help it through the Covid-19 pandemic. The charity, which supports some 800 young people each day, needed an urgent cash injection... View Article

Wheelchair accessible bathrooms – if not now…. when?

Stuart Reynolds, Head of Product and Marketing at AKW, explains how both private and social landlords can create well-designed wheelchair accessible bathrooms, cost-effectively. A sizeable survey on wheelchair users and their housing needs revealed the chronic lack of wheelchair accessible... View Article

Waterproof wall panels yield benefits

From speedy installation times to improved long-term performance, opting for waterproof wall panels offers a true alternative to tiles for kitchen and bathroom projects. Here, Scott Beattie, Managing Director at Fibo, explains more on the benefits and why these products... View Article

Fitness for Human Habitation Act E Book released

On Friday, the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act will come into force on all rented properties in England. According to data published by the government, there were 480,000 social housing properties that didn’t meet the Decent Homes Standard in... View Article

2020 Budget promises new money for housebuilding

New Chancellor Rishi Sunak has delivered his first Budget in the House of Commons, including an extension of the Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) and a £1bn fund to remove “unsafe cladding.” £12bn will be released with the new AHP settlement,... View Article

Reversing the steady decline in the private rental market

Patrick Mooney looks at warning signs coming from the private rented sector Of course this could just be a piece of pre-Budget hyperbole, but leading representatives of private landlords are warning the Chancellor that Government policies are driving their members... View Article

LGA responds to latest rough sleeping figures

Responding to the annual single night snapshot of the number of people sleeping rough in England, Cllr David Renard, the Local Government Association’s housing spokesman, said: “Any fall in the number of rough sleepers is good news, but while progress... View Article

Birmingham will require planning permission for small HMOs

A citywide direction on houses in multiple occupation is being introduced by Birmingham City Council from June 2020, giving the council greater control over the conversion of residential properties in the city. The Article 4 direction will mean that planning... View Article