Prop-arazzi

Following Peter Hain’s resignation, a whirlwind reshuffle has seen Yvette Cooper move from her long held post at Department of Communities and Local Government to become Chief Secretary to the Treasury – a promotion to full voting status within the Cabinet.

Yvette will be replaced by Caroline Flint, one of the 1997 intake of MPs and a former Minister at the Departments of Health and Work & Pensions.  Caroline has also been acting as Minister for Yorkshire and Humber.

For more information, please call us on 020 7067 0341.

Yesterday the Department of Health launched Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives, a strategy to tackle the burgeoning obesity problem in the UK.  The report includes plans to promote walking and cycling around towns, using the built environment to galvanise the whole community into a healthier community.

The initiative will be backed up by targeted funds and a raft of new NICE recommendations which call for new developments to prioritise the need to be physically active.  In addition planners will be given training on promoting physical activity and local authorities will be encouraged to support the vision of a more active society.

The question is will it really change the way we build?

Weber Shandwick Dublin are carrying out the international launch of the new Chicago Spire - a 2,000ft twisting tower with 150 floors, contains 1,200 unique and modern residences which begins in Dublin with a four-day exhibition in the grounds of Fitzwilliam Square.

To celebrate the launch, a VIP guest list (Liam Neeson and wife Natasha Richardson have flown in) has been invited to an exclusive event in Fitzwilliam Square, where they will have the opportunity to meet “starchitect” Santiago Calatrava - and gain a sneak preview of the stunning apartments in the unique building.

The most expensive penthouse is on offer for €27m! Wow!

According to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), confidence in the housing market has slumped to the lowest level since the market crash of the early 1990s. 

The RICS survey, which has proved a reliable indicator of the market in recent years, showed that close to 50% of surveys reported falling house prices. At the same time instructions to sell property rose, with RICS suggesting that owners are keen to cash in before the market worsens.

However, analysts continue to report that the situation is not as bad as it has been before previous crises, and that the market was even looser in 2005 without it leading to an annual decline in house prices.

The Government has come under pressure after official figures showed that it was likely to miss its target for the number of new homes built in England. DCLG had set target of increasing the annual build rate in England from 160,761 in 2006 to 240,000 in 2016. However, official figures have shown that the actual number of new constructions begun in the first nine months of last year fell by 4.9 percent.
Despite Gordon Brown’s efforts, senior figures in the property industry are doubtful the Government will now reach its target of building 2 million homes by 2016. Ian Robertson, former Chief Executive of Wilson Bowden said: “The Government’s targets will be blown by the housebuilding industry acting commercially. The Government had always expressed concerns about [a downturn] as one of the vulnerabilities of its plan.”
The news came as Halifax reported that the combined price tag of the 22 million homes in the country has more than trebled in the past decade, rising by 208 per cent to over £4 trillion.

Liz Peace, Chief Executive, British Property Federation will be the principle speaker at the first of the Weber Shandwick Property team events in 2008.

Date: 13th February 2008
Time: 8am for 8.30am
Location: Weber Shandwick London, Fox Court, 14 Gray’s Inn Road London, WC1X 8WS
This will be the first of a series of events across the UK and Ireland.

If you would like to attend please contact Julian Seymour on jseymour@webershandwick.com or Chris Brown on chbrown@webershandwick.com

NI finance minister Peter Robinson MP (DUP, East Belfast) has scrapped proposed legislation to tackle climate change by deciding NOT to implement the changes to building regulations in Northern Ireland which would have forced property developers to build more environmentally friendly homes.

The new regulations would have made it compulsory for new buildings to have small wind turbines, wood fuelled boilers and solar panels - but with the change of mind by the Minister who has a strong grip over the NI Executive this will not be so and could be ages before such renewable energy sources are employed for all new homes.

As the Irish News reported in it lead’s story last week that this U turn comes in spite of the draft Programme for Government promising to reduce Northern Ireland’s Carbon Footprint by at least 25% by 2025.

The Halifax index yesterday showed a 1.3% increase in house prices for the first time in three months yesterday, beating the forecast 0.5% fall.  However, with fourth quarter prices still 0.8% below those in the third quarter, analysts are wary of calling an early end to the slump.

The news removes the pressure from the Bank of England to reduce interest rates which remained unchanged at lunchtime.  Chancellor Alistair Darling has stated that the Bank now has “room to manoeuvre” and that any cuts in interest rates should be passed on to customers, but we will have to wait until the next time.

Elsewhere a survey of the buy to let landlords showed that 9 out of ten were not considering selling their property and 4 out of ten will be looking at extending their investment further in the coming year.

Pictured: Artists impression of the U2 tower which has the potential to be the tallest building in Ireland

The Dublin skyline is to rise with the release of a plan by Dublin City Council next month  which will set out the direction for all high-rise and high density developments.

The plan entitled: Maximising the City’s Potential -  A Strategy for Height and Intensification is expected to show which areas of the city the Council favours for intensive development of ‘high rise’ and ‘landmark’ developments.

Guide to Dublin City Council height terminology:

High Rise = 50 - 150m
Super High Rise = above 150m

So it seems that due to lower density ‘inner city’ areas than those found in the UK and an acceleration in urban sprawl in the past decade, the direction for development will be up rather than out. It will be interesting to see if this new policy is monitored by other city councils across the island such as Belfast as it rapidly develops across the city postcodes.

Housing Minister, Yvette Cooper MP has come in for a little stick this morning over the reported mishandling of the introduction of Home Information Packs (HIPs) which came into effect for larger homes just before Christmas. MPs on the Communities and Local Government Select Committee have stated that ‘ the long and tortous process of introducing HIPs signals another failure of delivery on the DCLG’s part’.

Despite being a key priority for the government department, the introdctuion of HIPs has already been delayed for about 6 months. The Tories has referred to it as ‘a botched policy’ and a ‘disgrace’.

For home sellers is this another layer of unncessary administration and cost or will it actually have any benefit to the supply and communciation of necssary information that make home buyer feel safe in the transaction they are just about to make?