The Future Homes Standard has already changed how new homes must be built. Now a second, quieter reform is underway that will reshape how those homes are measured once they are built. In January this year, the UK Government published…
The ICFA sets out why the biggest housebuilding programme in a generation could still fall short, and what needs to change before it is too late. Earlier this year the government announced seven locations for a new generation of New…
Getting planning permission can feel like the finish line. In reality, it is often only halfway there… Industry figures suggest that consistently only around half of residential schemes granted planning permission ever make it to construction on site. For developers,…
In January the average UK house price broke £300,000 for the first time in history. That’s a number which landed in major headlines, which is no surprise overall. While this rise in property prices unsurprisingly landed in major headlines, it…
By Christopher Stride, Chairman, Insulating Concrete Formwork Association (ICFA) The Future Homes Standard 2026 has landed. After years of consultation, delays, and industry debate, the Government published the Building Circular 01/2026 in March 2026. Issued by the UK Ministry of…
In the UK we are obsessed with the weather – especially rain. And, with the wet winter we’ve recently experienced, it’s a topic we’re constantly talking about it. With rainfall volumes increasing year on year, the need for flood resistant…
Christopher Stride, Chairman of Insulated Concrete Formwork Association, explains how we can build Britain back better in the face of a major skills shortage We’ve heard the headlines by now – the UK is “short of construction skills”. And it’s not just a little short, it’s a chronic shortage…
If you’re a developer working on a construction project, there’s a very strong chance you’ve heard of ICF by now. Maybe you’ve heard how building with ICF blocks offers superior property strength, speeds up the build programme or integrates easily…
In recent years, the construction industry has been navigating the introduction of interim Part L uplift measures. However, as we head into 2026, all eyes are now on the hotly anticipated Future Homes Standard (FHS). As developers and specifiers enter…
It’s official, summer 2025 has been the hottest on record. A recent report from the Met Office shows we have experienced four official heat waves over the period and average temperatures have sat at 1.51°C above the long-term meteorological average. Yet,…