Tag Archives: ideas
Poll reveals how British people think their homes will be powered in the future
A wind turbine in the garden and electronic devices driven by exercise equipment are some of the revolutionary changes home owners in the UK can look forward to according to a new poll. Home owners certainly see homes being powered in a very different way from the current reliance on electricity from the national grid. A survey conducted by Gocompare Energy reveals that people think that in the future there will be wind turbines in gardens creating a personal power supply and little water turbines in gutter pipes and bathroom drains to harness further power. Other ideas that could become a reality include homes being roofed with tiles that have inbuilt solar technology while some of the more whacky ideas include floorboards that harvest energy as you walk across them. The poll asked if people thought that there would be changes in the way homes are powered in the future and the vast majority, 91%, stated that they thought there would. Of these, 84% believed power would come from ‘more sustainable sources’, with a further 61% believing that UK homes will become more ‘self-sufficient and independent’. Some 9% believed that homes will not be powered by any mains gas or electricity at all in the future. Some 55% thought appliances will be powered by exercise devices in the home, 51% believed that energy could be harnesses from water flowing through household drains and 43% thought gutters could generate power when it rains. Another 39% could believe that all roof tiles will automatically harness power from the sun and 22% could foresee a future with a wind turbine attached to every home while 14% thought flooring could be used to generate energy. In addition to these, 8% of respondents believed that certain modern gadgets that require a lot of energy would be banned in the future, including appliances such as kettles and washing machines and overall a third of respondents believed that these predictions could come into effect as soon as 2020. ‘It’s been fascinating to see what energy innovations people think we could see in our homes in the future. It’s no wonder that we are starting to see more people considering the sustainability of our power sources but that’s not to say that washing machines are going to be outlawed any time soon. If anything, they will just become more energy efficient,’ said Ben Wilson, an energy expert at Gocompare Energy. ‘What’s particularly interesting is that some of these predictions aren’t necessarily that farfetched. I could well envisage a workout station where you can charge your mobile phone while you work up a sweat, or the advance of solar technology to make it all a little more aesthetically pleasing for UK rooftops,’ he explained. ‘The industry is fast paced and alternative and renewable energy providers are constantly looking for new ways to generate power, so I could see some of these coming to British homes very soon,’ he… Continue reading
Over a third of councils in England are boosting self build homes
More than 130 local councils in England, some 39%, are already taking action to help boost the opportunities available for people who want to build their own homes, new research shows. This first comprehensive survey of custom and self build activity across all local councils in England also shows that one in five councils have already set up a local custom and self build register or carried out assessments to measure local demand for people who want to build their own homes. On top of this 77 seven councils are already creating opportunities for private home builders through their Local Plans, the survey undertaken by the National Custom and Self Build Association (NaCSBA) found. These involve a range of initiatives from policies asking for a mix of homes on sites and promoting private home building as part of affordable housing initiatives, to requiring building plots on larger housing sites, supporting collective projects and commitments to work with industry and local communities to identify suitable opportunities and, in some cases, providing finance support. More than 30 councils are identifying suitable sites or locations where private home building is encouraged and in some cases are disposing of public land or buying land and a number of councils are also identifying more significant opportunities. Opportunities include the re-use of former public sector sites, proposals to include private home building opportunities as part of future urban and village extensions, and introducing new planning policies that encourage affordable self and custom build homes in rural areas. Councils in the North East are currently the most proactive where 70% of them are progressing initiatives to make it easier for people who want to build their own homes. Two other regions, the South West and the West Midlands, have half or more of all councils bringing forward initiatives. The least active region is currently London, where just 21% of councils have so far taken action. However, since 2012 the overall level of local authority activity across England has approximately trebled. The association says that if this level of activity continues then by the end of 2016, between 150 and 200 councils will have brought forward new planning policies and initiatives to support private homebuilders across England. By the end of 2018 the combined impact of all these initiatives will assist towards enabling up to 10,000 more self or custom build opportunities to come forward and if this happens the scale of the current self build sector will have doubled. The NaCSBA research and development team has already completed visits to several German regions, and locations across the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain and Scotland. In addition the team is examining the Irish, US and Australian markets, and is currently investigating how the Scandinavian and some Far Eastern sectors operate. ‘Our international work has focused on how local councils support people who want to build their own affordable homes. In most other countries a significantly higher proportion of all housing… Continue reading
Review of UK housing and planning policies widely welcomed
Changes need to be made to housing and planning policies in the UK to ensure enough new homes are being built, according to a property market review. The Lyons Housing Review, commissioned by the Labour party, identifies the changes which need to be made to increase the number of new homes to 200,000 a year. It says there must be new powers for local communities to build homes in places people want to live, that councils must produce a home building plan and allocate sufficient land for development and first time buyers should get priority access to new homes. The review says local communities should have the power to build the homes in places people want to live. Councils will be able to designate ‘housing growth areas’ and will have powers to assemble land and give certainty that building will take place. They will also ensure on larger developments the planning gain that results will in part be used to invest in the schools, roads, green spaces and GP surgeries that make developments possible. It also says councils should be compelled to produce a home building plan and allocate sufficient land for development. Labour says if it wins the general election next year it will make it mandatory for local authorities to produce a local plan to meet the housing needs of the community. If they do not allocate sufficient land or present a plan, the planning inspectorate will have powers to step-in to ensure the housing need is not ignored. The third main recommendation is that first time buyers from an area should get priority access to new homes. Councils would be given the power to reserve a proportion of homes built in ‘housing growth areas’ for first time buyers from the area for a period of two months. In addition, local authorities will be able to restrict the sale of homes in these areas so they cannot be sold for buy to let or buy to leave empty properties. The changes identified have been widely welcomed. According to Susan Emmett, residential research director of Savills the recommendations should help boost housing numbers regardless of who is in government next year. ‘The report clearly recognises the need for a long term, more strategic approach to planning for homes, integrating housing with infrastructure and increasing the number of players operating in the market,’ she said. ‘While we expect that large house builders will continue to provide the bulk of new homes, Lyons’ recommendations for supporting smaller builders and helping Local Authorities to build more is crucial if we are to increase overall housing numbers,’ she explained. ‘We also welcome the report’s recognition that we need to be delivering homes across all tenures including homes for rent. We expect to see the number of people renting continue to grow and supporting institutional investors to build to rent is essential to provide the good quality homes needed,’ she added. The British… Continue reading
