Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[Sheilbh]

Agreed. If time travel was possible, one of the priorities will be explaining all the unintended consequences to the people who thought extensive public engagement was essential to the process.

Although I think for many of them, those were exactly the intended consequences - "I'm alright Jack".

And again I find it really interesting that when there's "estate ballots" here on regeneration projects (either re-furbing or demolishing and building a new estate) they often have pretty overwhelming support from the people living in the estate. I remember reading an article in the Guardian about some Green councillors and left-wing activists protesting agains the regeneration of a council estate they lived on as a real David and Goliath story - about half-way into the article in a single line it mentioned that 90% of residents had voted to support the regeneration

[crazy canuck]

Better material and codes, definitely. But that costs more money and time. While I think that cookie cutter homes will help the planning and permitting stage immensely, I think the time to go up from sticks to bricks won't be comparable. 

*edit* without cutting corners that is.  You can build fast if you just plaster over shoddy quality (see those instant neighbourhoods again). So we have to decide, fast and cheapish but fills the quota type situation.

I don't think that's correct. Much of the delay in modern building practises is waiting for one trade to finish its work before another trade moves in. In our building project that isn't well coordinated, and that means pretty much every single family building, days, and even weeks can go by with no work being done on site.

Part of those delays is building. Inspectors have to come out every so often before the next trade starts so that they can inspect what has been done before it is covered up with the work of the new trade.  A lot of that inspection work is necessitated by the fact that each structure is different. The whole process could be sped up considerably common designs are used and building inspectors can then do their work by way of a sample inspection rather than a thorough inspection of each individual structure.

Quicker does not mean cutting corners it means being more efficient with the time that is allotted to the construction.


For all those lawyers, this would also be a good thing because most of construction litigation relates to delay claims and who has to pay for the downtime.

[HVC]

Inspectors would still have to come to ensure you're following plan and code. So those delays would be there. Might go a little faster if the inspector doesn't have to go by different plans, but good inspectors (there are some haha) read the plan before coming and spot insufficiencies in the code and building practices without needing the plan in front of them.

I guess we just have different trust in builders and contractors

[Tamas]

I'm pretty sure my house from the 30s followed that same choose bits from a catalogue model-the houses on the street are all the same basic design but some have bay windows, one or two have different roofing material, and so on.
Though curiously they used to be social houses too. I think it was some kind of specific homes for shipyard workers dealie.

However decisions are made a top priority is that We have to destroy the power of nimbys in small villages with private train stations just a few miles outside city centres.

Are you against train stations now?

[Jacob]

Our federal government is trying to roll out a similar plan, but the way they are approaching it, I don't think will be feasible.

How are they approaching it?

[Jacob]

I'm pretty sure my house from the 30s followed that same choose bits from a catalogue model-the houses on the street are all the same basic design but some have bay windows, one or two have different roofing material, and so on.
Though curiously they used to be social houses too. I think it was some kind of specific homes for shipyard workers dealie.

However decisions are made a top priority is that We have to destroy the power of nimbys in small villages with private train stations just a few miles outside city centres.

Are you against train stations now?

No. He means that those small villages should be massively built up because they have a train station.

[Tamas]

I'm pretty sure my house from the 30s followed that same choose bits from a catalogue model-the houses on the street are all the same basic design but some have bay windows, one or two have different roofing material, and so on.
Though curiously they used to be social houses too. I think it was some kind of specific homes for shipyard workers dealie.

However decisions are made a top priority is that We have to destroy the power of nimbys in small villages with private train stations just a few miles outside city centres.

Are you against train stations now?

No. He means that those small villages should be massively built up because they have a train station.

Ah, in full agreement, then.

[crazy canuck]

Our federal government is trying to roll out a similar plan, but the way they are approaching it, I don't think will be feasible.

How are they approaching it?

First, they are going to consult widely on what building plans should generally be included in the catalog. I'll just stop there because that will take about 10 years.

[crazy canuck]

Inspectors would still have to come to ensure you're following plan and code. So those delays would be there. Might go a little faster if the inspector doesn't have to go by different plans, but good inspectors (there are some haha) read the plan before coming and spot insufficiencies in the code and building practices without needing the plan in front of them.

I guess we just have different trust in builders and contractors

Yeah, I admit my view is affected by seeing the bad ones in the litigation I was involved in.

[OttoVonBismarck]

A bit of information about the postwar period in Canada, housing construction that floored me. A house could be constructed in a few days. And many were. The secret was a prospective home owner chose from a pre-approved catalogue of homes on preapproved lots and the workforce was already mobilized in that area with all of the materials needed to build.

This is actually very similar to how large tract housing developments were massively built out in the U.S. postwar as well.

[HVC]

Is Euston station busy? Looks like all service canceled. Hopefully people have cars so they can get where they need to go

[Sheilbh]

It almost makes you suspect there's a good reason to build another rail line to the North-West

Meanwhile (it's the logo bottom left that makes this - the Department for Transport have since deleted the tweet ):

[Jacob]

Well, obviously North London has been shortchanged when it comes to crucial road infrastructure. It's great that the government is tackling the problem head on.

[Tamas]

It almost makes you suspect there's a good reason to build another rail line to the North-West

Meanwhile (it's the logo bottom left that makes this - the Department for Transport have since deleted the tweet ):

 

[Richard Hakluyt]

What would the North do without all the help it gets from this wonderful government    ?