If you are taking the time to read this, I imagine that you are already tiring of the holiday excesses and are looking forward to easing yourself back into work next week. Below are the main stories over the last seven days and the last of 2017. As always, please do let me know if I have missed out on any interesting property news by emailing carol@caroltallon.com.
As it was an expectedly quiet week for Irish housing news, I looked further afield for some new industry innovations and one of my favourites this week was learning about the repurposing of jeans (of the two-legged, denim variety!) into building insulation. ‘Blue Jeans Go Green’ is a recycling program sanctioned by Cotton Inc., which collects used jeans and other denim and transforms the material into UltraTouch Denim Insulation. The natural cotton, which is made of 80% denim and 20% binding fibre, makes this a successful form of insulation with great sound absorption qualities. Apparently it requires between 500 to 1,000 pieces of denim to insulate one home.
It’s actually not a new project, it has been underway for almost a decade and in that time, 2.7 million sq. ft. of denim insulation has been used in building. Most importantly, a portion of this has been provided to help communities, such as Habitat for Humanity. Click here to read more.
Other property news
- One of the most controversial news stories this week arose from an interview given by the outgoing housing agency chairman, Conor Skehan, with the headline ‘Housing needs blown out of proportion’. While there was much criticism of this and the quotes used, it would be naive not to recognised many of the unpalatable, market truths contained therein: https://www-irishtimes-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/housing-needs-blown-out-of-proportion-1.3339173?mode=amp
- Irish Water is granted planning for their proposed €80m reservoir in south Dublin
- New chief executive Francesca McDonagh has made rebuilding trust in the bank a ‘personal priority’: https://www-irishtimes-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.irishtimes.com/business/financial-services/bank-of-ireland-has-1bn-fund-for-property-development-lending-1.3338480?mode=am
- Plenty of Cork news this week starting with Cork County Council’s rejection of the city border expansion deal: https://www-irishtimes-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/cork-county-council-reject-city-border-expansion-deal-1.3330630?mode=amp
- Cork on cusp of modern urbanisation: https://amp-irishexaminer-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/amp.irishexaminer.com/business/property/cork-on-cusp-of-modern-urbanisation-465021.html
- Bristol’s tallest building gets planning permission despite objections over affordable housing : https://www-bristolpost-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/c/www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/bristol-tallest-building-gets-planning-960062.amp
Property sector finds its way while Government dithers – “Solving the housing crisis is the most important issue for the health of the economy and society as we enter into 2018” by commercial property with the Independent Editor Ronald Quinlan: https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/property-sector-finds-its-way-while-government-dithers-36445376.html
- Net mortgage lending increases for first time in seven years; Latest Central Bank figures reflect pick-up in housing market: https://www-irishtimes-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/net-mortgage-lending-increases-for-first-time-in-seven-years-1.3340558?mode=amp
Industry happenings
- Interesting case study by Arup of their Cannon Place Underground station in London – ‘Can you deliver a £360m station redevelopment with zero downtime?’: https://www.arup.com/projects/cannon-place?utm_source=LinkedIn&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Project
- London’s skyline is changing – here are seven skyscrapers due to arrive by 2025 – Ready the whole Time Out article here and how we are involved in changing the face of London: http://ow.ly/10DR30hrxk0
- For construction news, the CIF magazine this month leads with an article ‘Realising the Construction Industry’s Potential to Build Ireland’s Future’, written by yours truly (that’s my declaration of bias!), however, the entire issue is packed with insights from Irish and international speakers who addressed industry members at the CIF annual conference in October: Click here for magazine access
Proptech
Two-thirds of Architectural Visualisation Professionals Will Use VR in 2018 – via Kevin Joyce (LinkedIn): https://www-vrfocus-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.vrfocus.com/2017/12/two-thirds-of-architectural-visualisation-professionals-will-use-vr-in-2018/amp/
- Also, KPMG’s recently published global proptech survey found that 34% of respondents have a clear technological innovation business vision and strategy and a further 34% are working on developing one at the moment. Click here for a full read of the ‘Digital roadmaps direct businesses to the future’ Insight via Property Week.
- New fund: Enterprise Ireland are now advertising their new Agile Innovation Fund as “Responding to the threats and opportunities posed by Brexit demands innovation“. There is up to 50% of funding available for R&D projects up to €300,000. Check out their website on ambition.enterprise-ireland.com
To keep up-to-date on all things tech and innovation for the planning, construction and property industries, head over to http://www.prop-tech.ie, the national resource website for innovators, investors and mentors or email news@proptech.ie .
Property Insiders Guide
As many of you might know, my annual property book The Irish Property Buyers’ Handbook (since 2011) has undergone a rebrand for 2018 and will now appear as part of The Property Insider series, published by Oak Tree Press, the first three titles are now published and available here.
On a personal note, thank you all for your continued support and best wishes for a successful New Year!
(Finally, as always, apologies for any typos, it’s difficult to get good help on a Sunday!)