10 : CONSTRUCTION

construction

Chancellor gives Sizewell C go-ahead More SME builders at risk of folding if forced to pay to clean up England’s rivers

Housebuilders have hit out at plans to buy ‘nutrient credits’ for building on protected wildlife sites where pollutants such as nitrogen and phosphorus have leached into rivers.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced on Thursday the government’s support for Sizewell C’s construction, subject to final agreement. In his Autumn Statement, he said the nuclear power station would create thousands of jobs and represented the biggest step in the UK’s journey to energy independence. He stressed the need for the UK to further increase domestic energy generation with “a major acceleration of homegrown technologies like offshore wind, carbon capture and storage, and above all nuclear. Projects like Sizewell C will deliver new jobs, industries and export opportunities and secure the clean, affordable energy we need to power our future economy and reach Net Zero,” he said. In response to the Chancellor’s statement, a spokesperson from Sizewell C said, “We are delighted the Government has reaffirmed its commitment to Sizewell C and look forward to concluding negotiations in the coming weeks. The new power station will strengthen the UK’s energy security, lower costs for consumers and help Britain reach Net Zero. It will bring a big economic boost to Suffolk and create thousands of jobs and apprenticeships in nuclear supply chain companies up and down the country.” They claim many smaller developers will go out of business when the new nutrient mitigation scheme goes live early next year. National Federation of Builders, NFB, housing and planning head Rico Wojtulewicz said: “It’s farcical. We are paying for someone else’s mistake.”

The building industry claims intensive farming is the real culprit with fertilisers and animal excrement from pig and poultry farms the main cause of river pollution. Home Builders Federation, HBF, described the £30m government scheme as a ‘wholly inadequate’ solution. Communications director Steve Turner said: “We have over 100,000 desperately needed new homes on hold despite the fact that all parties accept their construction would barely contribute to the nutrients issue.”

The Natural England is inviting developers in the Tees region to apply next March to buy credits to build in the area with additional mitigation projects identified over the next three years. Housebuilders maintain the government’s requirement for water companies to improve their waste treatment works to remove nutrients by April 2030 is too long to wait.

construction

New plans submitted to Liverpool City Council for Liverpool Waters

Plans to deliver enabling infrastructure, create high quality public realm, a new park, and a green network of spaces around the Central Docks neighbourhood at Liverpool Waters have been submitted to Liverpool City Council by Peel L&P. Central Docks will be the largest of the five planned neighbourhoods at Liverpool Waters, and this planning application will directly enable the delivery of thousands of new homes, alongside commercial, retail, leisure and community developments. The proposals outline Peel L&P’s plans to create an environment that has sustainability, biodiversity, and heritage at its heart. They include new street infrastructure, green spaces, the development of Central Park, and public realm areas north of Jesse Hartley Way. They will also significantly improve connectivity for pedestrians and cyclists from the city centre and Princes Dock through to Everton’s new stadium at Bramley Moore Dock and the city’s northern docks.

A newly refurbished category B office space in the heart of Manchester’s business district is now available to businesses looking for smart new affordable premises. St Johns House, a seven storey purpose built office block that contains more than 41,000sq.ft of ground space, offers occupants a number of benefits including secure on-site parking, a ground floor Café Nero, showers, suspended ceilings with air conditioned offices and 24 hour access for businesses that need to operate outside of regular hours. Anna Main, Director at Landwood Group, said: “An increasing number of businesses are currently looking to If approved, Central Park will become one of the city centre’s largest green spaces at 1.9 hectares (or 4.7 acres) and will include the planting of over 1,000 trees. The proposals for Central Park also include plans for coastal woodland planting, wetland planting, community gardens and open parkland. Shelters and canopies, areas for sport, recreation and fitness, and spaces designed to support local wildlife have also been included in the plans. Public realm and street infrastructure in the surrounding Central Dock neighbourhood will include a series of green streets and rain gardens, high quality footpaths and a variety of street types to support vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists. As part of the Mersey Forest, tree cover will be increased by around 10% across the Central Dock neighbourhood and up to 30% along key road and rail corridors, linking the city’s green spaces together.

Clean Planet Energy partners with Crossroads Real Estate for 10 new advanced recycling facilities

Clean Planet Energy have announced a new joint venture with private equity firm Crossroads Real Estate to fund Clean Planet Energy’s flagship ecoPlant currently under construction in Teesside, North East England. This will be the first of 10 new ecoPlants that Crossroads Real Estate and Clean Planet Energy are jointly seeking to build and operate across the UK. The new joint venture could see over £400m of new UK investment deployed for the future construction of these facilities to tackle the plastic waste crisis. Potential sites have already been identified in Lincolnshire, Gloucestershire, Lancashire and South Wales, with further locations and announcements to be made in the months ahead. Clean Planet Energy’s ecoPlant is a green, advanced recycling facility intended to process non-recyclable and hard-to-recycle waste plastics that would otherwise be sent to landfill. Each ecoPlant is designed to accept 20,000 tonnes of plastics each year and to convert this waste into (a) ultra-low sulphur fuels to replace fossil fuels in the transport and heavy-machinery sectors, and (b) petrochemical feedstocks, including naphtha, which can be used to make new plastic products without the need to use fossil-based feedstocks. Clean Planet Energy’s ultra-low-sulphur diesel can reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 75% compared to the use of traditional diesel, while the joint venture could also lead to over 200,000 tonnes of hard-to-recycle waste plastics being repurposed for use in the circular supply chain each year.

New offices on Deansgate looking for tenants

downsize their operations in the wake of rising costs and with the rise of flexible working. “Buildings like St Johns House are great options for businesses looking to make more efficient use of space, and being a Category B office the building offers very competitive rents which coupled with a low service charge to comparable buildings, makes it a very attractive place for office users reducing overall costs of occupation.”

Developers claim land banking amendment is misguided

Changes to the levelling up and regeneration bill allowing councils to withhold planning consent to developers slow to build on a site are counterproductive, claims the industry. They argue that land banking is a myth and that developers are keen to build on sites as soon as possible to gain a return on investment. Home Builders Federation, HBF, planning director Sam Stafford said: “Repeated independent investigations have concluded that homebuilders do not land bank. “Builders are always keen to get on site as soon as possible and get a return on this investment, but there are many influences over how quickly a site can be built out.” Economic conditions, finance, labour, supply shortages and the new building safety requirements are among the factors affecting prompt delivery. The British Property Federation, BPF, has warned the government that the amendment to the bill could hamper future housebuilding. “I think the amendment means well, but could be counterproductive, in that developers will not want to apply for planning permission until they have all their ducks in a row.”