News

Broadnook Garden Village – Leicestershire’s newest purpose-built community – has a range of initiatives to improve wellbeing and the standard of living, including more than 50% open green spaces, almost 12 hectares of land designated to woodland planting, 500 trees planted with thousands more planned, car-free pedestrianised zones and planned allotment spaces.

Today (Friday 20 September 2024) marks 20 years since the first Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv) certificates were signed.

Mina Hasman has been appointed as the new Chair of the Construction Industry Council’s (CIC) Climate Change Committee. Hasman is the Sustainability Director at Skidmore, Owings and Merrill.

Tara Page, the Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists’ Chief Executive, has written to the Northern Irish Assembly opposing the accelerated passage of the Defective Premises Bill, which would retrospectively extend liability for defects in houses and apartments from six years to 30 years.

Wates Group has enhanced its paternity leave policy from eight weeks to 12 weeks, and this can be taken any time within the first two years of the child being born or adopted.

The Welsh government has teamed up with three universities to launch new degree apprenticeships in Construction Management, Civil Engineering, Quantity Surveying, Building Surveying and Real Estate. With the Welsh construction sector alone needing an extra 11,000 workers by 2028, the apprenticeships come at a crucial time.

This year’s Royal Academy Summer Exhibition saw a prototype sustainable and scalable home from Holcim and the Norman Foster Foundation.

Insurer QBE surveyed 362 UK construction workers about their mental health at work. The results indicate that even with the increased risk of injury due to poor mental health, they are likely to continue to work.

The Environment 100 UK awards scheme honouring innovators and leaders across the environmental sector takes place on 11 September 2024 – for more, see ess-expo.co.uk

Rural house prices have risen by 29% over the past five years, far outpacing growth in rural wages, while only 8% of rural housing stock is classified as affordable, compared to 19% in urban areas.

The Environmental Policy Forum has set out ten priorities for the new UK government:

In July, the new Labour government set out 40 bills and articles of draft legislation in the King’s Speech. These included the Planning and Infrastructure Bill intended to streamline and speed up planning and associated infrastructure needs to get more housing built.

I hope you all enjoyed your summer break and return to the workplace refreshed and rested. It is appropriate that this month’s journal focuses on wellbeing, covering topics such as mental health, stress, working outside and heatwaves in cities.

The Publication of the Grenfell Tower Public Inquiry: Phase 2 Report has been long awaited and marks an important milestone in coming to terms with the causes of the tragic event of 14 June 2017. CABE acknowledges all that have suffered, and we extend our sympathies to everyone affected.

The new Building Safety Minister, Rushanara Ali, marked the return of parliament on yesterday (2 September 2024) with a written ministerial statement. As well as extending the recognition of CE marking for construction products, it made a commitment on evacuation of disabled and vulnerable people and on changes to fire testing classes and sprinklers in care homes.  

The Construction Leadership Council (CLC) has today published guidance on the golden thread of information requirements for higher-risk buildings.

The Department for Education (DfE) has released a list of top employers of apprentices, which includes The British Army, BAE Systems, Amazon and Network Rail.

Southwark Council has informed residents living in the remaining three Ledbury Towers that it will move them to suitable alternative housing as a safety precaution after the council identified an increased fire risk onsite.

We spoke to recent Webinar Wednesday presenter Ken Hannah MCABE C.Builde E about why CABE members must pay attention when it comes to asbestos safety