In a bid to “fix our broken housing market”, Theresa May announced last month a series of housing reforms. The released Housing White Paper revealed that 225,000 to 275,000 new homes per year will be needed to keep up with population growth and years of under supply.

In response to the announcement, Mark Farmer, CEO of Cast and author of Government-commissioned review into the construction sector, said: “This Housing White Paper includes many of the recommendations that I set out in my review into the construction industry. From a capacity building perspective, there is a welcome recognition of the challenge of transforming skills development and training as well as strong support for modern, more efficient construction techniques. On a broader front, the central measures to better diversify tenure, especially through affordable housing and build to rent will drive a more resilient acyclical demand profile for the construction industry which, in turn, will enable longer-term thinking and investment in higher productivity capacity building. It is critically important in my opinion that the Government has not only looked at increasing supply but is considering the physical means by which that will be delivered ensuring high-quality construction.”

In this month’s issue, David Bennet, Business Manager for Topcon, argues that while the initiatives set out are welcome, they do not address the on-site inefficiencies faced by developers that impact on the time, cost and delivery of projects. Turn to page 22 to read more.

Also in this issue, Lynn Gibson of Gibson Hewitt advises members of the construction industry to stay on top of snagging lists, Kemper System – the cold-applied liquid membrane specialist – discusses a roofing project at a landmark refurbished office building and Hansgrohe UK explains why it believes the key to a successful project is to consider lifetime costs.

I hope you enjoy this edition. Don’t forget, you can also access all of the magazine’s features, product news and supplier information at your fingertips via Future Constructor & Architect’s state-of-the-art app. To download your version free of charge, simply search ‘fc&a’ on Google play or the App Store.