Daily News: 24/11/2025
S&P Global Ratings has affirmed its ‘A-’ long-term issuer credit rating for U.K. social housing provider Stonewater Ltd., citing stable financial performance and effective management of investment pressures. The outlook remains stable. S&P Global
Sanctuary is consulting on plans to sell 300 shared ownership homes to a for-profit provider owned by the William Pears Group, as part of a wider stock review. Meanwhile, Newham Council sold 130 homes for £10.6m under Right to Buy but later bought them back for £33.3m, resulting in a £22m loss. Housing Today (register), Big Issue
Your Housing Group and Irwell Valley Homes have joined JV North as procurement members to use its £500m framework for speeding up new-home delivery. Separately, Milnbank Housing Association is delivering a £1.4m improvement programme in Dennistoun and Haghill, running to March 2026, to upgrade and maintain homes. Housing Executive, Scottish Housing News
Caddick Construction has been awarded an £18m contract by Great Places Housing Group to deliver a new affordable housing scheme in Manchester. The Construction Index
Equans has filed a £2.73m claim against Arconic over unsafe cladding used on a north London council block, drawing on evidence from the Grenfell inquiry. RSK Group has bought road and rail contractor Octavius Infrastructure, while Easymix has acquired Essex concrete supplier Mix N Lay out of administration. Meanwhile, the firm responsible for England’s largest schools PFI contract is entering liquidation, putting repairs at 88 Stoke-on-Trent schools at risk. Construction News (register), Construction Enquirer, Construction Enquirer, and BBC
HSE data shows the construction sector recorded 50,000 non-fatal injuries in the three years to March 2025 – about one in every 40 workers – underscoring persistent safety problems in the industry. Construction News (register)
Chancellor Rachel Reeves is set to allocate an extra £48m to hire 350 new planners, around £137,000 per role, to speed up the planning process. Meanwhile, the government has updated council funding rules, ringfencing the homelessness grant and allowing councils to keep all additional council tax generated from new homes. Construction Enquirer, Housing Today (register)
A £500m rebuild of Maidenhead’s Nicholson Centre has been approved, delivering 856 flats, 55 commercial units and a 452-space car park. In east Manchester, 498 homes by Kellen Homes and Great Places have been given the go-ahead, nearly half of them affordable. Nottingham City Council has approved 113 affordable homes on a former plastics factory site. Elsewhere, opposition continues against plans for up to 480 homes in Wallingford. Bloor Homes is proposing 400 homes east of Ludgershall, while consultation has opened on 230 homes in West Malling. Developers are also planning 200 homes and a new park near the M32 in Frenchay, and a new proposal has emerged for 165 homes on a grey-belt site in Benfleet. Construction Enquirer, TheBusinessDesk.com, BBC, This is Oxfordshire, Andover Advertiser, Kent Online, Bristol Live, and Echo