The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) has launched a consultation on whether England needs a national transport strategy. 

According to the body, UK transportation lacks sufficiently detailed policies, plans or metrics to make effective investment and planning decisions, exacerbated by recent delays to major projects such as HS2 and the Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands. 

The organisation claimed there was “broad industry support” for a national strategy, but no consensus on what it should look like. 

It will now seek evidence from infrastructure and transport professionals, civil engineers and civil society groups on the value of such a strategy and how it could be developed and implemented. 

>> Infrastructure authority needs power to refer failing projects to NAO, says Lords committee

>> Transport secretary confirms two year delay on HS2

Jonathan Spruce, ICE Trustee for policy and external affairs, said: “With capital budgets frozen from 2024/25, the transport industry is trying to meet ambitious goals with less money, so good decision making and prioritisation is more important than ever.  

“However, England lacks a clear strategic plan for its transport network. We need to think strategically about what we want our country’s transport network to deliver so we can focus investment on the projects that will achieve the best outcomes for people and the planet.” 

Morgan Sindall and Wates are among ten firms picked by housing association L&Q to support £3bn upgrade programme which will run for the next 15 years. 

The organisation’s Major Works Investment Programme will raise L&Q’s stock to the government’s Decent Homes Standard and see the installation of 48,000 new kitchens and 42,000 new bathrooms. 

Contractors will deliver a range of services including estate and environmental improvements, planned mechanical and engineering works and internal decorations. It also includes specialist fire safety works inside L&Q Living supported homes.  

The contracts will be initially worth around £100 million per year but are expected to increase to around £300 million in some years of the programme.  

The works will also see L&Q’s homes brought up to EPC C status by 2028, supported by £27m of funding from the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund. 

>> Government announces winners of £1.8bn retrofit funding pot

Scotland’s new leader has signalled housing will be a priority for the reshuffled government by creating a dedicated role for the brief. 

Humza Yousaf selected a youthful, majority female cabinet after he was sworn in as first minister on Wednesday. 

East Lothian MSP Paul McLennan, who is known in the devolved assembly for his work to improve the Scottish construction sector, was picked to be Scotland’s first housing minister. 

The decision to separate the housing brief out of the cabinet secretary for social justice, housing and local government’s portfolio has been welcomed by housing bodies. 

Jocelyne Fleming, Policy and public affairs officer for Scotland at the Chartered Institute of Building, said the appointment “demonstrates the intention for this area to be a key policy priority going forwards” 

She continued: “The building of new homes and the improvement of Scotland’s existing housing stock has to be a priority for Government in order to grow the economy, tackle the ongoing cost of living crisis and meet carbon reduction targets.  

“It’s encouraging to see this being recognised. As the Scottish Government has acknowledged, everyone should have a warm, safe, affordable and energy-efficient home that meets their needs.” 

She said McLennan had “campaigned diligently” to improve Scotland’s built environment, collaborating with the CIOB for the past 12 months. 

Callum Chomczuk director of the Chartered Institute of Housing Scotland said he hoped McLennan’s appointment ”will mean government gives housing the attention, support, and funding it urgently needs and deserves”.

“Scotland must invest in more affordable housing, as homelessness and the number of people living in temporary accommodation figures rise access to good quality, affordable housing is a basic human right and provides the foundations for people to flouris,” he said.

“Good housing improves health and wellbeing, reduces poverty, contributes to net-zero and boosts the economy.

Yousaf said his cabinet team reflected the priorities of the new government as it pursued a “radical, ambitious and progressive policy agenda”. 

The first Muslim to take the reins of a major UK political party, Yousaf prevailed over Kate Forbes to secure the SNP leadership on Monday after a divisive contest. 

Forbes, formerly finance minister, declined the offer of a cabinet position handling rural affairs and islands, widely viewed as a demotion. 

HILLIARD, Ohio (WCMH) — One of the largest residential estates in central Ohio is on the market for $8 million, complete with a boat house and private dock, an orchard and a restaurant-style banquet kitchen.

Located at 4500 Dublin Rd., this Tuscan-style home sits on 6.74 acres on the banks of the Scioto River. The property is the second-largest private home in Franklin County, after Les Wexner’s New Albany mansion on 336 acres.

Constructed in 1990, the home boasts resort-style living with hand-painted murals, ornate chandeliers, and stained-glass windows housed within classic European architecture. Sprawling 32,675 square feet, the home features 16 bedrooms, 18 full bathrooms, eight half bathrooms and eight garage spaces.

Custom craftsmanship fills the main house, which includes an elaborate master suite, a chef’s kitchen on the main level and a restaurant-style banquet kitchen for large parties and events in the lower level. Three additional bedroom suites and a guest wing with six bedrooms is designed to accommodate a large family.

An indoor waterfall, elevator, a 20-person dining room, a library with floor-to-ceiling built-in bookshelves, a music room, and on-site apartments for staff round out the home’s many features. Indoor-outdoor amenities include a lanai, clay tennis court, croquet lawn, a gazebo, a sledding hill, an orchard, a stream following through the estate, and a pool with a cabana overlooking a pond.

A carriage house and a caretaker’s office also sit on the property with a boat house and a private dock leading down to the river. Learn more about the property and view additional photos here.

Camden council has voted to approved Landsec’s 1,800-home redevelopment of the O2 shopping centre in north London.

Councillors voted to back the planning officer’s recommendation to approve the AHMM-designed scheme at a planning committee meeting yesterday evening.

It was the latest large project in the capital to be sent back to the drawing board so that second staircases could be added following mayor Sadiq Khan’s new fire safety ruling.

Revised plans were lodged with the council last month after the government’s proposal to ban single staircases in blocks above 30m in December was followed by Khan’s announcement that the rules would be brought in with immediate effect in London.

Khan’s move means that all planning applications for residential buildings above 10 storeys would need a second means of escape before going to the Greater London Authority for second stage approval. The rule applies to all applications not approved before 23 December 2022.

Camden council said the second staircases had been added with “relatively minimal” impact on layouts, which has been achieved by removing pressurised stairs and lift systems.

The redevelopment consists of 10 development plots spread across a 6ha site, with the application’s detailed component set to include just over 600 homes in blocks ranging from 30m to 60m in height. 

Two further components which have been submitted for outline approval would see the construction of a further 1,200 homes. Around 35% of homes across the site would be affordable.

Construction is expected to last around 10 to 15 years. Also on the project team is programme advisor Mace, planning consultant Gerald Eve, transport consultant Arup, sustainability consultant Buro Happold, MEP consultant Hoare Lea, civil and structural engineer Pell Frischmann, landscape consultant East and accessibility consultant David Bonnett Associates.

The scheme has already stoked controversy due to the intention to demolish the HOK-designed O2 shopping centre, which was built in 1998 and purchased by Landsec in 2010.

Nearly 1,000 letters of objection were received by the application, with many locals raising concerns about sustainability and the loss of the O2’s retail space which includes a gym, a swimming pool and a large Sainsbury’s.

Local group, Combined Residents’ Associations of South Hampstead, criticised the demolition of the “nearly-new” shopping centre and its replacement by “grotesque Soviet-era towers”, while the West Hampstead Gardens and Residents Association said the new buildings were uninteresting, incoherent and failed to integrate with the mostly low-rise Edwardian and Victorian housing stock of the area.

Local MP Tulip Siddiq also said she had “repeatedly” raised her constituents’ concerns with Landsec, which included worries that the buildings were too tall, incongruent with the surrounding area and dismay over the loss of the O2.

Camden council’s planning officer admitted the demolition of the shopping centre was “regrettable in sustainability terms” but said it could not be suitable repurposed for residential use.

The officer’s report added that the building was of “low quality in design terms” and does not make efficient use of its land, while the replacement buildings would be much better integrated with the nearby Finchley Road town centre.

A condition on the application commits Landsec to divert at least 95% of demolition waste from landfill for either reuse or recycling.

Other buildings on the site set to be flattened under the plans include a Homebase store, two car showrooms and a builders’ merchants yard, while two car parks with a combined 630 spaces will be built over.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Foster & Partners has said a three-month delay to the submission of plans for Lipton Rogers’ £1bn 18 Blackfriars Road scheme, which includes two residential towers, has not been caused by the requirement for second staircases as both towers already included them. “The two residential towers have two staircases as they always had,” she added.