{"id":87242,"date":"2017-12-12T11:59:33","date_gmt":"2017-12-12T11:59:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=bf0ebad14dbd5a0e6f15eba92669111b"},"modified":"2017-12-12T11:59:33","modified_gmt":"2017-12-12T11:59:33","slug":"speech-sajid-javids-speech-to-the-federation-of-master-builders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=87242","title":{"rendered":"Speech: Sajid Javid’s speech to the Federation of Master Builders"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Good evening everyone, it\u2019s great to see so many familiar faces and it\u2019s a real pleasure to have you all here in Parliament.<\/p>\n

As you know, the Palace of Westminster is beginning to show it\u2019s age, we really do need to get the builders in.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m pretty sure I saw some of you pricing the job up on the way here!<\/p>\n

And if you want to send your quotes to the Speaker, tell him Sajid sent you!<\/p>\n

You are all, literally, master builders.<\/p>\n

The FMB<\/abbr> does great work in recognising that, certifying it.<\/p>\n

Raising and maintaining standards.<\/p>\n

And of course providing clients with the reassurance they need.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a vital task.<\/p>\n

After all, none of us are immune from the kind of shoddy workmanship the FMB<\/abbr> protects against.<\/p>\n

Even Winston Churchill.<\/p>\n

When he was Prime Minister he complained that 10 Downing Street was, and I quote, \u201cshaky and lightly built by the profiteering contractor whose name the street bears\u201d.<\/p>\n

Today, of course, the centre of government is strong and stable!<\/p>\n

Although I\u2019m sure John will take issue with that!<\/p>\n

I want to start this evening by saying thank you to everyone in this room who helped us do something amazing last year.<\/p>\n

217,000 net additions to the housing supply. The highest level in a decade, and an increase of 70% on what was achieved in 2009\/10.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s still a long, long way to go but thanks to your hard work we\u2019re certainly heading in the right direction.<\/p>\n

Almost 40,000 of those net additions came about from change of use, including taking spaces above shops and turning them into homes.<\/p>\n

This government has, quite rightly, put a lot of time and effort into regenerating high streets and strengthening local economies.<\/p>\n

That has generally focussed on the retail side of things, but as the report you\u2019re publishing today shows there is no reason why commercial and residential cannot coexist happily together.<\/p>\n

I grew up in the flat above the family shop, so I\u2019ve seen for myself how it can work not just in theory but in practice too.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why last month\u2019s Budget<\/a> set out plans to make it easier to create quality homes in empty spaces above high street shops. And tonight is the first time I\u2019ve heard John back the Budget, so well done to FMB<\/abbr> for their lobbying!<\/p>\n

So, Homes on our High Streets (PDF, 2.1 MB)<\/a> isn\u2019t just a fascinating report, it\u2019s also very timely contribution to the debate.<\/p>\n

It puts forward some very interesting ideas and proposals; I was going through a draft this weekend.<\/p>\n

And we\u2019ll be looking at it very closely to see how it can help us to fix this country\u2019s broken housing market.<\/p>\n

Let me also take the time to thank Mark Prisk for all the work he has done, and for being the genesis of this report.<\/p>\n

To do that, to fix the market, we\u2019re going to have to create at least 300,000 homes each year.<\/p>\n

And small and medium-sized builders are going to have big role to play in making that happen.<\/p>\n

Our housing white paper<\/a> was very clear on this.<\/p>\n

Ever since the recession, the market has been dominated by a handful of very large developers.<\/p>\n

It used to be the case that more than 60% of new homes were delivered by small firms.<\/p>\n

Today the figure is half that, and that\u2019s a tragedy.<\/p>\n

I want to turn that around, to see more of you building more homes.<\/p>\n

And we\u2019re backing that with more funding \u2013 an additional \u00a31.5 billion of short-term loan finance for SMEs<\/abbr>, custom builders and innovators announced in the Budget.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re doing this because smaller firms are skilled at developing small sites, great at building out quickly, and have a strong track record of innovation.<\/p>\n

And you also put a great premium on standards.<\/p>\n

On quality.<\/p>\n

When my dad was running his shop he had to make sure the clothes he was selling were of the highest quality\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026because he was selling them to the local community, to people he\u2019d see every day.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s the same for SME<\/abbr> builders.<\/p>\n

When you operate locally, your reputation is just as important as the work that you do.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why membership of the FMB<\/abbr> is such a badge of honour, it shows that you\u2019re only happy with the best.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s not just the quality of work that matters.<\/p>\n

Quality of design is crucial too.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not just my opinion \u2013 it\u2019s something the great British public agrees with.<\/p>\n

You know as well as I do that getting local communities onside is crucial to getting planning permission.<\/p>\n

Well, almost three-quarters of people say they would support the building of more homes in their area if they were well-designed and in keeping with the local style.<\/p>\n

People don\u2019t like looking at identikt red-roofed boxes that could be basically anywhere in the country.<\/p>\n

And nor should they.<\/p>\n

Just because we need to build more homes it doesn\u2019t mean we need to build ugly homes. Last month I was looking at RIBA\u2019s House of the Year.<\/p>\n

Make no mistake, the winner was undoubtedly a stunning piece of architecture.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019m not sure your average new-build 3-bed home has space for an art gallery, performance area and 27,000 fruit trees!<\/p>\n

Good design doesn\u2019t have to mean Grand Designs.<\/p>\n

To be beautiful, to win that local support, new homes don\u2019t have to make bold statements.<\/p>\n

They just need to be an appropriate addition, something that local people want to live in and live next door to.<\/p>\n

Last week we invited bids for our new fund<\/a> that will help local authorities plan for growth and improve design.<\/p>\n

But I want to go further.<\/p>\n

So, in the spring, we will be working with the sector and with local government to host a national housing design conference.<\/p>\n

It will be a showcase for ideas, insights and best practice from across the country and across the world, kicking off a real debate about how we can raise the design bar for everyone.<\/p>\n

But I want you to be building houses that are worthy of your skills as master builders.<\/p>\n

And this conference will go a long way to help making that happen.<\/p>\n

As I said, there is still much to be done.<\/p>\n

Still a long way to go to fix our broken housing market.<\/p>\n

But with the FMB<\/abbr>\u2019s support, with your commitment to quality and innovation, I know that we can get there.<\/p>\n

And I\u2019m looking forward to making that journey with you.<\/p>\n

Thank you.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Secretary of State’s speech to the Federation of Master Builders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87242"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=87242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87242\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=87242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=87242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=87242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}