Author: Benjamin Balfour

The Housing Growth Partnership continued to support its partner school Quintin Kynaston Academy in St. John’s Wood, London by delivering the next event in an ongoing development programme aimed at practical improvement in social mobility for young people. The programme run by HGP comprises a series of business skills workshops, thematic lectures and internships to provide opportunities and networks of support for QK A-level students who are unable to get them from their schools or families.

On 16^th November colleagues from the HGP travelled to QK to provide 30 A-Level students with the opportunity to participate in a:

1. Mock Interview: one- on-one mock interview with an HGP colleague for an analyst role in HGP, followed by interview feedback.
2. Business Plan Development and Presentation Challenge: a team challenge to brainstorm and pitch a new mobile phone idea to a panel of HGP Dragons.
3. Teamwork and Leadership Challenge: a series of team challenges requiring problem solving, planning and influencing.
4. Pizza Networking Session: an opportunity for students to get to know HGP colleagues, ask questions and practice their networking techniques.

“It was a superb event, perfectly pitched and it had an immense impact upon our students that will be felt throughout the year group. We obviously want to run the session again and we will have no shortage of students wishing to participate. Our supporters have become increasingly effective in the depth and breadth of impact upon our students’ employability skills and wider development.  In short, the opportunities afforded to our students are excellent and this is largely due to the skills and generosity of spirit of HGP.”

– Nathan De Garis, Head of Corporate Liaison, Quintin Kynaston Academy

“Helping local communities prosper is a key tenet of the Housing Growth Partnership and we are delighted to continue our support of QK. These young people will face a competitive job market after university and most don’t have the network to help secure that all important first job. Through our ongoing work with QK we hope to tilt the odds in their favour by providing meaningful opportunities for development, putting them in the best possible position for success in the future.”

– James Hutchinson, Investment Manager, Housing Growth Partnership

The partnership between the academy and HGP has helped numerous pupils over the last couple of years and for 2017 HGP will continue to support this project.

Over recent years consumer demand has changed and housebuilders have taken this opportunity to build smart homes, homes that can be controlled from your mobile, tablet or laptop. Hive, the market leader in smart homes offers a range of products. Installing these products beforehand will not only increase the price of the property but will also appeal to first time buyers, energy savers and tech savvy buyers.

Hive Active Heating Kit
Hive has recently launched a wireless thermostat, which means that you never have to get home to a cold house, waste energy on heating the guestroom or waste expensive energy on hot water that you don’t necessarily use.

How does it work?
The kit comes with a smart thermostat, hub, receiver and an installation guide. The system runs on 2 AA batteries and can be controlled from your mobile, tablet and laptop, even when you are on the go.  Via the app you will have access to temperature graphs; temperature tracking inside your home as well as geo-location alerts which means you will receive notifications are leaving and returning home.  There is no need for changing energy suppliers and installation is easy.

Techniques such as this are an extra incentive in the competitive market to buy that new home as it could save home owners up to £150 per year.

New health and safety guidelines will put an end to a famous sight on UK building and construction sites: the yellow hard hat will disappear.

The new guidelines created by Build UK, the leading construction industry body has come up with a colour-coded scheme for hats that will make it easy for members of staff to recognise who is responsible for what on the workplace. It will also make the work place safer as you instantly will be able to identify the blue hats that might not be aware of hazards and risks.  It will also be helpful when you are recruiting international staff.

The colour coded hard hat scheme is as per below:

Black hard hat – supervisor

Orange – signallers

White – competent operative & vehicle marshal

Blue – everyone else

Hard hats have been compulsory since 1990.

With a well-reported shortage of construction skills, housebuilders are struggling to find and retain staff. Lloyds Bank’s Housebuilding report states that 26% of respondents highlighted a lack of skilled construction workers as one of the main issues facing their business.

We are bringing you 5 tips that should not only help to retain staff, but also attract new employees.

Diversity
A workplace that is diverse increases innovation, encouraging current employees to stay and making companies attractive for prospective employees. People would like to work for a company where they relate to staff currently employed. However, there is still a long way to go in the construction industry – currently women make up just 11% of the workforce and just 1% of workers on- site. Ways to promote diversity within your company include having a policy in place that requires contractors to demonstrate commitment, as well as profiling diversity of the workforce to find opportunities for improvement.

Pay
This might be an obvious one, but with construction skill shortages, pay has never been so important. Offer competitive salaries to retain and attract new staff. Annual pay reviews and other benefits such as pension schemes, overtime pay and bonuses will help you to retain staff.

Provide training / personal development opportunities
32% of respondents in Lloyds Bank Housebuilding report say apprenticeships will be the main focus on their investment, however we believe that is beneficial to provide training for all levels of staff within your company, starting with senior management. In the construction industry there is a lot of micro-management: offering your most senior employees the opportunity to complete management courses will improve this and also allows skills to be cascaded down through to the entire workforce. It also a good suggestion to understand what other employees are doing within the company; cross-training is vital in order to maintain a successful workplace. The Construction Industry Council hosts a range of events throughout the year, which this year included speed mentoring and women’s networking events. Find out more here.

Work-life balance
Employees are more than just workers for your company: they are probably also busy family members with obligations. Create a culture where people feel that if there is an issue outside of work they can speak to their manager and that the workplace is flexible and willing to help if needed. This could be a challenge, especially with the industry heavily dominated by males who are often reluctant to seek advice. Providing the right support will help.

Personal growth
Most people are looking to evolve and grow in their career; having a clear strategy that develops and grow staff will help you maintain and attract new staff.

Have you got any tips that work well for your company? Let us know!

With labour and material costs rising resulting in lower margins, there are significant financial challenges ahead for UK housebuilders. Now more than ever it is important to have a healthy cash flow. So here are our top tips for you to consider moving forward in the future:

• Use bookkeeping and a comprehensive accounting system, this will help give you a precise idea of what income and expenses are expected in the future. For more information go to Lloyds Bank Business Toolbox.
• Spreading costs when buying materials will leave you with more cash for operations. Negotiate prices when buying large quantities and get quotes from different suppliers as well as asking for a discount.

• Labour costs: retaining staff is cheaper than hiring new staff especially with rising construction skill shortages. We also recommend saving money by investing in technology to automate repetitive tasks.

• House builders receive a significant amount of invoices. Switching to an electronic, integrated invoicing system will save you important funds over time, money that could go back into your business.
• Staff training: In the housebuilding industry 85% of the cash comes from work in progress, which means performance depends on the project manager’s cash flow management.

Are you looking to grow? We partner with small housebuilders and developers who are developing on average between 5-175 units per year. For more information visit our criteria page.