Archive for November 21st, 2009

WHAT HOUSE? AWARDS 2009 - SPEECH BY RUPERT BATES

Saturday, November 21st, 2009

Still here then? Haven’t you got homes to build?

Welcome to the What House? Awards - the Oscars of the housebuilding industry. I’m Rupert Bear from Building in Need and in the next 24 hours we need to raise 5555.55 new homes

Because with just 27 days working days left in 2009 and a 150,000 shortfall for this year alone, we need to build 5,555.55 homes a day before December the 31st.

Why doesn’t the industry set up Building in Need (BIN) in direct charitable opposition to the Council to Protect Rural England, who I hear are changing their logo to a green condom.

As New Homes Marketing board chairman David Pretty – thankfully David is a CBE not a CPRE – David estimates we could, at the present rate of ‘progress,’ be about two million homes light by 2020 in terms of simple supply and demand.

The middle England media does not scream – “New Homes Time Bomb!” because most of their readers have a country house and a paddock to graze their horses and prejudices and will throw themselves in front of the bulldozers, before bleating at a dinner party that their poor children cannot get on the housing ladder. To be fair show me someone who is not a NIMBY and I’ll show you a liar. But that’s not the point.

We are not talking simply about the delivery of, and the right to, a roof. We are talking about an issue that should be the heart and the lungs of social, economic, political and environmental agendas.

Of course development has to be controlled to protect the environment and not overburden local infrastructures and services. Yes it has to be the right housing and mix of tenures in the right places, with affordable delivery absolutely key. But how many captains of other industries are forced to state the bleeding obvious, as Barratt chief Mark Clare had to this week, saying: “We need to build what we know we can sell.”

I am not aware of Tesco being asked to limit their customers to eight items or less in all queues, despite an overwhelming demand for far more of their produce.

Housebuilding is the only industry artificially deprived of its basic raw material – land – courtesy of a planning system unfit for purpose and therefore unable to meet demand for its product.

Of course one way to get building is to go green and it may soon be the only way. I have already registered the name Wind Turbine Homes and we are launching a Show House magazine offshoot called Blow House.

You might not need planning at all, says the government, as it claims it will cut red tape for environmentally friendly projects. What, in the same way that Labour in its 12 years of misrule has ‘cut delays’ in planning applications?!

Housing Minister John Healey said this week: “The people who want to green-proof their homes should get a helping hand (now known as a Thierry Henry) not a stop sign.”

The Government talks of fast-tracking green developments. Very politically laudable in the countdown to Zero Carbon 2016 - but in reality a case of the unelectable in pursuit of the unacheivable.

There are some fantastic sustainability initiatives and eco-pioneering projects going on in this industry, from both builders and suppliers. But we still have not got a true, immutable definition of zero carbon.

Will the Government give assurances that when a zero carbon development costs a fortune to build, cost suppliers the earth to develop and deliver products, and results in a public not prepared to pay the price, they will cover any losses incurred by the new homes industry? Housebuilders are the guinea pigs to the global warming gods.

So we have the great, the good and the green of the industry here today and hopefully those green shoots of recent weeks are here to stay.

To award winners today carry your awards forward into 2010 as badges of excellence and tell buyers you build the Best New Homes in Britain – official.

THE WHAT HOUSE? AWARDS SPONSORS

Roca – The world’s leading bathroom manufacturer

Vogue Group – The most comprehensive range of services to the housebuilding industry

Nolte Kuchen – One of the world’s leading kitchen manufacturers

Google – The global search engine and the world’s biggest brand

Scottish Power – Part of one of the largest energy companies in the world

Electrolux – global leader in household appliances with Zanussi and AEG among their market leading brands

Smart New Homes – a leading new homes website with several renowned digital property brands

Tailored Home – a dynamic new property portal committed to the housebuilding and affordable homes sectors and part of a strategic alliance with whathouse.co.uk

The New Homes Group – a complete sales solution to housebuilders, including mortgages, part-exchange, legal services and CRM

New Homes Marketing Board – the industry body promoting the benefit of buying brand new homes

Category sponsors

Sage Construction - Leading Software solutions company for the housebuilding industry

Premier Guarantee - one of the largest warranty providers in the UK

LABC New Homes Warranty - providing a range of support services to housebuilders

House to Home - The first choice removals company for housebuilders

Badge sponsor

Johnson Tiles – the UK’s leading manufacturer and importer of ceramic wall and floor tiles

Judges report sponsor

Thomas Gray Associates – a leading recruitment company specialising in the new homes industry.

The Judges