News & Blog

Would you like some free warm gear? Well as it’s nearly Christmas we thought it was about time for another Beanie Giveaway.

The certainty of a December election will do nothing to resolve the uncertainty and economic impact of Brexit on housebuilding, especially if the eventual outcome is a no-deal. 

As the UK housebuilding industry braces itself for a weaker economy and the unknowns of Brexit, it also faces the capping of Help to Buy in 2021 and the end of the scheme in 2023. 

Published on 1 October, the Future Homes Standard, with accompanying proposed revisions to Part L and Part F, has radical implications for the housebuilding industry and its supply chain.

We are delighted to announce that H+H has been awarded an “Excellent” rating in the BES 6001 Framework Standard for responsible sourcing of construction products.

Our Technical Director Cliff Fudge will be chairing this year’s Housing Summit.  To be staged at the Arup Campus in Solihull on 11 October, the event will combine Government and Business interpretations of the outlook for housing in the UK.

An interesting policy document published recently by the Labour party looks to radical reform of land ownership to address the housing crisis.
 

Neil Thomas, Director of Housing at H+H considers the current drive to MMC

So MMC is the solution for the housing crisis?  As a shorthand for the need to reinvigorate the housebuilding industry to deliver higher volumes fast, it’s as good a term as any other.
 

The new Housing Secretary, Robert Jenrick, has reaffirmed government commitment to increasing home ownership, but is focusing most attention on expanding the shared ownership model.

H+H is delighted to announce the appointment of Phil Ball as Operations Director, taking control of the company’s three manufacturing plants in Kent and Yorkshire.

H+H’s Director of Housing Neil Thomas had a life-enriching experience this summer building houses in Malawi as part of a Habitat for Humanity project supported by H+H customer Miller Homes.

The H+H philosophy is that we don’t have customers – we have partners. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the relationship the H+H Account Teams have with the merchants

Delivering those 300,000 homes per year is a challenge and attention is very focused right now on Modern Methods of Construction. But what does MMC actually mean?

Will the focus on offsite wipe traditional blocks off the market?  Jenny Smith-Andrews of aircrete manufacturer H+H doesn’t think so...

I was delighted to attend the recent Chartered Institute of Housing conference in Manchester on behalf of H+H where we demonstrated our MMC solution, Celcon Elements. Theresa May’s surprise last-minute appearance at Housing 2019 attracted throngs of delegates, eager to hear what the outgoing Prime Minister had to say. May was on good form (even joking that she had someone on hand with cough sweets, just in case) but her speech was not met with universal acclaim. 

It is no secret that the construction industry is facing significant problems with finding the next generation of workers. What’s more, young people can often be unfairly typecast as lazy and lacking enthusiasm which can make it harder for those who are genuine in their passion for a career in construction as they feel they are constantly having to prove themselves. 

H+H, the UK’s largest manufacturer of aircrete, will be exhibiting at Housing 2019. The three-day event, hosted by the Chartered Institute of Housing, is Europe’s largest housing festival and brings together professionals from across the sector to debate the biggest challenges facing the industry.  

There might have been a quick succession of housing ministers over the past few years, but that hasn’t meant that housing has been entirely off the agenda during Theresa May’s stint as PM. As the search for her replacement heats up, we cast our eye over some of the former Prime Minister’s achievements when it comes to housing.  

Outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May might be remembered in history for her handling of Brexit, but housing, and in particular the social rented sector, featured prominently during her tenure as Prime Minister. 
 

There’s nothing quite like a major leadership contest to add an extra layer of excitement into Housing! 

Few could have predicted that Housing 2019 would coincide with the search for a new Prime Minister. Theresa May made housing one of her key priorities during her term so what do her potential replacements have to offer our industry? H+H takes a look…
 

A total of 175 new homes comprising of two, three, four and five bedrooms will be delivered as part of the Sweetlake Meadow development at Longden Road, Shrewsbury, supported by H+H Foundation Blocks. As sustainability was so important on this project, SJ Roberts chose to specify H+H Ltd Celcon Foundation Blocks.

Nantwich based property management firm Slater Homes Limited have recently completed an exclusive development in the delightful village of Bunbury in Cheshire using H+H Celcon Blocks.

Celcon Elements are storey-high panels of aircrete, designed to allow an exceptionally fast build method.  Manufactured to the design storey height of a house with a width of 600mm and a thickness of 100mm, Elements are designed to be craned into place onto a bed of mortar on standard foundations. Blocks are joined using Thin-Joint Mortar with 2mm (3mm) joints, providing an extremely airtight finish and panels can be cut on site to accommodate design details.

H+H’s Director of Housing, Neil Thomas, is set to ride 1000 miles in aid of charity when he cycles from the tip of Scotland to the depths of Cornwall in May. With the aim of fundraising £1 per mile, Neil will set out on May 19 to complete the famous John O’Groats to Land’s End cycle route for Habitat for Humanity.

H+H has been a proud sponsor of the Lifetime Achievement Award for the past 17 years and Marketing Manager at H+H, Jenny Smith-Andrews, explains why the Builders’ Merchants Awards for Excellence continues to be a focus for the aircrete manufacturer.

H+H is sponsoring this year’s Construction News ‘Sustainable Project of the Year’ Award. These awards are the biggest in the industry and are highly coveted. The ceremony this year will take place at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London on 11 July 2019.

You might have noticed that H+H has recently undergone a small but significant rebrand. For over 50 years, H+H in the UK has prided ourselves on our relationship with our customers. It’s something that runs through all levels of our business.

More than a third of workers within the construction industry have seen someone under the influence of alcohol or drugs on site. That was one of the most shocking findings from a 2016 report by the Considerate Constructors Scheme.

H+H Regional Merchant Manager Matthew Compton has been nominated for ‘Best Sales Representative’ in the Builders Merchants Journal (BMJ) Industry Awards 2019, now in their second year and the award will deliver several new categories which reflect the breadth of the sector. The winner will be announced on Friday 19 May at a special luncheon.

A construction boss in Newtown, Wales, reversed his decision to build his new build property out of timber frame, opting instead to use the Thin-Joint System from H+H, after a strong recommendation by his developer. 

H+H is delighted to announce its sponsorship of the ‘Independent Rising Star of the Year’ category at the Builders Merchants Journal (BMJ) Industry Awards 2019. Now in its second year, the awards will deliver several new categories which reflect the breadth of the sector. The winner will be announced on Friday 19 May at a special luncheon.

The Cameron Close development on the Isle of Wight, built using H+H’s Thin-Joint blockwork, has been shortlisted in the prestigious Building Performance Awards run by the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers.

It’s fair to say that it is freezing outside! For those of you that work outside during the day it is particularly important that you stay as warm as possible.

Our customers understand our commitment to partnership at every stage of the building process. Now is the time for us to place this firmly at the front of all of our communication.

It is great to finally see some genuine debate on social housing triggered by the release of the hard-hitting ‘A Vision for Social Housing’ report released by housing charity Shelter last week. The very human cost of the effects of too few council homes available and people trapped in an expensive private rented sector which is all too often unsuitable for their needs were laid bare.

It is incredibly disappointing that the Government has refused to listen to calls to stop using taxpayers’ cash for timber-frame modular housing after the Environmental Audit Committee discovered a link between these types of homes and overheating.