Author: |Posted: 3:56 pm on 29/01/09
Category: DIY & Self Build
The BBC reports that North Kesteven District Council in Lincolnshire has commissioned four three-bedroom semi-detached straw bale houses. If approved, the eco homes, in Martin and Waddington, will start to be built in late spring.
While it’s great that councils are providing affordable housing that will cost less to heat, not to mention starting to see the environmental benefits of eco housing, you’ve got to wonder at the cost of maintenance for these buildings. How many tradesmen does the council employ that would be able to repair a straw bale wall, or a specialist lime finish? And how easy will these houses be to insure?
Of course, these are all problems that are to do with being ahead of the game – if this and other early projects are successful, then the problems will be negated as straw bale housing becomes more popular. It’s definitely a big step forward and we look forward to seeing the results.
Author: |Posted: 6:00 pm on 15/01/09
Category: Architecture
We’ve been saddened today to hear that Jan Kaplicky, the award-winning architect behind pioneering buildings such as Selfridges in Birmingham and the Media Centre at Lord’s cricket ground, has died suddenly at the age of 71.
Jan Kaplicky was the man behind architectural and design practice Future Systems, famous worldwide for its organic, curvy space-age designs.
In 2007, Future Systems won an international design competition for the new building of the Czech National Library in Prague. The library would have been Kaplicky’s first building in his homeland, but its radical design – dubbed “the octopus” and “the blob” – was opposed by a number of Czech leaders, leading to uncertainty over its future.
But Kaplicky will undoubtedly be remembered for his successes. The Media Centre at Lords won the coveted RIBA Stirling Prize in 1999 – and despite (or maybe because of) the controversy it attracts, the Selfridges building at the Bullring has been taken to the hearts of the people of Birmingham, at last giving the city an architectural landmark to be proud of.
Kaplicky’s death is already making ripples throughout the industry. His innovation in design will certainly be sorely missed.
Author: |Posted: 12:33 pm on 17/09/08
Category: Buying & Selling
For reasons too complicated to go into here, I bought a flat when house prices were at their peak …and don’t live in it any more. I’d rather not sell in the current climate, so I’ve decided to have a go at renting it out.
But if the buying and selling market was complicated, the rental market is really complicated. How much should I charge? Are rents going up or down?
I went looking for advice. Most experts agree that with fewer people able to buy, more are looking to rent. Yay, I thought. It’s a landlord’s market; I can charge the earth (well, okay – at least cover my mortgage).
Not so.
It’s true that people aren’t buying, but guess what – people aren’t selling either. So not only is there a surfeit of tenants, but everyone’s a landlord too. All sorts of properties are up for rent in my area – not just flats – and suddenly I don’t even know the competition any more. But none of my new “rivals” seem to know either – prices are all over the place and the average rent on a one bedroomed flat like mine, which used to be set in stone, is now really hard to gauge.
An article from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) confirms my doubts and compounds my uncertainty. Rics explains that the rental market is booming, but that in July of this year, “rental expectations fell slightly with some surveyors expecting over-supply to push rents downwards in the next quarter.”
So, I’ve come up with a figure that covers my mortgage and gives me a sensible contingency, but I’ve no idea if it’s going to work. With tenants and landlords both hedging their bets, it will be a while before the market becomes “readable”, at least in my area. Will my asset become a millstone? I’ll let you know…
