Government

The leader of a Commons inquiry has called on the housing minister to respond to an independent review into the testing of construction products. Labour MP Clive Betts, chair of the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities select committee’s fire-safety inquiry, has written to housing minister Lee Rowley asking the government…

The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) has called on the government to progress higher accessibility standards in new-build homes. In its written evidence for a Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) select committee inquiry into housing for people with disabilities, the body said the government “must prioritise” a…

The Construction Leadership Council (CLC) is in discussions about the future of its two recruitment platforms after their funding expires in April. Recent CLC minutes noted that funding for the Construction Talent Retention Scheme and Talentview was “proving a challenge” and that the group had “no mechanism for funding”. The…

Northern Irish construction firms have welcomed the imminent return to functioning government in the country and demanded a range of measures to boost the industry. Reports suggest power-sharing could return to Stormont this week after a two-year boycott by the Democratic Unionist Party over Brexit arrangements. Mark Spence, chief executive…

Homes England didn’t know what it was doing when it invested in collapsed housebuilders Ilke and House by Urban Splash, Conservative peer Lord Daniel Moylan has suggested in an interview with Construction News. Moylan was speaking after the House of Lords Built Environment Committee, which he chairs, concluded its inquiry…

Seven in 10 housebuilders want a Labour government, research has revealed. A poll of 50 residential developers by property consultancy Knight Frank found that more than two-thirds would like sir Keir Starmer’s party to win the forthcoming general election. Conservative prime minister Rishi Sunak has indicated that he is likely…

The continued use of retentions in the construction industry is contributing to company failures, a meeting of the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) has heard. Newly released minutes from a November meeting show that Isabel Coman, a director at Transport for London and CLC board member, described the issue as one…

The Construction Leadership Council (CLC) has asked the government to “implement the Construction Playbook consistently”, accusing it of “frequently” ignoring its own guidance on best-practice procurement. The request was one of 10 made by CLC co-chair Mark Reynolds in a letter to chancellor Jeremy Hunt ahead of the Spring Budget…

Homes England could lose up to £9.2m from the administration of Stewart Milne Group. Manchester-based Stewart Milne Homes North West England (Developments) Ltd went into administration on 12 January and has a different administrator to that of the rest of the housebuilding group, which folded four days earlier. The English…

A Conservative MP has said that Laing O’Rourke did a “shocking job” on the construction of a housing block in Ipswich, adding that the contractor “seemed to have got away with it”. Laing O’Rourke was the design-and-build contractor for The Mill, a 327-home development in central Ipswich that features blocks…