Half-built schemes lose more value to missing paperwork than to the debt itself. When compliance evidence is missing, the fix isn't a valuation, it's re-measuring what's actually built, proving it, and pricing what it costs to finish.

A 20 per cent charge sits on almost every extension, rewire, re-roof, damp repair and loft conversion carried out on the 29 million homes we already have. This is a decision, and it is the most distorting feature of the tax system as it applies to the built environment. The anomaly is simple. Demolish a house and build a new one, and the work is zero-rated, with VAT on inputs recovered in full. Repair, extend or retrofit that same house, and it's taxed at 20 per cent, with th

Andy Burnham has promised Britain's biggest council housebuilding programme since 1945. That is the headline everyone has taken from his first week in office, and it is worth pausing on the word "council," because it points to a shift in who commissions housing in this country, not just how much of it gets built. For most of the last two decades, private housebuilders have set the pace. They chose the sites, ran the programmes, and instructed the consultants. Councils and reg

Keir Starmer resigned this morning. Andy Burnham is now the overwhelming favourite to replace him and could be in office within weeks. For those working in development, cost consultancy and investment, it is worth being clear about what that means commercially. Burnham is not anti-development. His record in Greater Manchester is evidence enough: house prices rose 63% over the past decade against London's 7%, and major schemes like Victoria North and Mayfield were delivered on

Recovery shows up on site before it shows up in the data. Contractors are pricing more competitively, funders are back at the table, and stalled projects are moving again. UK property is turning. It is driven by the industry pulling in the same direction again. It is visible in the work being done by agents, planners, architects, quantity surveyors, engineers, funders, occupiers and facilities teams. Agents unlocking momentum Deals are moving. Opportunities are emerging. Agen

Everyone keeps saying UK housebuilders are in trouble. The FT quietly made a more interesting point this week: things don’t need to get “good” for the sector – they just need to stop getting worse. Three reasons why that matters: Planning is finally (slowly) moving.
After a decade of dysfunction, the direction of travel is changing. Mandatory targets are back, green belt flexibility is creeping in, and planning certainty – even marginally – has a big impact on land value and