The Federation of Master Builders’ (FMB) has launched its ‘Homes on our high streets’ report, which makes recommendations to Local Authorities and others to help bring back residential units above shops back into use, arguing that ‘Many of these buildings will be heritage assets so such a move could have a positive impact on their appearance and maintenance’.
image FMB website
The FMB writes:
The launch of the FMB’s research report ‘Homes on our high streets’ took place on Monday 11th December in the House of Lords. The report looks at how we can make better use of existing buildings in and around town centres to deliver more new homes, with a particular focus on empty space above shops. Taking six ‘case study’ town centres to outline the different challenges and opportunities which different types of town centre can present, it makes a number of recommendations to local and national government as to how we can enable more of this type of development to take place.
At a well-attended event in the Cholmondeley Room and the Terrace of the House of Lords guests spent an insightful and enjoyable evening discussing this timely research and the opportunities it invites. Guest speakers at the event included Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Sajid Javid MP, the Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, John Healey MP, an address by our sponsor Nathan Garnett of UK Construction Week and FMB Chief Executive, Brian Berry.
The speakers were very positive about the research, recalling previous cross-party support for the development of empty high street properties, such as the Living Over the Shop (LOTS) scheme. Indeed, our polling of MPs across all parties suggests ongoing support for such initiatives with 90% of MPs saying that they support this type of regeneration in their constituencies.
