Features

Urban Hymns

Steve Menary talks to Ashley Nicholson and Tim Pain, partners at development firm Verve, to find out how they are carving out a niche for a small developer in urban areas

Promotional Rescue

Conservative shadow housing minister Grant Shapps is distinctly unimpressed by the Government’s housebuilding rescue package. He tells Stephen Hoare why the industry needs the return of a Tory administration

Staircases with style

Defensive estates

Gladedale’s redevelopment of an army garrison at Southend-on-Sea has seen the site transformed into a characterful waterside scheme. Steve Menary reports

NVQ faqs

Over the last eight years, NHBC has been offering NVQs, primarily at management levels. Rob Lockey, NHBC’s training services manager, answers the most frequently asked questions about the qualifications

Metal gurus

Steve Thompson, Corus’ senior architect, and Samir Boudjabeur, Corus’ Manubuild co-ordinator, talk to Allison Heller about the progress of a cutting edge steel system build concept that turns traditional housing design on its head

Powerhouse

Jonathan Schwinge has reinvented the traditional cottage. The director of architectural and product design practice, Schwinge, tells Allison Heller how his 21st century homes combine striking architectural forms with cutting edge technology

Market acceleration

The residential property sector has entered a period of unprecedented and unpredicted turmoil, which will fast-track major changes to its structure, argues EC Harris’ residential research director Richard Jones

Planning decline

Across the UK, housebuilders large and small are pulling in their horns and easing production. Steve Menary assesses the likely impact of this now widespread trend

Thames gateway

James Stevens contends that plans to transform the Thames Gateway have been floundering because of an overreliance on housebuilding activity to foot the infrastructure bill – a problem magnified by the impact of the credit crunch