The Government has paved the way for local house builders to start preparing bids for a slice of £525m available funding to get small housing schemes off the ground.

Bids will be invited in May for loan funding to restart and speed up “shovel-ready” housing developments of between 15 and 250 homes.

Housing Minister Kris Hopkins today published the funding prospectus setting out the criteria for the new Builders Finance Fund, which the Government hopes will deliver 15,000 homes.

The funding scheme was announced in the last Budget to help smaller builders who have struggled to raise finance for stalled but viable sites.

Funding is being made available on the basis that it will be repaid and is expected to support 15,000 jobs in construction and sustain hundreds of British businesses.

Cash will be released over two years from 2015 to 2016 through to 2016 to 2017 and will be operated as an open competition.

Hopkins said the government wanted smaller housing schemes to play a bigger role in boosting the supply of new homes.

The new investment will be made available to unlock “shovel-ready” sites between 15 to 250 homes, which have their plans in place and the support of local people, but need a bit of help to get development moving.

As Government unveils eight major new renewables projects today (23rd April 2014), representing a staggering £12billion of investment by 2020, market confidence is high as big brands from across the energy market invest in Ecobuild (www.ecobuild.co.uk) the world’s leading event for the sustainable design, construction and energy sector.

Marking the new contracts as “a new stage in Britain’s green energy investment boom”, supporting 8,500 jobs, Energy secretary Ed Davey said they could add a further 4.5GW of low-carbon electricity to Britain’s energy mix (or around 4% of capacity), generating enough clean electricity to power over three million homes.

Hereford Glass featured on national television after taking part in the latest series of Channel 4’s Restoration Man.

In the series architect and presenter George Clarke helps rescue neglected architectural treasures across Britain. Episode five of the current series saw Marco and Kath Walker embarking on a challenging restoration of a couple of Grade II listed 17th and 18th century cow barns in Wellington, Herefordshire to turn them into a family home.

As part of the property’s transformation, the couple rebuilt one end of the derelict cow shed and installed a glazed apex to house their new master bedroom. All the glass for the complex apex design and throughout the rest of the home was supplied by Hereford Glass.

The project demanded high specification insulated glass units to achieve a high level of thermal efficiency for this project. Hereford Glass chose Super Spacer® warm edge spacer bar and Bostik 5000 hotmelt sealant both supplied by Edgetech UK with Neutral Activ Soft KS glass with argon gas fill.

PVC-U roofline products, cladding and Tudor board from Swish Building Products have been used to complete Wellington Court, a new McCarthy & Stone Retirement Living development.  Located on Waterloo Road in Epsom, the new build complex comprises 32 one and two bedroom apartments for the over 60’s.  Swish Building Products exceeded the demands of the specification, to construct a low maintenance, high performance exterior, supplying proven and appropriate products.

Supplied through an approved, local stockist, the 16mm square fascias and soffits in black foil create a strong, light-weight and low maintenance roofline, while the Tudor board, also in a black foiled finish adds a point of interest to the façade.  The white PVC-U cladding installed in the undercroft is an ideal alternative to timber, requiring little or no maintenance; it can also help to significantly improve the thermal properties of a building.

A stunning timber orangery will be a prominent feature at this year’s Grand Designs Live, thanks to the show’s headline sponsor Anglian Home Improvements.

The eye-catching, Edwardian style timber orangery has a timber roof with solar controlled roof glazing that helps to prevent the orangery overheating. Its stylish timber bi-fold doors allow homeowners to extend their living space into the garden and also bring the feeling of being outdoors into their homes. Beautifully designed with flush finish casements, Anglian’s timber orangery has proved extremely popular with UK homeowners since its launch last year.

FG SENSO is the latest product from the German greenteQ range to be introduced into the British market by VBH.

It is described as an attractive matt brushed stainless steel tilt and turn handle with in-built electronic alarm and climate control functions.

Seen for the first time at Ecobuild on the Eurocell Modus® stand, the UK’s first fully integrated door and window system is now available with three stunning sash design options.  The contemporary style of Modus® is distinctly different to existing chamfered and ovolo profile systems that make up the UK market, most of which were designed over 10 years ago, and is very definitely a system for the 21st century.