City veteran John Allan prepares to step down as Barratt chair June 4, 2022 Titan housebuilder Barratt is planning to begin a search for a new chairman, with City grandee John Allan to step down. According to reports by Sky News, Allan, who also chairs the country’s largest supermarket, Tesco, is readying to hand over the reins of the construction giant. Barratt has reportedly asked headhunters at Russell Reynolds [...]
Chancellor urged to cut household bills by £200 with ‘retrofit revolution’ May 20, 2022 A group of the UK’s most senior housing figures have called for a "retrofit revolution" to cut down household bills.
Barratt boss hits out at government’s ‘deeply unfair’ levy to fix cladding crisis May 5, 2022 The boss of one of the UK’s largest property developers has today hit out against the government for its “deeply unfair” levy on housebuilders to solve the cladding crisis. London-listed Barratt Developments has set aside £480m to fix the cladding on buildings it built above 11 metres, however it is expecting to pay another £400m [...]
Housebuilders agree to pay £5bn bill to fix unsafe homes April 13, 2022 Housebuilders have agreed to contribute £5bn to address unsafe homes, the government has announced. Developers will contribute at least £2bn to fix building safety defects, such as dangerous cladding, on their own buildings from the past three decades. Some £3bn will also be paid by the industry through an expansion to the Building Safety Levy, [...]
Retail sales slow as consumer confidence now lower than horsemeat scandal April 12, 2022 Retail sales slowed last month as consumer confidence has taken a hit as shoppers feel the bite of rising cost inflation. According to data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG, sales increased by 3.1 per cent in March. This was worse than a three-month average growth of 6.9 per cent. What’s more, retail [...]
Cladding repair bill hits £1.5bn as Redrow and Barratt latest builders to sign up to fire safety pledge April 6, 2022 The total cost for cladding works for the big nine listed housebuilders has hit £1.5bn, as London-listed firms sign up to a government fire safety pledge. According to analysis from AJ Bell, the country’s biggest builders are planning to set aside another £802m in total to tackle unsafe buildings in the wake of the Grenfell [...]
Energy giants fuel London indexes ahead of government white paper April 5, 2022 London’s top indexes were boosted by investors pouring into energy stocks yesterday ahead of the UK government publishing its much-awaited energy strategy. The capital’s premier FTSE 100 index rose 0.72 per cent to 7,613.72 points, while the domesticall-focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of the UK economy, edged 0.13 [...]
Housebuilders goose London indexes after dodging £4bn cladding bill April 4, 2022 Reports of the UK government footing most of the bill for fixing the cladding scandal strengthened sentiment toward London-listed housebuilders today. The capital’s premier FTSE 100 index added 0.28 per cent to reach 7,558.92 points, while the domestically-focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of the UK economy, climbed 0.53 [...]
Abrdn urges housebuilders to go further than legal requirements in coughing up cladding cash March 23, 2022 FTSE 100 asset manager Abrdn has called on housebuilders to do more than the bare minimum to foot the bill to fix blocks with unsafe cladding. According to a report from Sky News, the City investor has written a letter to big players in the construction sector, urging them to do more than they are [...]
Housebuilder shares boosted by fresh cladding estimate March 14, 2022 Housebuilders saw their share prices lifted on Monday after optimism that the bill foisted on developers for cladding remediations would be much lower than initially forecast. It had been thought that property firms would have to pay £4bn to rectify unsafe cladding on 11-18metre tower blocks. However, the potential bill was estimated to be closer [...]