Remove roadblocks that delay new housing
UK governments must act on housing crisis, says Caroline Maciver
Scotland and other parts of Britain face a serious housing crisis. Think-tank Centre of Cities says there is a backlog of 4.3 million homes missing from the UK’s national housing market.
Both the Scottish and UK governments have made housebuilding a key policy commitment, but there are a number of developing legislative issues as well as major challenges facing the construction industry which stand in the way of addressing the need for new homes successfully.
In June, the Scottish Government appointed Màiri McAllan as Cabinet Secretary for Housing and pledged £3.5 billion to deliver 110,000 affordable homes by 2032. South of the border, Housing Secretary Angela Rayner set out plans to build 1.5 million new houses in England by 2029. As part of the UK Government spending review announced in June, £39bn was pledged over 10 years for social and affordable housing in England.
While this additional investment is essential and very welcome, new regulations on construction products will likely mean further challenges for home-builders and, in some cases, could present a barrier to progress.
The Scottish Government’s plans to introduce a new role of Compliance Plan Manager for residential buildings over 11 metres high could, like many new schemes, also create initial bedding-in delays for housebuilders.
Meanwhile, the UK Government’s Construction Products Reform Green Paper, which puts a strong focus on more third-party testing and certification to ensure product safety and reliability, creates further uncertainty for builders who are unclear how these reforms will work in practice.
The current progress of the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) in England underlines the potentially detrimental impact of new regulation on housing projects. Set up to ensure high-rise buildings are fully compliant with fire safety issues, the BSR’s initial 13-week approval timetable has more than doubled, creating a significant backlog in proposed new builds.
Following action in England, the Scottish Government is implementing new measures through the Housing (Scotland) Bill around Awaab's Law, which aims to tackle damp and mould in social housing. While this is well-intended legislation, it will place a greater burden on social landlords to investigate and address disrepair and could set back their timetable for building much-needed new social housing across Scotland.
Regulatory reform is undoubtedly important in the post-Grenfell era. It is, however, essential for governments to give clear guidance to the construction industry on new measures and ensure prompt timelines are met in the approval of new building applications.
More broadly, the Scottish and UK governments must provide wider support to the construction sector to ensure it has the capacity required to build the thousands of homes needed. With 140,000 construction vacancies currently unfilled in the UK and a further 750,000 employees expected to retire in 2026, the government can help the industry to facilitate more workers it needs, including 240,000 new apprentices required over the next decade.
There are also geographical challenges such as a lack of accommodation for contractors in some areas, including in the North of Scotland. Governments can support the sector through the planning system and potential tax incentives to drive home-building in regions of high demand.
If the Scottish and UK governments are to address the housing crisis and achieve their ambitious targets, they need to ensure they are a key part of the solution, not a roadblock to progress.
Caroline Maciver is a Partner, CMS