{"id":10363,"date":"2026-03-11T12:35:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T12:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.locarla.com\/insight\/?p=10363"},"modified":"2026-03-11T12:35:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T12:35:14","slug":"wednesday-11-03-2026-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.locarla.com\/insight\/daily-news\/wednesday-11-03-2026-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Wednesday: 11\/03\/2026 \/ News"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"blue-color\">\n<h6><strong>Daily News: 11\/03\/2026<\/strong><\/h6>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council is set to consider a \u00a330.86m investment programme for 2026-27 to improve council housing, focusing on maintaining warm, safe and well-maintained homes for tenants. The proposed funding will support upgrades and ongoing improvements across the council\u2019s housing stock. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.barnsley.gov.uk\/news\/3086-million-investment-to-improve-council-homes-set-for-cabinet-approval\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Southern Housing has pledged to overhaul its repairs service and strengthen finances as part of a new four-year corporate plan. The G15 member aims to deliver a \u00a330m efficiencies programme to help close a \u00a375m funding gap while improving service standards for residents. Meanwhile, Wheatley Group has reported a 25% increase in housing completions in the first half of the year, alongside improved tenant satisfaction levels. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.housingtoday.co.uk\/news\/we-know-our-service-has-not-been-up-to-standard-southern-pledges-to-overhaul-repairs-and-fix-finances-in-four-year-corporate-plan\/5141217.article\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Housing Today (register)<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.housingtoday.co.uk\/news\/wheatley-reports-increase-in-completions-and-tenant-satisfaction-in-first-half-of-the-year\/5141180.article\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Housing Today (register)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) has raised concerns over proposed changes by the regulator that could remove a dedicated standard for competence and conduct, warning that such a move may \u201cdowngrade its importance\u201d in social housing governance. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/hqnetwork.co.uk\/news\/cih-voices-concern-over-possible-downgrade-of-competence-and-conduct-under-regulators-plans\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">HQN<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The UK government has delayed reforms to domestic energy performance certificates and display energy certificates until the second half of 2027. The changes were originally scheduled for October 2026 and followed a consultation process that ran from December 2024 to February 2025. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.housingtoday.co.uk\/news\/government-delays-epc-reforms-until-2027\/5141221.article\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Housing Today (register)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tower Hamlets Council has outlined a pipeline of 52,000 homes through its Future Places programme, bringing together public land, council development, and regeneration sites to accelerate housing delivery. Meanwhile, Birmingham City Council has unveiled a high-rise regeneration vision around HS2 Curzon Street Station that could deliver more than 5,000 new homes alongside a major commercial district. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.towerhamlets.gov.uk\/News_events\/2026\/March\/Tower-Hamlets-moves-to-unlock-52000-home-pipeline.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tower Hamlets London Borough<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.constructionenquirer.com\/2026\/03\/11\/birmingham-sets-out-high-rise-city-centre-vision\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Construction Enquirer<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The latest Plumbing &amp; Heating Merchant Index shows Q4 2025 like-for-like value sales rose 0.7% versus Q4 2024, though volumes fell 3.3%, signalling weaker underlying demand. Meanwhile, the Builders Merchant Building Index reported a 1.2% drop in value sales and a 2.9% fall in volumes over the same period, reflecting ongoing pressure on construction product demand. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/phmi.co.uk\/app\/uploads\/2026\/03\/PHMI-Q4-2025-Report-MASTER.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Plumbing &amp; Heating Merchant Index<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/bmbi.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/BMBI-Q4-2025-Report-MASTER.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Builders Merchant Building Index<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors found that one in five UK construction firms never measure productivity, with UK companies less likely to track it than international peers, highlighting ongoing efficiency challenges across the sector. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/skills\/one-in-five-uk-construction-firms-never-measure-productivity-rics-survey-shows-10-03-2026\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Construction News (register)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Financial Reporting Council has launched an investigation into two accountants linked to the financial reporting and forecasting of Vistry Group\u2019s South Division. Meanwhile, Balfour Beatty reported strong UK construction performance, with margins of 3.5% and a record \u00a322.7bn order book driven by energy sector demand. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.constructionenquirer.com\/2026\/03\/10\/frc-probes-accountants-over-vistry-south-division-reporting\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Construction Enquirer<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.constructionenquirer.com\/2026\/03\/11\/balfour-beatty-construction-margin-hits-3-5\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Construction Enquirer<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Daily News: 11\/03\/2026 Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council is set to consider a \u00a330.86m investment programme for 2026-27 to improve council housing, focusing on maintaining warm, safe and well-maintained homes for tenants. The proposed funding will support upgrades and ongoing improvements across the council\u2019s housing stock. Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council Southern Housing has pledged to overhaul [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.locarla.com\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.locarla.com\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.locarla.com\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.locarla.com\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.locarla.com\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10363"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.locarla.com\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10363\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10372,"href":"https:\/\/www.locarla.com\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10363\/revisions\/10372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.locarla.com\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.locarla.com\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.locarla.com\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}