This post has been kindly provided by David Cross , the CEO at Sky House , and, offering as it does an honest assessment of the plight of the SME builder, I would urge everybody involved in planning and development to take the time to first read it and then to think about how we got here and what we can do about it. In the 26 years I have been an architect I have watched the slow and almost total demise of the SME developer and housebuilder in slow motion. Layer by layer we have regulated the sector beyond reasonable viability, to the point where building homes in large parts of Britain is becoming a state-sponsored affair. The entrepreneur and maverick developer who was abundant in my early career as an architect is almost gone. The small builders who would pick up awkward little sites and deliver cool urban schemes, conversions or a handful of one-off houses are disappearing too. From 2003 to 2008 my old architectural practice would have had dozens of these small builders as clients....
Episode 187 of the podcast s available now via this link below or from the usual podcast platforms. I was in Birmingham recently and caught up whilst there with old friends of the podcast Myles Wild-Smith, Kathryn Ventham and Jacob Bonehill. Myles is a Director at Lichfields, Kathryn is a Senior Director at Twenty5 Planning and Jacob is a Director at Carney Sweeney. In a conversation recorded at the Podcast Room, we talked about what was then the soon-to-be, but is now the mandatory, National Scheme of Delegation; we talked about appealing against non-determination rather than waiting to be called-in; we talked about the extension of the deadline for the submission of local plans under the legacy system; and we talked about SDSs, LGR, Solihull’s Regulation 19 local plan and the West Midland Combined Authority’s Housing & Employment Land Needs Assessment. If you enjoy the episode do please consider bolstering my fragile self-esteem by leaving the podcast a nice rating and a n...