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“ One of the big questions we now face is : how can we ensure we have enough people with the right skills to build the houses , roads and rail lines of the future ?”
“ Using more offsite components and investing in skills and the management of projects will now prove absolutely vital .”
HOME BUYERS STALLING
Major house builders suffered initial blows to their future forecasts and some analysts predicted a slowdown in the market along with increased costs of 10-12 % for major construction projects , leading to more being put on ice .
Big names like Taylor Wimpey underwent 20 % falls yet housebuilder Persimmon , which reported strong trading in the first half of the year , said it was too early to judge the effect of Brexit on the housing market . The firm said the number of completions rose 6 % to 7,238 in the period ,
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and it was ‘ confident ’ about its prospects .
Michael Holmes , spokesperson for The Homebuilding & Renovating Shows , said : “ The vote for Brexit has created a period of uncertainty for the UK economy , but the reaction from the self-builders and renovators attending the Southern Homebuilding & Renovating Show at Sandown Park in at the end of June was that they currently see no reason not to press on with plans that have been long in the making .”
The Government remains very ambitious for the Custom and Self Build Sector . Completed homes increased by 6 % across the UK in 2015 and the introduction of the Right to Build legislation in England is expected to boost this , as local authorities take on the legal duty to ensure there are sufficient serviced plots to meet demand .
Government in England is expected to revise upwards its
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target of 20,000 homes a year by 2020 . The Scottish Government is also reviewing its policy on the sector and the Right to Build legislation is in place for Wales , should the Assembly vote to implement it .
An April 2016 survey by Sarah Beeny ’ s online estate agency , Tepilo , found that 45 per cent of home buyers hanker after a custom build property , designed by an architect or themselves . Custom build developments , a major part of the housing market in most developed countries , offer buyers an individually designed home on a serviced plot , built to order in just a few weeks or months . Graven Hill near Bicester in Oxfordshire is the largest such development so far in the UK , with 1,900 plots .
An Ipsos Mori survey , commissioned by the National Custom and Self Build Association ( NaCSBA ) and Ipswich Building Society in April 2016 , found that over 6 million
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people in the UK will research how to build their own home in the next 12 months .
TIMBER OPEN FOR BUSINESS
The Timber Trade Federation ( TTF ) said it was continuing to work with all European trade association partners to reassure them that the UK is still a strong market that is very much open for business . TTF Managing Director , David Hopkins , added that the EU Timber Regulation ( EUTR ), which acts as a ban on placing illegal timber on the EU market , was a matter of UK law and was still being enforced .
He said : “ We ’ ve had meetings and statements from contractors and other buyers stating that they will be maintaining the strictest environmental and responsible sourcing standards regardless of the UK position in EU . In this regard , for the timber trade , it is business as usual .”
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