Related insights: Projects, Construction and Infrastructure

Andrew Hirst and Rebecca Cowley discuss the heat networks revolution, how it will work and the effect on all stakeholders, from owners to investors.

Heat networks provide relatively low cost, low-carbon heat which can help the UK to meet its legally binding targets to slash greenhouse gas emissions. In the UK, there are currently 14,000 operational networks, although they tend to have a relatively low public profile.

In July 2018, the Competition and Market Authority’s heat networks market study calculated that heat networks provide just 2% of UK buildings’ heat demand. The independent Committee on Climate Change has estimated that to meet carbon targets, around 18% of the UK’s heat needs to come from heat networks by 2050. This could require investment of between £30bn and £50bn.

The UK’s leading roadside assistance provider, The AA, has agreed a deal with support from international law firm Womble Bond Dickinson (WBD) to move into new premises housed in the historic Grade II listed redevelopment of Basingstoke's Mountbatten House.

Moving from its former home of Fanum House where the organisation had been based for 50 years, The AA will now operate out of nearby development The Plant, a redesign of Mountbatten House which delivers a modern, best-in-class office fit for the needs of the association.

Over the past year, changes to building safety have forged ahead at an unprecedented pace, at times too quickly for comfort. There's still much to do, but it's worth taking stock how far we've come, and prepare ourselves for what comes next in 2024.

By the end of 2022, we knew the vague outline of how building safety in 2023 might look. We had seen the government's various consultations (particularly the "consultation on implementing the new building control regime for higher-risk buildings and wider changes to the building regulations for all buildings") setting out the government's thinking. But we were waiting for the final details.

The Scottish Government has revealed its draft Scottish Budget for 2024/25 (published in late December 2023) (Budget), which will have significant impacts on the Scottish construction industry.

The Budget sets out the Scottish Government’s proposed spending and tax plans for that period.

"Progress to identify, assess and fix unsafe cladding on Scotland’s medium and high-rise multi-residential buildings will be accelerated", according to the Scottish Government, which recently published its Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Bill (Bill).

The Bill has been introduced to the Scottish Parliament as part of the 2023/2024 Programme for Government, with the aim of supporting the delivery of the Scottish Cladding Remediation Programme and speeding up the remediation process. The Bill's explanatory note advises that all provisions are intended to contribute towards eliminating or mitigating the risks to human life that are created or exacerbated by the external wall cladding systems of buildings that are at least partly residential.

There are three key features of the Bill, which are covered in Parts 1, 2 and 4 of the Bill, and detailed below. (In case you are interested, Part 3 covers individual liability where an organisation commits an offence, and Part 5 addresses interpretation of the Bill).

A new mandatory occurrence reporting system has been established through secondary legislation, under the umbrella of the Building Safety Act 2022.

The secondary legislation in question is the Building (Higher-Risk Buildings Procedures) (England) Regulations 2023 (Regulations), which relates to higher risk buildings (HRBs) in England.

The Scottish Government is seeking views on whether stricter sanctions would improve building standards.

In its Building Standards Enforcement and Sanctions Consultation, the Scottish Government sets out its proposed changes relating to various provisions of the Building (Scotland) Act 2003 (Act).