The ‘Get Britain Building’ initiative will focus on ‘shovel ready’ construction sites where work has stalled.
The government is aiming to build an additional 450,000 new homes by 2015.
Developers will compete for funds and building work on selected schemes could start next July.
It is hoped that up to 3,200 of the proposed new properties will be affordable homes and that the initiative will support up to 32,000 jobs.
The initiative is part of the new government housing strategy, also launched today, which includes:
A scheme worth hundreds of millions of pounds to underwrite a small percentage of mortgages for new-build homes. It is designed to reduce the size of a deposit, particularly for first-time buyers, by shifting the loan-to-value ratio. Banks are currently demanding deposits of up to 20% of the value of a property from first-time buyers.
An extra £50m on top of the £100m from this year’s budget towards an initiative to refurbish empty homes, mainly in deprived areas. Andrew Stunell, the Liberal Democrat communities minister, has said there are two years’ supply of homes locked up in empty property.
In a foreword to the government’s new housing strategy, Cameron and Clegg say: “By the time we came to office, house building rates had reached lows not seen in peace time since the 1920s. The economic and social consequences of this failure have affected millions.
“That lack of confidence is visible in derelict building sites and endless For Sale signs. It is doing huge damage to our economy and our society, so it is right for government to step in and take bold action to unblock the market.
“With this strategy we will unlock the housing market, get Britain building again, and give many more people the satisfaction and security that comes from stepping over their own threshold. These plans are ambitious – but we are determined to deliver on them.”
Via: theconstructionindex.co.uk
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Harsco has provided a variety of Self Climbing Formwork (SCF) systems, plus MANTO
Scaffolding Systems South West bosses were fined a total of £13,000, Terrence Foster was fined £8,000 and his business partner Shaun Greenslade was fined £5,000. Both had to pay court costs of £2,040.
Exeter Magistrates court heard that on the 25 March 2009 a large section of scaffolding erected by Scaffolding Systems South West at a builders merchants came away from the building, damaging a number of parked cars.
The causes for the collapse that HSE inspectors found was that netting had been fixed to the scaffold that extended nearly a meter above the roof of the building. The netting was also fixed to the inside edge of the scaffold instead of the outside which basically made the scaffold a sail to the prevailing wind. The investigation also found there was inadequate stability measures on the scaffold to withstand foreseeable wind speeds, such as scaffolding ties.
HSE Inspector, Andrew Kingscott said:
Due to the impending review of TG20:08 Volume 2, which is necessary following the introduction of the European Wind Code and the publication of BS EN1991-1-4:2005 A1:2010 (European Wind) and the National Annexe to BS EN1991-1-4:2005 A1:2010, all the safe height tables, text and diagrams associated with wind loading covered in TG20:08 Volume 2 are no longer valid and the tables detailed below should not be used, with immediate effect:
Tables being reviewed:
Table 29 – 31 (Pages 154 – 159) 
