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

Most people assume the value in project monitoring shows up when something goes wrong. A contractor in difficulty, a programme slipping, a cost plan that no longer adds up. That is when the reports matter, obviously. But the work that makes those reports useful happens much earlier. The initial review is the part we take most seriously. A drawdown pack arrives, often with pressure to turn it quickly, and the temptation is to skim, tick the boxes and move on. We do not do that

Every so often a report comes out that makes you stop and think. The latest HBF analysis is one of those moments. £9bn sitting unspent £3bn held for more than five years £2bn allocated for schools £700m set aside for affordable homes These numbers are not alarming to me. They show how much potential is already in the system and how much can be turned into real schools, real homes and real community benefit. One line in the report stood out: “There is a growing mismatch betwee