News
A property news summary
Homeowners go DIY crazy
According to www.comparethemarket.com, only 13 per cent of homeowners have accidental damage protection on their home insurance policy, which would protect the policyholder against common mishaps such as flooding from a burst pipe, or damage caused by putting a foot through a ceiling. UK homeowners spend around £1.5 million a year fixing botched DIY jobs.
Bank holiday weekends are traditionally a time for DIY, so follow Avenues’ top five tips for approaching a DIY project.
Get covered
Adding accidental damage to your home insurance will ensure that you don’t end up footing a big bill for a minor mishap. For larger projects, such as extensions or structural renovation, always notify your insurer, if the security or structure of your property is compromised, it may invalidate your insurance policy.
Budget
Prepare sketch plans for larger schemes and prioritise the jobs that cannot wait. Online tools such as the www.whatprice.co.uk directory or the Dulux paint calculator will help cost out a project and avoid running to the local DIY shed.
Be equipped
Getting the right tools at the right price will make a DIY project all the more worthwhile. If you know what you’re after, follow the trade and visit low-cost trade counters such as Toolstation (www.toolstation.com) or Screwfix (www.screwfix.com).
Look it up
There’s plenty of advice out there. Www.videojug.com has a massive range of video tutorials and how to guides to ensure that you never botch a job.
Don’t struggle
If the task is beyond your expertise, don’t struggle. Get someone in that can do a professional job.
Housing Association waiting lists
The Local Government Association (LGA) have predicted that five million people will be on council or housing association waiting lists by 2010.
The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors’ (RICS) policy officer, James Rowlands said: “With over 663,000 empty homes estimated in England, it is essential the government bring these properties back into use as quickly as possible to reduce the prospect of the LGA prediction turning into reality.
“Empty properties represent an enormous wasted asset at a time when house prices are high and a slowdown in house building industry reducing the number of homes being built.
“Bringing empty homes back into use will have major effects in areas of both low and high housing demand. In areas of high demand, the need for an increase in overall housing supply is clear and bringing empty homes back into use will help alleviate this problem.
“In areas of low demand, there is an acute need for regeneration and development of communities that people actually want to live in. Securing the reuse of any empty homes in these areas is economically essential as part of any wider regeneration schemes as empty homes are considered to be an indicator of an area becoming deprived,” Mr Rowlands added.
RICS have urged local authorities to assess the reasons for empty homes in their area and where necessary make better use of Empty Dwelling Management Orders to bring them back into use.
Green leases for non-domestic buildings
The All Party Urban Development Group is planning a new strategy to reduce the carbon footprints of existing non-domestic buildings. A leading building consultancy claims that the introduction of ‘green leases’ could prove to be the most efficient starting point.
With government carbon neutral targets on new non-domestic buildings unlikely to be met due to a slow down in construction, there is a pressing need to increase the green credentials of those buildings already standing and occupied.
Non-domestic buildings account for around 20 per cent of the UK’s total carbon emissions, with existing buildings producing the majority of this.
Green Leases are a topic of much uncertainty within the building industry, with many parties split as to how they should be implemented, whether they bring greater benefit to tenants or landlords and whether or not they provide the solution to the challenge of making our buildings sustainable, such as through the reduction of carbon emissions and better waste management.
A green lease incorporates an agreement between the landlord and tenant as to how a building is to be occupied, managed and developed in a sustainable way. It includes a schedule detailing specific provisions for monitoring and improving energy performance, meeting efficiency targets and reducing the environmental impacts of the building.
Mathew Lown, partner in charge of sustainability at building consultancy TFT, explains: “For a Green Lease to work it needs to have support and commitment from both the tenant and the landlord. The terms of the lease should be agreed on common ground that marries the green credentials of both parties and engages everyone in the delivery process.”
Energy saving universal remote
Nearly £1billion worth of energy is wasted in UK homes each year just by leaving appliances on standby.
One For All, the home electronics firm, have introduced a new 'Energy Saver' universal remote control that switches off all your electrical equipment at the press of one button for a greener environment.
Connect up to four devices including your TV, DVD and satellite/cable digibox to the power pack, and when you want to turn them all off, press the energy-saving green button on the remote to make an energy saving of 90 per cent. A typical set of a/v equipment uses 9.7 Watts an hour if left on standby but by using the 'Energy Saver', this can be cut down to 0.9 Watts.
An TV LCD consumes 1.5 Watts per hour in standby mode, a total of 11.49 Kilowatts per year on standby assuming the TV is in use three hours a day. A satellite receiver uses 6 Watts an hour or 45.99 Kilowatts annually. And a DVD recorder consumes 2.2 Watts per hour totalling 16.86 Kilowatts a year on standby. So, with the remote, you can save up to 74.34 Kilowatts a year or 44 Kg of carbon dioxide.
The remote control is available from the end of May at John Lewis and Dixons, and then in Asda, Argos and Tesco from August, priced at £39.99. Visit www.oneforall.com/energysaver to find out more.
Garden city principles
To mark leading housing and planning charity, the Town and Country Planning Association’s (TCPA) 108th AGM the Association is calling for the Garden Cities and Garden Suburbs principles of over a hundred years ago to be applied to new settlements, including eco-towns as well as to urban extensions, to provide the attractive and sustainable environments people want.
TCPA Chief Executive Gideon Amos said: “With our roots as the Garden City Association of 1899 the TCPA has been a reformist movement for over a hundred years – evidenced by our interest in fair shares in development and land value uplift; shared ownership of public open space; participative and entrepreneurial local governance; town and country planned together, and enhancement of the environment – and driven to assert the need to achieve sustainable communities.”
“As we seek to deal with today’s dual challenges of unparalleled housing demand, driven by a crisis of affordability and demographic factors, and an urgent need to reduce our emissions from the built environment we can learn many lessons from the Garden Cities and Garden Suburbs of the past century.
“Most UK residents live in suburban housing, and 80 per cent of us aspire to live in a house with a garden; yet the debate so often dwells on ‘minority sports’ such as city centre loft living.
“Green space is not only important in creating desirable housing; it is also integral to more environmental design.
“A renaissance of Garden Cities and Garden Suburbs, with the provision of proper neighbourhood centres, not urban deserts, would help create communities we would all aspire to live in,” Mr Amos added.
The TCPA was the first organisation to initiate the move for country or green belts with a campaign statement that these should accompany all new settlements, published in 1919.
Originally rural belts emerged as part of the vision for Garden Cities at the end of the nineteenth century and the TCPA’s Annual Report of 1919 included a statement from the Executive calling for towns to be “surrounded by a rural belt”.
The Association continued campaigning for green belts throughout both world wars and the 19th June 1937 issue of Town & Country Planning Journal published a new policy statement calling for towns to be “surrounded by a permanent country belt”.
In 1944 Vice President and Council Member of the TCPA Sir Patrick Abercrombie first put Green Belts into planning practice in his Greater London Plan of 1944 for Herbert Morrison the Leader of the London County Council. Abercrombie was also the founder of Council for the Preservation of Rural England.
The 1947 Town and Country Planning Act gave statutory force to development plans (including the green belts where they were set out) in all districts of England.
Visit www.tcpa.org.uk to read more.
Gardens to form heart of Thames Gateway
£35 million of funding has been made set aside for new schemes that will create parklands, town squares and riverside pathways in the Thames Gateway.
Schemes that focus on green space, open space and heritage related projects could be in line to receive a share of £30 million funding to make their proposals a reality in London, Kent and Essex.
A further £5 million is being made available to fund studies and scope out opportunities for further green and open spaces in the Gateway.
Thames Gateway Parklands design champion Terry Farrell is advising the government on how best to ensure green and outdoor spaces are part of all communities in the Gateway.
Housing and Planning Minister Caroline Flint said: “Experience has shown the huge difference living and working in a green environment can make to the quality of people's lives so it's essential we make sure from the outset that outdoor space is a key feature of all communities.
“Having someone of Terry Farrell's calibre onboard shows just how important we take greening the Gateway, and inviting bids for the £35m parklands programme is one of the first steps at making this happen,” Ms Flint added.
Thames Gateway Parklands Design Champion Terry Farrell said: “This immense and exciting regeneration project is already well underway and gathering momentum through the conscientious work of many local organisations - both public and private.
“In my advisory capacity as Design Champion for Thames Gateway Parklands, I will be helping DCLG to ensure that proposals meet high ambitions for the Thames Gateway. This represents major opportunities for the partners to help create a landscape legacy that they and local people can be proud of."
“Greening the Gateway and ensuring all communities have access to outside space will be a guiding principle for development and three partnership bodies, known as Green Grids, have now been invited to bid for funding under the Thames Gateway Parkland programme,” added Mr Farrell.
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