Seasons Greetings From Jessup December 2011.

A few comments from Cive Jessup on our market and 'Localism'

Jessup Build Develop will not be sending Christmas greeting cards this year, instead we have donated £100 towards Christmas decorations at Walsall Manor Hospital.

The way we deliver affordable housing is changing and we see opportunity

Affordable housing is being squeezed by the Government's latest proposals. RSL's will be able to charge 80 per cent of the market rent and the NAHP grant has been cut.

This will mean less development, or will it?

We see this as an opportunity, after all, demand is rising and affordable housing is a basic need, so how are we going to continue to deliver good quality housing. Along with the cuts comes more flexibility for Local Authorities some of whom we are talking to about Tax increment financing (TIF). We also have Local Enterprise Partnership's (LEP).

We at Jessup have always fostered partnership working, I think this will be the only way affordable housing schemes can be delivered for the foreseeable future.

This may mean reducing unit sizes and only building to CfSH level 3, cross subsidising with outright sale, sharing risk and reward, deferring land payments etc.

The success of our 'Meet the buyer' events
Some ninety percent of Jessup's annual spend goes into our local economies. We ensure this is maintained by holding meet the buyer events for our new schemes and continuing to support our local suppliers and subcontractors.

More apprentices
This year we have recruited 7 new apprentices and trainees in various disciplines such as carpentry, bricklaying, quantity surveying and accounts.

Waterfront South
Our flagship development at Waterfront South Walsall continues with Phase One completion in March 2011. The Art One apartment building is now adding new colour and quality to Walsall's town centre.

What about our sustainable agenda?
We continue to review all sustainable energy solutions using solar hot water, air source and ground source heat pumps whilst driving down the number of defects at handover to zero. We are currently achieving Code for sustainable homes level 4 cost effectively.

Time  to change the OJEU rules?

We see these as a real barrier to good client, contractor relationships. Copious amounts of information  to clients who in some cases have known us for 22 years seems a waste of money which could be deducted from the cost of the scheme.Hopefully the government will follow through with their common sense agenda and allow good client, contractor relationships to continue.

I think 2012 will be a challenge and those of you who are prepared to do things differently we can continue to provide much needed affordable housing for  our local communities.

It goes without saying that should you wish to discuss with Jessup about delivering any schemes you may be considering then please feel free to contact us.

Have a happy Christmas and prosperous New Year, the team at Jessup.