BPM Blog Property Maintenance Tips, Tricks, Guides and Insights New Planning Laws for the UK from September 2020 On the 21st July 2020 Robert Jenrick the Housing Secretary announced changes to planning laws aimed at delivering new homes and regenerating town centres in England. The changes come into effect in September 2020, and mean unused commercial and retail buildings can be demolished and rebuilt without requiring full planning applications, allowing them to be repurposed helping to revive town centres and communities. The changes will allow property owners to add two storeys to their houses to create more space or new homes via fast track approval. There will however be a requirement to carefully consider neighbours and the appearance of the building. The Government hope this will relieve the push to develop greenfield sites whilst providing housing that fits the area. The big aim is also to reduced bureaucracy making the whole process quicker and easier. It is hoped that the new laws will facilitate a big increase in high quality, well designed green homes whist cutting red tape and protecting standards. Builders will still be required to adhere to the usual building control process. The Housing Secretary said: Pubs, libraries, village shops and other buildings important to communities are not covered by the new flexibilities, recognising the the importance of protecting community assets. Posted on 16th August 2020 Leave a comment on New Planning Laws for the UK from September 2020 Green Homes Grant 2020 The Green Homes Grant Scheme Home energy-saving improvements carried out under the Government’s Green Homes Grant 2020 scheme must be completed by a TrustMark Registered Business giving householders quality assurance. BPM Maintenance meet these requirements and can carry out this work. When Does the scheme Open? The scheme opens in September 2020, through the Green Homes Grant scheme, householders in England can find if they are eligible for vouchers covering up to two-thirds of the cost of hiring a company to upgrade the energy efficiency of their home. The maximum contribution is £5,000, or for households on lower incomes, a 100% grant up to £10,000 will be made available for some work. Vouchers will be issued from the latter part of September that will help pay for energy efficiency improvements helping to cut energy bills and potentially save households hundreds of pounds each year. Government has announced that consumers must use a TrustMark Registered Business to carry out energy-efficient measures in and around their homes. What do the Vouchers Cover? To qualify for the grant you will need to install at least one of the ‘Primary’ improvements. The Primary improvements are: Insulation – these include loft and roof, underfloor, solid or cavity wall insulation Low Carbon Heating – including ground or air source heat pumps or solar thermal which provide renewable methods of heating your home. The government has also announced that for those wishing to install low carbon heating they will be required to have adequate insulation (though this can be installed at the same time). If and only if households have installed at least one of the primary improvements they can then also use their voucher for other energy-saving measures. Including one or more of: • double or triple glazing/secondary glazing, when replacing single glazing • upgrading to energy-efficient doors • hot water tank/appliance tank thermostats/heating controls The grant scheme remains open until 31st of March 2021. The Green Homes Grant scheme launched by Rishi Sunak in his summer statement, sees a £2bn fund for improving the energy efficiency of homes through the country. Posted on 15th August 2020 Leave a comment on Green Homes Grant 2020 What Electrical Work is Notifiable? Regulation 12(6A) of the Building Regulations 2013 states that some types of electrical work must be notified to building control. The notification must consist of either a building notice or through depositing full plans. Typically an electrician (such as ourselves) will be registered with the NICEIC or ELECA which will handle these notifications. Should any works require notifications, our electricians will use the NICEIC website to register the notification online. The process takes only a few minutes and can be done from anywhere on their smartphones. What are the notifiable works? The installation of a new circuit the replacement of a consumer unit The addition or alteration to existing circuits in special locations. What counts as a special location? This all comes down to the proximity of the circuit to water. Any room containing a swimming pool or a sauna heater counts. Additionally, if the circuit is in close proximity to a bath or shower, then it will likely also count. The below diagram shows the area in which a circuit becomes notifiable. Posted on 16th August 2016 Leave a comment on What Electrical Work is Notifiable? Understanding the NHF Schedule of Rates 6.1/6.3 What are schedule of rates? A schedule of rates is a priced list of repairs, installations and other minor works. Typically the schedule will be used in a contract to standardise pricing which benefits both the supplier and the buyer: The supplier spends less time estimating prices for maintenance works. The buyer spends less time gathering quotes The NHF Schedule of Rates is the most popular third party schedule, widely used across the UK for maintenance & repair contracts. Building companies who wish to work for housing associations, councils & universities will often find themselves using the schedule. Why should I be interested? If you need some repair work done then it could be useful to check the schedule rate to get an idea of how much you should be paying for your work. Consider also that some building companies will be offering a discount on these rates when bidding for contracts. Private sector organisations interested in cost savings for building maintenance work through efficiency improvements may benefit from adopting the rates. A simple discount based tendering exercise minimises the pricing burden on potential suppliers, increasing the chances interested suppliers will submit a bid. Building companies, plumbers, electricians and other tradesmen who wish to work in the public sector need to get to grips with the schedule before they submit a price, so that they know what they’re getting into. Information contained in each rate At its most basic level, a rate will display a code to identify the rate, a letter indicating the urgency of the job, a brief description of the works involved, a unit of measure for determining the required quantity of the rate (eg per square metre) and the rate price. Job Urgency Codes: The exact time allowed for by these codes depends on the supplier, but a rough guide is given below: E – Emergency – typically within 1-4 hours U – Urgent – typically 24 hours R – Routine – typically 15-30 days X- User Defined How the price is calculated: A group of surveyors employed by NHF have determined the time & materials required to complete each repair work. The cost of all required materials has been provided by leading builders merchants. The time required has been multiplied by the labour rates detailed in the below section. The sum of the above gives the rate. NHF Labour Rates 6.1/6.3 The standard trade rates used by NHF are below: General building tradesperson – £26.26 per hour Roofer & mate – £41.54 per hour Electrician – £34.06 per hour Gas engineer – £34.50 per hour Plumber – £31.18 per hour Please note that the above rates are now more than five years old & do not account for inflation or other rising sectoral costs. What exactly is included in a rate? One of the most common points of friction between buyers and suppliers when using rates is regarding what exactly is included. Below is a list of what each rate includes: Any ancillary items necessary to achieve the repair even if not mentioned. Clearing away all rubbish, excess materials etc including waste disposal charges Access equipment up to second storey level. Dustsheets, security screens, weatherproofing & any other protection required. Any boarding work necessary to reach the work. Taking off and refixing aerials, satellite dishes, gutters, cables and any other items located on the roof. Making good. Material matching. Other elements depending on the type of work; please ensure you check the NHF list to find out exactly what. For example, fencing work will include for applying preservative timber coatings. Posted on 22nd July 2016 7 Comments on Understanding the NHF Schedule of Rates 6.1/6.3 Search for: SEARCH RECENT POSTS New Planning Laws for the UK from September 2020 Green Homes Grant 2020 What Electrical Work is Notifiable? Understanding the NHF Schedule of Rates 6.1/6.3 RECENT COMMENTS Eddie Ambert on Understanding the NHF Schedule of Rates 6.1/6.3 Marco Sorokin on Understanding the NHF Schedule of Rates 6.1/6.3 Rolando Boas on Understanding the NHF Schedule of Rates 6.1/6.3 Richarderawn on Understanding the NHF Schedule of Rates 6.1/6.3 Gayle Mildren on Understanding the NHF Schedule of Rates 6.1/6.3 ARCHIVES August 2020 August 2016 July 2016 CATEGORIES Uncategorised META Log in Entries feed Comments feed WordPress.org BPM Blog Proudly powered by WordPress