黑洞社区

Vistry鈥檚 pipeline of new housing schemes has become 鈥渟tuck鈥� because of uncertainty over how second staircases should be designed, the group鈥檚 planning director has said.

Andrew Taylor told 黑洞社区 that Vistry had pulled 鈥渁 lot鈥� of major schemes from the planning system in the past three months and was unable to submit revised designs because the firm 鈥渄oes not know what the rules are going to be鈥�.

鈥淲e鈥檙e just pausing it until we have that detail,鈥� he said. The comments come less than a month after the firm announced an ambition to build 25,000 homes a year under its new partnerships strategy, a move which would see it overtaking Barratt as the biggest housebuilder in the UK.

Housing secretary Michael Gove strengthened proposed rules on second staircases in residential blocks in July, lowering the requirement from the widely expected 30m first proposed last December to 18m.

But the government has still provided no detail on how the staircases should be designed, meaning that builders are reluctant to put schemes back into the planning process.

It is unknown whether the government will allow pairs of staircases to be built side by side in a single core or if two separate cores will be required.

Speaking at the Labour conference in Liverpool yesterday, Taylor said all major housebuilders, particularly in London, are now facing similar hold ups while they wait for more clarity from ministers.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not just us, it鈥檚 everybody. It鈥檚 a significant issue and all we can do is wait,鈥� he said. 

鈥淲e can encourage, and obviously we鈥檙e engaging with government. We鈥檙e engaging with the Greater London Authority and councils but they don鈥檛 know much more than we do.鈥�

While adding additional staircases results in added cost, lost floorspace and having to renegotiate terms with councils because of resulting changes in the mix of homes in schemes, Taylor said the more serious issue was the uncertainty over how they should be designed.

鈥淎t the moment you don鈥檛 know if it鈥檚 two stair cores or stair cases so until that clear guidance comes out you鈥檙e stuck in terms of how to move projects forward.

鈥淚t鈥檚 delaying housing starts, it鈥檚 delaying housing delivery, obviously costing money, you know you can鈥檛 get away from the fact that safety is important and it鈥檚 a good thing to do and that鈥檚 what the end goal is going to be but it鈥檚 this uncertain period.鈥�

He described the government鈥檚 move to announce the 18m threshold without providing a transition period or detailed guidance on second staircase design as 鈥渄isappointing鈥�.

He added: 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know the reasoning behind it. They鈥檙e obviously just tyring to get stuff out and announce things but i think we just need those regulations to come out so we know exactly what we鈥檙e doing.鈥�

Last month, Vistry announced an ambition to build 25,000 homes a year under its new partnerships strategy, which would make it by far the biggest housebuilder in the UK.

In interim results released in September, the firm said it delivered just 6,050 homes in the half year to 30 June.