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Property Week and Freeths brought together a panel of industry experts to discuss the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and their forecasts for the year ahead. They talked about the future of the office, the contrasting fortunes of the retail, hospitality and industrial sectors, and the climate crisis agenda.
By Joey Gardiner 2021-02-11T10:13:00+00:00
Groups representing architects, planners and retailers write to housing secretary over radical permitted development plan
A coalition of nearly 30 groups representing high street shops, property developers and planners have written to housing secretary Robert Jenrick urging him to abandon plans for an “uncontrolled” expansion of residential conversions.
Signatories to the letter, which include RIBA president Alan Jones, the British Property Federation, the Association of Town and City Management, the British Independent Retailers Association, the Royal Town Planning Institute and the RICS, said the planned introduction of a blanket permitted development right to convert high streets to homes would create a “vicious circle” threatening the long-term health of town centres.
We are working with eco-entrepreneur Dale Vince to press for an end to a Government tax system that backs fossil fuels and punishes going green.
The system is undermining the Government’s commitment to Net Zero by 2050 which entails slashing greenhouse gas emissions and offsetting any remaining by, for example, planting trees.
Central to this is retrofitting the nation’s 28 million homes to reduce energy use – and them warmer in the process.
Brexit means Mr Sunak is no longer bound by EU VAT rules and can set his own rates to suit the UK.
And yesterday Adrian Ramsay, the chief executive of MCS Foundation – a leading charity in the renewables and green homes sector, said: “The Daily Express Campaign to make Zero Carbon = Zero VAT is just common sense.
One of Britain s most famous architects has said offices left empty by the coronavirus crisis could become the residential tower blocks of the future and vacant shops could be turned into urban farms.
Lord Foster of Thames Bank, whose designs include the Gherkin in London and Apple s headquarters in Cupertino, California, said the pandemic has been an accelerant of trends that will reshape global cities.
The 85-year-old argued that these trends include the repurposing of buildings for alternative use and the pedestrianisation of larger swathes of urban centres.
Lord Foster told the Financial Times that the crisis sparked by the global outbreak of Covid-19 has brought Britain to a crossroads in the evolution of the office, millions of which have stood empty for the past year.