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Archives

Fusion21 names suppliers appointed to £346 million Building Improvements Framework

Procurement experts Fusion21 has announced the suppliers successfully appointed to its national Building Improvements Framework worth up to £346 million over a four-year period.

Following a competitive tender process, a total of 70 specialist firms – 74% being SMEs, have secured a place on the framework which has been developed to support public sector

Continue reading Fusion21 names suppliers appointed to £346 million Building Improvements Framework

Fusion21 invites bids for £820 million Heating, Renewables and Electrical Framework

Procurement organisation and social enterprise Fusion21 has announced the fourth generation of its national Heating, Renewables and Electrical Framework worth up to £820 million over four years and is now inviting bids from interested contractors of any size, providing local, regional or national coverage.

This framework is being setup to help the owners of domestic

Continue reading Fusion21 invites bids for £820 million Heating, Renewables and Electrical Framework

Procurement experts Fusion21 turns 21: How a step into the unknown became a route to social value success

Dave Neilson – Chief Executive at Fusion21

Real positive change, changes real lives.

This year, Fusion21 is marking its 21st anniversary and as the co-founder and Chief Executive I am so proud of what our team of procurement and social value specialists have achieved through work with our members, suppliers and partners.

Continue reading Procurement experts Fusion21 turns 21: How a step into the unknown became a route to social value success

Milestone reached at affordable housing development in Cambridge

The final piece of roofing felt has been laid to officially mark the topping out of L2 Orchard Park, in Cambridge.

75 new homes, consisting of a mix of social rent and affordable rent will be delivered through Cambridge Investment Partnership and a funding agreement from Homes England.

Gerri Bird, Executive Councillor for Housing and

Continue reading Milestone reached at affordable housing development in Cambridge

Camden trials care tech device to help residents return home from hospital sooner  

Oysta Pearl+ allows patients to return home an average of three days faster

Camden Council, in partnership with Oysta, has successfully piloted a care tech device to allow residents to return from hospital sooner and be fully supported to recover at home.

So far, the Oysta care device has supported over 200 residents

Continue reading Camden trials care tech device to help residents return home from hospital sooner  

New toolkit launched to help local authorities and housing providers eliminate veterans’ homelessness

Local authorities and housing providers can now access a free resource aimed at reducing veterans’ homelessness. The No Homeless Veterans toolkit has been designed as part of a collaborative campaign by the Sir Oswald Stoll Foundation (Stoll), Homeless Link and the National Housing Federation.

The toolkit contains a self-audit for local authorities and housing providers

Continue reading New toolkit launched to help local authorities and housing providers eliminate veterans’ homelessness

Direct electric heating: a real low-carbon alternative for construction

Solar and wind

A new report from ThermoSphere – ‘Working towards Net Zero’ – sheds light on the attitudes toward direct electric heating in the construction industry, with many preferring it as a means of retrofitting small homes and apartments. Alistair Bell, ThermoSphere’s managing director discusses the mood in construction, and the industry’s

Continue reading Direct electric heating: a real low-carbon alternative for construction

Islington Council moves to Comelit-PAC’s cloud for the benefit of residents

Katial House

Islington Council has worked with Comelit-PAC to create a cloud based door entry solution for managing access control to communal residential developments across its housing portfolio.

As a leading London Borough Council, Islington has made the transition to a PAC cloud solution across its housing network, delivering improved security for residents.

Continue reading Islington Council moves to Comelit-PAC’s cloud for the benefit of residents

Voicescape launches transformative income recovery software

Daniel Harrison, co-founder and head of technology at Voicescape

Voicescape has launched a unique tenant engagement solution for social landlords and local authorities, representing a major step change in the intelligent automation of rent arrears management.

Caseload Manager (CM) has been developed by the specialist software business to enable social landlords to improve

Continue reading Voicescape launches transformative income recovery software

Government is holding the industrial sector back with ineffective planning policy, says Turley

“Ineffective” national planning policy, which “has no teeth” is holding the industrial sector back from supporting the UK’s economic recovery from COVID-19, according to planning and development consultancy Turley.

Despite the radical reforms promised in the 2020 Planning White Paper, there is scant regard to the role of industry and logistics, in spite of the

Continue reading Government is holding the industrial sector back with ineffective planning policy, says Turley

Barnet Homes Launches In-house Repairs Team with Totalmobile to Improve Tenant Services

London housing association uses Totalmobile’s cloud-based job management solution Connect to power up a new in-house repairs service for residents

Totalmobile, the UK leader in Field Service Management software solutions, recently announced that it has provided the technology for Barnet Homes to successfully launch a new in-house repairs service that is dedicated to improving

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The impacts of planning reform on employment land

Stuart Hardisty

By Stuart Hardisty

Yesterday I spoke at the Westminster Briefing event on Planning Policy Reforms Under the New Government www.westminster-briefing.com/Planning_Under_The_New_Government around the impacts of such reform on employment land, an issue I am firmly embedded in.

Three years ago I wrote a blog post setting out a series of risk factors

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Affordable homes: Comment from Arcadis

Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick today unveiled a new £12 million boost for affordable homes, in a bid to make it easier for people to get on the housing ladder. The programme represents the highest single funding commitment to affordable housing in a decade.

Commenting on the measures, Peter Hogg, UK Cities Director at Arcadis,

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FIRE SAFETY: HIGH ON THE AGENDA FOR HIGH RISE REFURBISHMENTS

Blackwall Reach

SAFETY checks have been carried out on hundreds of high rise buildings* in the last 12 months, with many having to be reclad to meet regulations*.

In June 2017, all local authorities and housing associations were told by the Department for Communities and Local Government to carry out safety checks on

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RIGHT TO BUY REPLACEMENT WILL BE ALL BUT ELIMINATED IN JUST FIVE YEARS, WARNS LGA

Councils’ ability to replace homes sold under Right to Buy (RTB) will be all but eliminated within five years without major reform of the scheme, new analysis from the Local Government Association has told GPSJ today.

The current Right-to-Buy system only allows councils to keep a third of each RTB receipt to build a replacement

Continue reading RIGHT TO BUY REPLACEMENT WILL BE ALL BUT ELIMINATED IN JUST FIVE YEARS, WARNS LGA

LGA RESPONDS TO GOVERNMENT’S PLAN TO BRING FORWARD SOCIAL HOUSING GREEN PAPER

Responding to today’s announcement by Communities Secretary Sajid Javid that a green paper for social housing will be brought forward, Cllr Martin Tett, the LGA’s Housing spokesman, said: “The LGA has long-called for more powers to build good quality and genuinely affordable homes. We are encouraged that the Government is to bring forward its green

Continue reading LGA RESPONDS TO GOVERNMENT’S PLAN TO BRING FORWARD SOCIAL HOUSING GREEN PAPER