Lucy Roper’s Built Environment blog: Housing for good and improving the quality in construction

Posted on: 23 September, 2019

The latest blog from UCEM Information Governance Manager, Lucy Roper, sees Lucy focus on housing with stories on the impact of Brexit on the UK rental market, a new report by the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) on housing’s relationship with infrastructure and a family homelessness crisis in England. In addition to these stories, Lucy draws our attention to the CIOB’s new code on quality management… 

Brexit and the rental market 

Brexit is very much front and centre of the news agenda again with Boris Johnson’s government ramping up the preparations for a no-deal exit. As it was the day after the referendum and so it is now, we are no closer to knowing what the UK will look like post-Brexit but that hasn’t stopped Ideal Flatmate writing an article about how the rental market will be affected by the ‘B-word’. In short, they don’t know but the article does hint at better times ahead for renting Londoners – at least one potential positive to perhaps come out of Brexit! 

Advocating joined-up thinking 

ICE has published its annual State of the Nation report with the main takeaway being its call for infrastructure to be connected to housing to ensure homes for the future. Too often, housing is built without properly integrated infrastructure and the report makes 10 recommendations to ensure that any new development is futureproofed so there are more longer-term housing solutions. 

Shining a light on homeless families with children 

The Children’s Commissioner has produced a report aiming to tackle the crisis of family homelessness in England. Among the shocking statistics included are that 120,000 children live in temporary accommodation and that there are 375,000 children in families at financial risk of becoming homeless and 585,000 children who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. The report is stark and clearly something which should be looked at by government to reduce these numbers and provide more suitable accommodation for those in this situation. 

Housing for Good 

We’ve looked at the rental market, infrastructure for the UK’s housing stock and homelessness prevention, and all three of these topics, and more, were featured at our Housing for Good event last night. Experts from industry joined the Reading East MP, Matt Rodda, and representatives from Reading homelessness-prevention charity, Launchpad, to discuss the local housing crisis and what can be done to solve the many issues faced. Ultimately, there needs to be greater collaboration from all stakeholders to find solutions for all, whether homeless or a professional seeking to leave the family home.  

New Code of Quality Management 

The CIOB has produced a Code of Quality Management designed to improve the quality of construction across the board. The publication was launched in response to a number of incidents highlighting construction defects in the UK and hopefully will have a positive impact in reducing any such incidents going forward. 

For more from Lucy, take a look at the latest edition of Knowledge Foundations.