Welcome to the April edition of PBC Today where we lead with the challenges surrounding the Housing and Planning Bill for councils, which the Local Government Association argue, is placing extreme pressure in the delivery of affordable homes. They believe that measures within the Bill risk combining to reduce the number of existing council homes, which local authorities will be forced to sell and will then struggle to replace. These concerns, echoed by Naomi-Luhde Thompson of Friends of the Earth, say that councils will “have one shot at getting the decision right – through the local plan site allocation and the brownfield register.” The risks are high, and Thompson urges that before its too late, “the government needs to consider the broader impacts of such radical deregulatory reform or risk losing public trust in the longer term.”
Turning our attention to digital construction or BIM, the deadline has been reached for all government projects to BIM Level 2 compliant. Yes, its finally here, and if you don’t get up-to-speed quickly with the requirements of Level 2, then you’re very likely to lose out.
Our BIM section is, as ever, packed with advice, guidance, and opinion from the leaders in the BIM world including, amongst many others:
Nick Nisbet, Technical Coordinator for buildingSMART UKI who asks whether it’s time that we could have a BIM Golden Handover Award as we move into an era where we can now judge a successful BIM handover. Richard Petrie, CEO of buildingSMART International explains that adopting the open standards approach to BIM will mean you are always a winner, and Nick Tune, CEO of coBuilder UK defines the meaning of BIM Level 2 now the April deadline is here. He justifies the importance of structured data for a seamless BIM operation.
There has also been sad news delivered recently. The Zero Carbon Hub announced they would cease operations on 31st March following the decision by the government not to pursue the zero carbon target. The Hub has been very successful, shining a spotlight on the quality of new homes and higher energy efficiency standards. They have, however, provided one last article for us explaining the new SAP Untangled Guide, which aims to help SME’s meet Part L compliance.
As is always the case, there are too many features to highlight here, but I am certain you will discover something of interest in the following pages.
Don’t forget to get in touch with any comments or suggestions for future editions.
Click the cover to view the digital edition or click here.
Lisa Carnwell
Editor
editorial@adjacentgovernment.co.uk
https://www.pbctoday.co.uk/news/all-editions/
