Year in review 2022 - Part two

August

Financial

• Inflation rises to 10.1%, the highest it’s been since February 1982.
• Interest rates rise from 1.15% to 1.75%, the largest increase in 27 years.

Headlines

• 9 August, UK home builder Bellway reports record revenue and predicts a bumper year for the 2023 housing, in spite of high interest rates and the ongoing cost of living crisis.

LABC Warranty

• LABC Warranty announces membership of the National Hard Hat Recycling Scheme. The scheme will make sure no more LABC Warranty hard hats find their way to landfill, and will instead be recycled into manufacturing materials.
• We also spend the day on the road with one our Risk Surveyors, shadowing their work to spot defects and risks on sites across the North West of England.
• With heating firmly on the public agenda, we explore the nation’s love affair with gas, and what we might do when the gas is gone.
• Finally, we take a deep dive into what’s holding the humble heat pump back from playing a bigger part in heating the UK’s housing stock.

 

September

Financial

• Inflation falls slightly, 1.1% down to 9.9%, and interest rates rise again to 2.25%.

Headlines

• 1 September – Boris Johnson, in one of his last acts as Prime Minister, announces £700m of funding for Sizewell C, a new nuclear power facility.
• 5 September – Liz Truss is elected Leader of the Conservative Party, and becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
• 6 September – Greg Clark departs as DLHUC Secretary, to be replaces by Simon Clarke in Liz Truss’ newly-formed ministry.
• 8 September – Queen Elizabeth II passes away. At 96, she was the United Kingdom’s longest-serving monarch, adored and respected around the world for her service to the Kingdom. The UK enters a period of mourning culminating with a funeral on 19 September.
• 23 September – Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng presents his mini-budget to Parliament.  On the same day, the Pound hits a 37-year low against the US Dollar, following poor market reactions to the mini-budget.
• 28 September – the Bank of England intervenes in the bond market to prevent the potential collapse of pension funds. Sir Jon Cunliffe, Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, said some pensions were mere hours from being wound up. On the same day, swathes of mortgage products are removed from market, leaving borrowers unable to secure borrowing, and provisional offers are denied or withdrawn.

LABC Warranty

• LABC Warranty launches the New Homes Survey. The survey allows builders and developers to gather feedback from owners and occupiers of homes, and contributes to the Home Builders Federations’ Star Rating system.
• The new LABC Warranty website is launched, counting an improved application form among many benefits to users.
• The LABC Warranty technical team offer insight into the people behind one of our most crucial teams.

October

Financial

Inflation rises again, equaling the July level of 10.1%. Interest rates remain unchanged at 2.25%.

Headlines

• 14 October – Kwasi Kwarteng departs as Chancellor and is replaced by Jeremy Hunt.
• 18 October – UK home builder Bellway predicts sluggish sales in 2023, anticipating no growth in sales for the year, citing rising interest rates and deterioration in the economy.
• 20 October – Liz Truss resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after only 45 days in office. Her full term of 50 days in office is the shortest term of any Prime Minister.
• 21 October – Russia announces a partial mobilisation of its military reserve, seeking to draw 300,000 extra recruits to fight in Ukraine. The mobilisation comes in response to bruising Ukrainian counteroffensives, resulting in a Russian retreat from previously held territory in Ukraine.
• 25 October – Rishi Sunak is elected Leader of the Conservative Party, taking over as Prime Minister. He is the first British Asian to hold the office of Prime Minister, and at 42 is the youngest to hold the office in 200 years.
• 25 October – Simon Clarke departs as DLUHC Secretary to be replaced by Michael Gove, returning for his second tenure in the role. Gove is the fourth individual to hold the position in 2022, and the eighth new appointment to the role since the Conservative Party’s outright victory in the 2015 General Election.
  • A recent history of the DLUHC Secretary:
    • Greg Clark - 430 days, 2015-16 – David Cameron
    • Sajid Javid - 655 days, 2016-2018 – Theresa May I, May II
    • James Brokenshire - 450 days, 2018-2019 – Theresa May II
    • Robert Jenrick - 784 days, 2019-2021 – Boris Johnson I, Johnson II
    • Michael Gove – 291 days, 2021-2022 – Boris Johnson II
    • Greg Clark II - 61 days, 2022-2022 – Boris Johnson II
    • Simon Clarke - 49 days, 2022-2022 – Liz Truss
    • Michael Gove II – 2022-present – Rishi Sunak
• The average time in office for a DLUHC Secretary’s tenure over the course of the seven Conservative Ministries since 2015 (Cameron, May I, May II, Johnson I, Johnson II, Truss, Sunak) has been just over 388 days.

LABC Warranty

• October sees the launch of LABC Warranty Training Courses. Training courses are practical, lessons delivered in-classroom and on-site, aimed at building better understanding of home-building essentials for technical and non-technical staff.
• Inland Homes sit down with LABC Warranty to talk about their experience of working with the LABC Warranty Major Projects Team. In particular, they go into detail on the benefits of engaging early to save time, money and stress.

November

Financial

• Interest rates rise 0.75% to 3%, the largest rise since 1989, and inflation reaches 11.1%.

Headlines

• 11 November – ONS figures show that the UK economy shrank 0.2% in the three months leading up to September.
• 20 November - The World Cup begins, with hosts Qatar facing off against Ecuador in the tournament’s curtain-raiser. England and Wales contested their respective opening fixtures on 21 November.

LABC Warranty

• On November 1-2, LABC Warranty exhibited and presented to more than 200 Building Control specialists at the LABC Conference.
• We take a look back at the Bricks winners for 2022, reflecting on what made their on-site efforts so commendable in 2021.
• With the announcement of the release of a second round of brownfield regeneration funding, LABC Warranty lays out which areas of England will see the benefits.
• November also brought more flexibility for home builders on which consumer code they choose to adhere to.

December, and looking ahead to 2023

If the last few years are anything to go by, it would be foolish for anyone to try and make any bold predictions on what might happen in 2023. But there is one thing we can assure you won’t change: LABC Warranty will be here to support your new-build developments.

If you’re planning any developments in 2023 or beyond, don’t hesitate to get in touch with the team and tell us about it.