FMB in renovation call

The Federation of Master Builders (FMB) has called on the government to do more to bring empty homes back into use.

FMB director of external affairs Brian Berry said it was necessary to return the 700,000 empty properties in England to a state of being lived in as the plan to build three million new homes by 2020 is on course to fail.

Mr Berry said this was the case because at present Britain is only building 170,000 new homes each year, rather than the target figure of 240,000.

He said the government needed to seek "more creative ways to bring redundant buildings back into use because that is more sustainable than creating sustainable communities".

One such way may be to produce incentives encourage more home renovation work in order to make such properties habitable again.

The 700,000 empty homes figure quoted by Mr Berry represents a rise on the 663,000 stated by the Empty Homes Agency in 2006.

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