United Kingdom: Construction & Planning

Womble Bond Dickinson provides a comprehensive collection of legal insights, articles, and briefings covering employment law updates, social housing changes, commercial property measurements, financial advice red flags, construction agreements, EU green claims regulations, and net zero transition strategies for businesses and organizations.

The UK government has unveiled 'Your First Home', a new scheme designed to help first-time buyers purchase new-build properties with just a 2.5% deposit and a government-backed equity loan. While the initiative aims to address mortgage affordability barriers and stimulate housing development, critical details about income limits, property price caps, and developer contributions remain unclear pending the autumn budget announcement.

England and Wales have introduced a nature restoration levy that fundamentally changes how developers address environmental obligations on protected sites. Rather than implementing site-specific mitigation measures, developers may now contribute to strategic conservation projects through levy payments calculated and administered by Natural England. Understanding this new framework is essential for assessing development costs, planning strategies, and acquisition due diligence.

Europe's building products sector faces a transformed landscape where traditional recovery patterns no longer apply. With material prices up 38% since 2020 and construction permits significantly below peak levels, growth has split dramatically between thriving southern European markets and struggling Western European residential segments. This analysis reveals where the real opportunities exist and how industry leaders can strategically position themselves for success.

The Labour government's ambitious target of 150 Development Consent Order decisions faces a critical test as progress reaches the halfway mark of Parliament. With new Planning and Infrastructure Act provisions now in force and the first post-reform applications emerging, the infrastructure planning landscape is undergoing significant transformation that will shape the future of major development projects.

The Technology and Construction Court recently ruled that liabilities from a Pre-Construction Services Agreement can survive entry into a main JCT contract, even when the PCSA is "subsumed into and subject to" the subsequent agreement. This decision clarifies how pre-existing contractual breaches may continue to affect extension of time claims and contractor obligations under main construction contracts.

The High Court has delivered three landmark rulings clarifying payment mechanisms under the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, the conclusive effect of JCT Final Statements...

The UK government has introduced a radical new National Planning Policy Framework alongside groundbreaking Nature Restoration Levy Regulations, fundamentally reshaping how development impacts on protected habitats are managed. This policy shift moves away from project-by-project environmental assessments toward strategic-scale nature restoration funded through a developer levy system. Will this new approach successfully balance the urgent need for housing and infrastructure with legal obligations to restore

Recent appeal decisions reveal how planning inspectors are interpreting and applying the newly published National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), particularly regarding grey belt land and Policy S5(1)(j) for development outside settlements. These early determinations demonstrate varying approaches to addressing policy changes and their impact on housing delivery and planning balance considerations.