Developer turns to off-site timber frame construction for Batley development
Developer Keepmoat is investing more than £52m into a housing regeneration scheme at disused land off Soothill Lane in Batley – regenerating 30 acres of land.
The 319-strong development, named ‘The Orchards’, represents a multimillion pound investment into the regeneration of the West Yorkshire town, which has already benefited from one phase of development – 300 of the 319 homes will be delivered using modern methods of construction, with the entirety of the site planned to be built using prefabricated timber frames.
The second phase of the development will create a further 234 homes, delivering affordable properties with support from local housing provider Incommunities, Leeds Federated and Kirklees Council.
The start on site for phase two of the regeneration project is scheduled just weeks after the first phase was shortlisted for ‘Project at the Year’ at the National Building and Construction Awards.
Chris Clingo, Regional Managing Director at Keepmoat, Yorkshire West, said: “We’re thrilled to be continuing delivery under our strategic partnership model to build quality, sustainable homes for the latest phase in this regeneration project.
Bradford chooses development partner for ‘City Village’ scheme
Plans to transform Bradford’s former retail heart into a new sustainable ‘City Village’, billed as Bradford’s most ambitious regeneration project in generations, have taken a major step forward with the in-principle appointment of a preferred development partner.
It’s ECF, the partnership between Homes England, Legal & General and Muse, which appointment, via Muse, was approved in principle by the Council’s Executive Board yesterday, subject to final contract agreements later this month.
Bradford Council’s Lead Member for Regeneration Alex Ross-Shaw said: “This is part of a much bigger picture of regeneration across Bradford as our current regeneration programme like One City Park, Darley Street Market and the pedestrianisation works start to complete. City Village is the next big regeneration programme and will re-define the centre of Bradford. It shows the direction of the city centre for the next ten years – quality housing, more public and green spaces and safer streets to create the quality of city centre living that Bradford needs and deserves.
“Our vision is to create a healthy, sustainable and community-friendly neighbourhood. While housing is at the heart of these plans, City Village will also create opportunities for new independent retail, cafes, bars and business spaces. Bringing more homes into the city centre will also increase custom for the existing businesses on North Parade, where our recent investment shows what a sustainable, greener high street can look like.”
Sir Michael Lyons, Chair of ECF, said: “City Village is Bradford’s most ambitious regeneration project in generations. The funding made available by Homes England marks a significant step forward and demonstrates the commitment to ECF’s partnership with Bradford Council and the future of the city centre, coinciding with the city’s forthcoming UK City of Culture year.
“We’re excited to continue to work with the Council, Homes England and West Yorkshire Combined Authority to help Bradford realise its full potential, transforming the city centre into a safe, sustainable and inclusive place where people will want to live, as well as work and visit.”
The City Village is set to deliver up to 1,000 new homes, three new community parks and public spaces, along with shops, cafes, restaurants, and offices. Its delivery will be supported by Jack Pasley, who joined the company in October as part of the Leeds-based team charged with creation of the sustainable residential neighbourhood in the city centre.
The Council’s Executive Board also approved plans to enter into a grant funding agreement with Homes England, the government’s housing and regeneration agency, to release £29.9m of provisional Brownfield Infrastructure & Land funding, subject to final Homes England approval before the end of this year.
The new funding will be used to make improvements to the road network and public spaces, as well as support the demolition of the Oastler and Kirkgate Shopping Centres. The Oastler demolition is set to commence in summer 2025 and will enable the future regeneration opportunity to come forward. It is hoped the initial BIL funding will also help attract further investment to unlock future phases of the masterplan, which aims to completely transform Bradford city centre.
Over the last 18 months, ECF has been working with Bradford Council to develop a masterplan, including extensive public consultation and engagement. ECF will now work in partnership with the Council to progress a planning application. A second phase of public consultation will take place later this year, with an application expected to be submitted in spring 2025.
The regeneration opportunity is one of fifteen places identified in the Strategic Place Partnership between the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) and Homes England – announced last year – which aims to unlock ambitious, complex residential regeneration schemes and boost the delivery of thousands more homes.
North Yorkshire Council plans major recruitment drive
One of the largest recruitment drives in North Yorkshire Council’s history has been launched this week in a bid to entice new talent.
Led by the Local Government Association under the banner Make a Difference, Work for your Local Council, it will run until the end of January.
The campaign has been launched because more than nine in 10 councils across the country are experiencing staff recruitment and retention difficulties as demand for services continues to rise, highlighting the vital need to attract more people into the workforce.
North Yorkshire has advertised for about 3,500 vacancies in the past year seeking people to fill an average of 270 roles each monthly and there can be up to 350 different jobs to apply for that change daily.
Cllr Carl Les, the leader of the council, said: “In one of our largest recruitment efforts to date, we are looking to hire staff to help deliver the key services that make the county such a fantastic place to live and work.
“As the organisation transforms, undertakes new projects, and delivers a wide array of services to communities, it needs a passionate and skilled workforce to be at the forefront.
“So, from those at the very beginning of their working lives to people looking for senior management positions, take a look at the latest vacancies to inspire your next career challenge.”
TEC Partnership gets £91k boost to degree apprenticeship funding
TEC Partnership has been awarded £91,500 as part of the third wave of degree apprenticeship funding from the Office for Students.
This investment is a significant boost for the development of Level 6 degree apprenticeships at TEC Partnership’s institutions, including University Centre Grimsby, East Riding College, and Skegness TEC, for the 2025-26 academic year onwards.
The funding will enable TEC Partnership to expand its apprenticeship provision, offering two new, industry-aligned courses in social work and retail leadership that cater to the needs of local employers. It is estimated that 90+ new learners will be attracted to the new standards between 2025/26 and 2026/27. These programmes will help ensure that students not only gain academic qualifications but also acquire the practical, real-world skills demanded by today’s job market.
Ann Hardy, CEO of the TEC Partnership, said: “We are incredibly proud to receive this funding, which will allow us to strengthen our degree apprenticeship programmes. The investment will help create new learning pathways, ensuring our students benefit from the best of both worlds – quality education and hands-on experience.
“As a key player in local workforce development, TEC Partnership is committed to preparing our students for rewarding careers while supporting the growth of industries that are vital to the Humber region.”
The grant is part of a £14 million funding competition launched by the OfS to expand degree apprenticeships across the country. The third wave of funding specifically aims to increase opportunities for students, particularly those with a disability and those from the most deprived geographic areas, to combine academic study with work-based learning.
By enhancing its degree apprenticeship offerings, TEC Partnership aims to continue serving as a vital link between local businesses and education, helping to address skills shortages and foster economic growth across the East Coast and beyond.
Cyber Monitoring Centre works with BCC to probe cyber events’ impact on business
The Cyber Monitoring Centre is to work with the British Chambers of Commerce to gather data and insights about the impact of cyber events such as the Crowdstrike incident on UK businesses.
Through this collaboration, the British Chambers of Commerce conducts polls of their members immediately following significant cyber events to assess whether and how severely they have been affected. The data is shared with the CMC to provide insights into the impact across various industries and sizes of company.
Will Mayes, CEO of the Cyber Monitoring Centre, said: “Polling with the British Chambers of Commerce gives us access to valuable insights that are not available from our other data sources. The partnership not only provides quantitative data, but also offers qualitative context on the causes of disruption and loss.
“In the case of the CrowdStrike event, it enabled our technical committee to better understand the cascading effects of the event due to the interdependencies within the UK’s digital ecosystem”.
David Bharier, Head of Research at the BCC, added: “Understanding the impact of cyber events on the economy will be crucial to shape a more effective response. We are pleased to support the Cyber Monitoring Centre in this important work, which will contribute to greater transparency around cyber events.”
In 2024, polling has been completed for three cyber events, including most recently the CrowdStrike incident. The resulting data provided unique insights across industries, including those, such as manufacturing and construction, which were largely overlooked in media coverage. Members of the British Chambers of Commerce provided data on financial losses, the duration of the disruptions, and the causes of the loss, such as the inability to process client orders, delivery delays, lack of data systems access, and payment system failures.
Workplace Wellbeing Timebomb – 83% of professionals have experienced poor mental health at work
83% of professionals state they’ve experienced mental ill health at work in the past 12 months – with more than a quarter encountering it ‘regularly’.
Robert Walters’ survey of 3,000 professionals across the UK & Ireland recently revealed increasing numbers of professionals experiencing poor mental health at work, despite employers’ best efforts to enhance wellbeing offerings like employee wellbeing programmes e.g. mental health support (71%), Cycle-to-work schemes (65%), Healthcare vouchers (48%) and free or discounted gym memberships (43%).
A survey by Ipsos indicated that mental health has now overtaken cancer and obesity, to become the most common health problem Britons worry about.
In the UK, around £138bn is lost every year due to workplace sickness.
Habiba Khatoon, Director of Robert Walters Midlands: “While it’s encouraging to see that many employers have been ramping up their wellbeing benefits – the figures speak for themselves, efforts are still falling short when it comes to meaningfully supporting professional’s wellbeing.
“With past aspersions of the UK adopting a ‘sicknote culture’ its important employers can not only empathise with, but adequately support their employee’s wellbeing to avoid footing the cost of increased employee absences.”
Demand for wellbeing interventions
29% of all UK professionals consider employee wellbeing programmes the most important wellbeing & lifestyle benefit when they’re considering a job offer. Increasing to two-fifths (43%) of HR professionals and 31% of those working within General Management.
Interestingly – a third of C-Suite professionals state the same, selecting wellbeing programmes over travel & retail discounts, healthcare vouchers and free/discounted gym memberships.
Habiba adds: “Professionals are coming forward to demand that their employers do more to support their wellbeing at work – this isn’t an issue that’s limited to a specific industry or job-level. But the jury is out on whether the steps employers are then taking to heed their demands are having the desired effect.”
Are wellbeing benefits a box-ticking exercise?
Almost three-quarters of companies now offer employee wellbeing programmes. However, less than a fifth of professionals claim to have actually accessed the mental health support provided by their employer in the past 8 months.
When asked why they hadn’t, 58% stated that these types of benefits feel more like a ‘box-ticking exercise’ rather than provide any meaningful support – with a further 29% stating the services they’ve been offered need to be improved.
Habiba comments: “Employee wellbeing programs usually involve things like mental health / mindful apps, physical health checks and supplements – whilst these interventions can be useful, they put a plaster on the real cause of mental ill health – which can be something as simple as increased stress or professionals feeling overworked.”
Employer efforts must be recentred
A worrying 67% of UK professionals don’t think their employer is doing enough to meaningfully promote employee wellbeing – whilst almost two-fifths of senior leaders feel their increased spending on wellbeing benefits is going by largely unnoticed.
Habiba concludes: “There is no overnight solution for improving mental health. But employers must be dedicated to the creating a culture of open discussion and empathy in their workplace. This means adopting strategies such as mindful work practices e.g. respecting workhours and holidays, encouraging regular breaks and offering regular check-ins for employees.
“Those businesses who dedicate themselves to going the extra mile in supporting their staff’s mental health and wellbeing now, will reap the rewards of increased employee loyalty for years to come.”
Farming industry feels the pain
As the dust settles on last week’s Budget, the consequences for the wider economy and farming are beginning to become clear. And that is particularly the case when it comes to stimulating growth, supporting domestic business and strengthening agriculture.
The Inheritance Tax (IHT) changes – reducing agricultural and business property relief (APR and BPR) will be costly to many farms and rural businesses, while the arguments used appear based on misunderstood and partial data, says Jeremy Moody, secretary and adviser to the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers (CAAV). “These changes will affect many more family farms than the Government suggests and will do so when farming needs its resources to meet the new policies, to invest and adapt to advancing climate change.
“At a strategic level, the Government may have missed its optimum moment to drive the economic growth programme we need,” he adds.
Of course, the devil is in the detail – so what do the IHT changes really mean? In simple terms, where land, dwellings, machinery, animals and other assets are worth £4m, there will be £600,000 in tax to find. “That is a lot to pay. Even if spread over 10 years that is as much as many farms make in profit over 10 years, precluding important investment.” The Government argues that only a quarter of farms; the wealthiest quarter, are affected. But that misunderstands the tax data:
- First, it is only based on APR claims and takes no account of the farm’s machinery, livestock, working capital or other business assets, including diversified business activities supporting the farm and the rural economy. That figure misses half the picture and so understates the effects of the change.
- Second, it is not an assessment of farms but of individual ownerships of agricultural land. The average value of £486,000 might generally be just 50 acres but nearer 20 in some areas. Some will be small intense farms or family members’ land used by the family farm, but more will be lifestyle units and stray fields let out for grazing round a house – both likely with wealthier non-farming owners. The data does not record farms when, on DEFRA data, the average cereals farm would need four owners to be out of tax on its farming activity.
“If farmland has to be sold, the increased capital gains tax rate will mean more acres must go, reducing the farm’s production capacity and its ability to meet its overheads,” warns Mr Moody.
However, and almost immediately, English farmers face the dramatic acceleration of delinked payment cuts.
The centrepiece of the Budget was a £25bn increase in employers’ National Insurance, increasing the cost of employing staff, especially lower paid and part-time workers. “The whole food chain will now be less able to invest and take on new hires, with anyone earning even £9,100 costing at least £615 more,” he explains. “This will be particularly felt in many of the labour-intensive sectors of farming like dairy, pigs, poultry fruit, vegetables and horticulture.”
Remagin powers construction of affordable retirement community
Leeds-based offsite construction manufacturer Remagin, part of Etex Group, is playing a pivotal role in the development of a new affordable retirement community in Oldham, Greater Manchester.
Using Remagin’s innovative Light Gauge Steel Frame (LGSF) Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) technology, Sydney Grange is being developed by McCarthy Stone and will deliver 51 affordable homes for older people in the region. All the panels for the Sydney Grange development were manufactured at Remagin’s factory in Leeds and assembled on-site, supporting local employment and helping to speed up the construction process and reduce costs. The project is the first of its kind to use Remagin’s MMC solutions in full alongside the Older Persons Shared Ownership (OPSO) scheme, with apartments available for just £95,000 based on 50% ownership*. Shahi Islam, Director of Affordable Housing at Homes England, recently visited the retirement community which will open later this year as well as Remagin’s factory in Leeds. He said “McCarthy Stone’s Failsworth development is an excellent example of high-quality and affordable housing for older people. We are pleased to support it through our older persons shared ownership scheme which forms a key part of Homes England’s efforts to provide suitable housing and build strong communities. “Expanding the use of MMC is also a priority for the programme so it’s great to see the success of the partnership with Remagin. We look forward to supporting this model and seeing it progress.” Remagin’s involvement highlights the importance of local manufacturing in the delivery of large-scale affordable housing projects. By producing LGSF panels locally, the company has been able to support the Yorkshire economy while ensuring high-quality construction at reduced costs. Patrick Balemans, Head of Division at Etex New Ways and Remagin, said: “This project demonstrates how Modern Methods of Construction can be used to meet the increasing demand for affordable, energy efficient and high-quality housing. By manufacturing the panels at our Leeds facility, we’ve not only reduced build times but also contributed to the local economy and created jobs in the regional supply chain. We look forward to continuing our work on similar projects that combine speed, value and cost-efficiency.” Sydney Grange is the first in a series of projects that McCarthy Stone and Remagin plan to deliver across the Midlands and the North, with a focus on addressing the growing need for affordable homes for older people. The use of MMC is expected to reduce construction timelines by up to 50%, while also offering sustainable, energy-efficient homes that lower ongoing costs for residents. John Tonkiss, CEO at McCarthy Stone, said: “We are delighted to showcase the first of what will be many more affordable retirement communities that we’ll build in partnership with Homes England and Remagin. It is a truly groundbreaking model that provides new retirement apartments at affordable prices and in parts of the country where development previously would not have been viable. We look forward to continuing this partnership in the months and years ahead.”Ground investigation starts for homes site development in Grimsby
Developer Keepmoat has started initial survey work at Alexandra Dock In Grimsby, where new homes are to be built.
This week the company is on site next to the Garth Lane bridge area to begin ‘trial pitting’ – ground investigations to determine soil and ground conditions ahead of any building.
This comes ahead of public consultation and the submission of a planning application for around 130 homes on the 6.25-acre site. Keepmoat was awarded the build lease for the council-owned site earlier this year.
Initial support to get the scheme underway has come from the Grimsby Towns Fund, and Homes England.
The site itself sits behind the new Horizon OnSide Youth Zone alongside the River Freshney and next to the remodelled Garth Lane bridge and waterside walkway. It was earmarked for homes in Grimsby’s Town Centre Masterplan – cited as an ideal location given the water nearby and the improvements that have already taken place.
North East Lincolnshire Council Leader Cllr Philip Jackson, said: “North East Lincolnshire must develop as a place where people want to live and work. If that does not happen, we risk stagnating as a borough. We’re committed to making sure that does not happen.
“There’s a long way to go yet, and developments of this scale don’t happen overnight. But we are working to improve the town centre as a whole and this is part of that vision. We want people who work in our borough to also live here as this will maximise the economic benefits to the area.”
Unnamed operator chosen for Doncaster Sheffield Airport
An as-yet-unnamed operator has been appointed to take over Doncaster Sheffield Airport which will lead to eventual reopening of the site — and the three South Yorkshire Chambers are applauding everybody involved in getting the landmark deal over the line.
Negotiations now entering into their very final stages but the decision is seen as a major step forward and a huge win for South Yorkshire, with the possibility of passenger flights resuming in spring 2026.
The South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority will soon be considering a business case for the immediate release of £3 million (from an earmarked £138 million gainshare) to support the ongoing negotiations at this critical juncture.
Dan Fell, Chief Exec of Doncaster Chamber, said: “It goes without saying that this is incredibly heartening news, not only for Doncaster but for the wider region too. As we have long maintained, successful economies need successful airports in order to thrive and so the return of DSA naturally has massive implications for South Yorkshire.
“With that in mind, I’d like to take this opportunity to applaud everybody who has played a role, however small, in getting this deal over the line. In particular, our public sector partners at City of Doncaster Council and SYMCA deserve to be commended for taking such a bold and entrepreneurial approach to these negotiations; ultimately enabling us to get where we are today.”
Louisa Harrison-Walker, Chief Exec of Sheffield Chamber, added: “I am sure I can speak on behalf of our business community when I thank the various leaders and behind-the-scenes officers involved here for their tremendous hard work and dogged persistence. They have truly opened up new, exciting opportunities for the region.
“The news that South Yorkshire is, at long last, getting its airport back is certainly a very welcome development for Sheffield firms as well. After all, ours is an internationally significant city, with industry-leading companies and a pair of acclaimed universities that are respected the world over. These organisations are all set to benefit from the global connectivity that this revamped airport will provide; whether it’s in the form of supply chain opportunities; the creation of new jobs; or increased access to the best and brightest talent.”
Carrie Sudbury, Chief Exec of Barnsley & Rotherham Chamber, said: “At the time of its initial closure, DSA had huge untapped potential and we are eager to see how the region will take greater advantage of all these opportunities when the airport returns in its new and improved form.
“Indeed, an economic impact study found that it could represent up to £1.56bn in net benefits over the course of three decades. Not to mention, it will also create thousands of jobs right here in South Yorkshire. As Chambers, we naturally welcome anything that prospers our region, but the potential benefits that could be unlocked here cannot be understated.”
