Richard Hyams founder and CEO of award-winning architecture practice astudio comments on £500m increase in UK Housing Infrastructure Fund in the Budget:
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“Any investment to facilitate the creation of new homes is welcome, currently the industry is not delivering the number of homes required to prevent the cost of them rising above inflation, so the moves the chancellor has made are positive.
The challenge is going to be how quickly the funds convert to families housed in the homes that this funding helps provide. This would be made swifter if the use of offsite manufacturing technologies were used to facilitate the rapid construction of these much-needed houses and flats.
It is also encouraging the see that the funds are being focused towards parts of the industry currently better able to build affordable homes such as the housing associations. Historically, these businesses were established to enable the delivery of affordable homes for social rent or shared ownership. Raising the caps on these properties and providing stamp duty relief for first time buyers helps the squeezed middle get to own their own home.
Now all we need to do is get manufacturing!”
