{"id":3369,"date":"2011-11-11T14:28:06","date_gmt":"2011-11-11T14:28:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ihbconline.co.uk\/newsachive\/?p=3369"},"modified":"2011-11-11T14:28:06","modified_gmt":"2011-11-11T14:28:06","slug":"hyslop-urges-home-repairs-vat-to-help-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=3369","title":{"rendered":"Hyslop urges ‘home repairs VAT’ to help economy"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Scotland\u2019s Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop is energetically making the case for reducing VAT for renovations, repairs and home improvements to just five per cent as she points out:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018Refurbishment of older buildings and areas, especially those of heritage value, usually acts as a catalyst for wider regeneration\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018It also helps to foster traditional building skills\u2019, and it <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018Helps protect Scotland’s rich built heritage, as well as providing a huge stimulus to our building industry.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Fiona Hyslop is calling on the UK Government to slash the existing 20 per cent VAT rate on works to existing buildings.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ahead of a Parliamentary Debate that took place on 11 November, on the importance of architecture and place-making to the economy of Scotland, Hyslop said: \u2018We need to be smarter about re-using existing buildings. Demolition is inherently expensive, and construction waste is estimated to make up one third of all landfill waste in the UK. Restoration is a sustainable and viable option that uses fewer resources but provides more employment. For every pound spent, you could get twice as much local employment and use around half of the resources.\u2019<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2018Refurbishment of older buildings and areas, especially those of heritage value, usually acts as a catalyst for wider regeneration. It also helps to foster traditional building skills.\u2019<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2018Reducing VAT to five per cent for building repair, refurbishment and maintenance work is a measure that is widely supported in Scotland and the UK Government needs to listen. Such a move would also encourage owners and communities to invest in homes and neighbourhoods across the country, and provide added stimulus to the hugely important construction industry, one of the strongest sectors in Scotland today.\u2019<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Debate will provide an opportunity to consider why architecture and place-making are such a vital part of Scotland’s identity, and will set out the steps that the Scottish Government is taking to ensure Scotland’s built environment is managed and developed in a responsible and creative way.<\/p>\n

Scottish Government News<\/span>: LINK<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scotland\u2019s Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop is energetically making the case for reducing VAT for renovations, repairs and home improvements to just five per cent as she points out: \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018Refurbishment of older buildings and areas, especially those of heritage value, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sector-newsblog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3369"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3369\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3370,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3369\/revisions\/3370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}