Patrick Cunningham, our Director of Building Control, explains why the UK needs more low-carbon homes to reach its net zero emissions target, and how stronger building regulations can help.

The pandemic has forced many of us to stay home: to stop commuting, stop socialising, stop travelling, wear a mask and put on a coat.

Housing challenges in the UK aren’t a new concern, but they’ve been exacerbated by the financial pressures of the pandemic.

In this series of local government Q&As, Ken Bean, Associate Director of Planning Policy at Capita Local Public Services, answers a series of questions about the national model design code and what challenges and opportunities this brings to local authority planning teams.

As the Covid-19 pandemic has taken hold across the globe, healthcare providers have had to quickly adapt to changing work structures and practices to save lives.

In the first of two articles on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to radically rethink how we deliver services to citizens, we examine the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on councils.

Stephen Ottewell, Director of Planning and Building Control at Capita, interviews planning experts - this Q and A focuses on planning masterplans and design codes.

To date, and out of necessity, the Covid-19 pandemic response has primarily been tactically delivered across our health and care services.

Amid the latest challenges, the public sector has to field urgent and emergency calls in order to look after citizens in their time of need.

Most planners would agree with the need to standardise and simplify - as far as possible - the process for identifying housing need as the starting point for developing policies for residential development in local plans.