The big housing question

I have been inspired to write this blog entry following a recent episode of Panorama. The programme was all about the need for affordable housing across the UK. There was a shocking contrast of housing in London which was fraudulently being let by landlords at extortionate rates and a family of 9 in Sheffield living in a 3 bedroom house.

There are around 5 million people on the housing waiting list in the UK and it was clear that the majority of people on this waiting list have no chance of being housed. During the show, Portsmouth Council went through their own list contacting most of the people on it, informing them that there was no chance of them ever being housed by the Authority. This meant that they cut their list considerably.

The big question however, is what happens to the people who will never be housed?

We have been developing Spacehus as a potential product for this market and we have managed to get a 3 bedroom house at an all in cost of around £84k on a small development. The running costs of this house would be around £10 per week which also would go some way to address fuel poverty.

A concept image of the £84k Spacehus that could help solve the affordable housing issue

The challenge is however, encouraging RSLs to develop. I have spent the last few months talking to many RSLs, and there is not ability or desire to develop new homes. This therefore means that the market is stagnant, so as no improvement is being made in relation to the waiting list, we face the problem of it getting longer.

It seems the reasons the RSLs are reluctant to develop is that they have been familiar with the grant process and the Government is now encouraging to change models and progress with an affordable rent model, which seems to increase their risk considerably in the longer term. All the details are not clear at present and I hope that I can dig deeper to understand what the problem is and to try and find a way around the challenges and encourage take up.

It does seem however, that there is a standoff between the Government and Social Landlords, meaning that we have a growing housing crisis in the UK.

Land values continue to be unrealistic and planning continues to be challenging. Both of these are preventing private sector involvement, putting the market in stalemate.

I still remain convinced, with my entrepreneurial hat on, that there is a need for housing which is affordable to buy or rent and run. At _space group we will continue to invest in finding a solution to this problem, until we find a way of getting affordable sustainable homes delivered.

For a number of years, we at _space group we have been driven by the purpose of making life better. After watching Panorama, I am sure that if we manage to crack this problem we will definitely make life better for the family in Sheffield who are currently sleeping on the settee.

Photos from the TES Classroom of the Future...

For more images taken at the event, visit the _space life Facebook page by clicking HERE.

A Spot of Holiday Reading

After my adventures in Florida at the beginning of the summer, I quickly found myself in need of another holiday.

We have just returned from a trip to Madeira - a beautiful island and the home of Ronaldo!

As ever, my holidays give me the opportunity to catch up on my reading. My taste in reading materials are a little ‘anorak-ish’ but I thought I would try my hand at reviewing some of the books I read whilst I was away, as I don’t have much more to report on because I didn’t get much further than the swimming pool!

Leading from the Front: My Story. Gerald Ronson

The first book I read was the story of Gerald Ronson who heads up the Ronson Group, which was a very successful business in the 70s and 80s. It ran petrol stations whilst more recently the group has become an international property developer.

Gerald Ronson is now aged 74 and is still working a 6-day week! His story is fascinating and takes you through how he grew a business, lost it all, and then grew it back again. He was infamously involved in the Guinness shares trial and ultimately ended up spending time in prison. He gives an interesting account of his life, how he shaped his future and what is important to him.

His family and community are a large part of his life and he has spent much of his time supporting Jewish charities over his 60 years in business. He is so matter of fact about the people he has met, from royalty to celebrities, many of whom became his friends. His company crashed in the last recession and after some poor investments in America, he was forced to sell large parts of his equity.

He continues to run the business on a day-to-day basis and is now the grandfather of property development in the UK - seen it all and done it all.

This was a fantastic read especially with the focus on development and the economy. Clearly, Gerald Ronson puts his family and his community at the top of his priority list and he clearly demonstrates how you can have success yet still share with others.

Common Sense Rules. Deborah Meaden

Out of the current five dragons on Dragons Den, four of them have written autobiographies. I have now read all four after reading the recently published, book by Deborah Meaden.
This is a fairly light business book giving common sense examples of how to run a business, as well as examples of how Deborah Meaden grew her organisation and ultimately sold it to venture capitalists.

Much of the information is common sense but still useful by giving a brief insight to the author who is clearly an effective and focussed business manager. This is a quick read targeted at those who watch Dragons Den.

The Big Four O

Life begins at 40... / photo

I reached a major milestone at the weekend. On the 11th July I hit the grand old age of 40. Some say life begins at 40 and I look forward to what that may bring. I have to be honest usually birthdays have little impact upon me however, I got to thinking that if 80 is a good innings, by the time you get to 40 you are half way there meaning that its all down hill from here!

My 30ies were an exciting time for me and this period generally coincided with the last 10 years of growth. Whilst growth was very exciting it provided its own challenges and headaches.

It is likely that my 40ies will have a different set of challenges as we steer the business through a difficult period.

For the man who has everything birthday presents were always going to be a challenge. The best present was the party which I had last Saturday night. These are rare occasions where all of your friends are gathered together in one place at the same time. Obviously one is your wedding providing you only have one and the other is likely to be your funeral which you won’t be at.

The one thing that struck me on the evening was that friendships are recession proof and in my case I have been fortunate enough to have a solid bunch of friends through the ups and downs over the years.

Batten Down the Hatches

Wikipedia

Over recent months one of the terms which I keep hearing in our industry and in particular from architects is that they plan to ‘batten down the hatches’ and ‘ride out the storm’. I think in the past this has been the way many architectural businesses have responded to recessions and generally the profession is badly hit by such down turns. Much of this is caused by the fact architects depend upon capital spending and in recessions this is one of the first things to be cut.

Over the past decade our industry has made huge strides forwards in relation to its approach and technology. There is no doubt that there is still further to go but my worry is that much of the hard work we have done in relation to partnering or integrated working will be stopped and potentially be forgotten.

As an industry we need to continue to invest in training and development.. With Building Information Modelling and integrated project delivery we are on the cusp of a revolution. Unfortunately many companies are battening down the hatches and cannot afford to invest.

I also worry that by battening down the hatches the storm will happen around us and when many companies open the hatches there will be no industry left.

At _space we made the decision to think very carefully about how we move forward but do not intend to batten down the hatches or bury our heads in the sand. We will continue to invest in our people and technology and think differently about our industry.

Hopefully this will stand us in good stead for the future and in fact help us weather the storm.

We are always looking at how we can diversify our offer to enable us to sustain our business for the long term.

North-South Divide

North-South Divide map/Wikipedia

The recession is starting to have quite a cultural impact on the architectural profession. My view has always been that in architecture there has been a London market and a regional market. Much of what has been delivered in the capital has been commercial responding to the asset boom driven by the banks. This has included offices, hotels and high end housing.

The majority of the construction industry is now driven by Government spending and investment in education and healthcare. This has encouraged many of the businesses in London to look further afield for opportunities.

The concentration of skills in London will help to increase the quality of public buildings being procured across England.

With regards to the upgrading of the of the schools estate, Partnerships for Schools are now very reliant on CABE as the custodian of design quality. Over the last few years the BSF process has been driven by delivery and the procurement itself. CABE’s involvement will undoubtedly raise standards and encourage bid teams to respond to the need for design quality.

This shift will give the opportunity to promote the benefit of the investment in design as part of the huge capital investment being made by the Government. As a northern business we must ensure we are part of the dialogue with bodies such as CABE and the RIBA which are traditionally based in the south.

A Brave New World

We have now officially entered the brave new world of social networking. Our new _space Life site is now up and running and we are going through our tests as we build up the content. I believe that social networking is building more and more momentum with increasing numbers of the people that I meet inadvertently mentioning YouTube or images on Facebook.

We are really hoping to bring the site to life and my vision is that it becomes a centre for all of the stories for the communities which we work within.

I spent the last few days in the South looking at several new schools and academies as I am always keen to see what is being done by others. On my travels I can across a very interesting new private school which had open air corridors giving students a good blast of fresh air. With a likely change of Government we are keeping our eyes open as to how a new Government may want to reform the education system. There are models in Scandinavia where education is delivered by the private sector under a voucher system. This has to be a realistic possibility under a conservative Government.

The racing season has started and I attended my first meeting in York last week. One of my favourite things throughout the summer is horse racing. I love the atmosphere and meeting people however, I am not a huge gambler. There are many meeting throughout the year and we hope for a glorious summer. It has to be better than sitting at St James Park.

At the end of the week I am off to Florida to spend some time with Mickey Mouse and my 5 year old daughter. I will be wearing my Mickey Mouse ears and really getting into the spirit of things. A trip to Orlando is far from an architectural pilgrimage but still great fun.

There are unlikely to be any great revelations in my blog upon my return however, I have packed my usual collection of business biographies so who knows how this may influence _space over the months ahead.

Social Media in Space

Times have certainly changed. We have just launched our new website Spacegroup.co.uk which reflects the diversity of the group. We have also launched a further site Spacelife.co.uk which allows us to tell the stories of the people of the buildings we create.

Initially I was a bit of a cynic regarding social networking. I thought it would be another fad and certainly something I would never have the time to use myself. However I find this media creeping more and more into my day to day life.

YouTube is great for watching short clips and space have even started producing video releases rather than press releases for projects we have completed.

I am astonished at the number and type of people who now use Facebook as a way to share photos and keep in touch.

When there is something new happening I have to find out more and understand what it is all about. I was recommended a great book called Meatball Sundae which put new media into context. Spacelife is our step into this world to link up with the people who live in the communities we work within.

These sites are used by all ages, however, there is a whole generation growing up attached to laptops and I phones. I realised times had changed when I watched my 16 year old son sitting on our settee with his girlfriend talking to their friends on MSN.

In our family eBay has also become a bonding activity as well as a small cottage industry operated by my wife and the same 16 year old trading children’s clothes.

Somebody once said to me that there are two types of people when it comes to social networking. There are those who get it and those who don’t. I think I now fall into the former.