A message from Tom Connor, Founder & CEO at Custom Build Homes.

Tom highlights how our homes have become the centre stage of our lives and how we can learn from this pandemic to reshape the housing landscape to meet the new needs of our society.

We’d had an excellent start to the year when Edinburgh closed its doors. We were enjoying multiple new sites being progressed through planning and we’d recently welcomed our new Director of Planning & Strategic Engagement, Mario Wolf to the company, whose addition was a sign of our forward trajectory. 

Like millions around the world our team immediately began working from home, to do our bit in “flattening the curve” of coronavirus and it has been this way since. The subsequent instruction from Boris Johnson which brought about a national lockdown caused the most fundamental change in the way people live overnight. The reality set in that what was about to happen would be unlike anything we’ve seen in our lifetimes.

Now, as then, those risking their own lives to save others are at the forefront of our minds. Never have we been so proud of our NHS. Our thoughts and most heartfelt condolences are sent to all those who have lost someone during this time, and we hope those who may feel like they are losing their selves in isolation find their way through. But as we extend our gratitude and our thoughts, I find myself thinking; what exactly is “the new normal?”, it seems to change every day. I doubt I am alone when I say this, “I hope we do not come out (of lockdown) the same way as we went in. I believe there are many positive changes in the way people live their lives at this time, and what is for certain, our homes are very much in the spotlight. 

Our homes are being tested on a national stage and everybody is watching. They are doubling as workspaces or tripling as workspaces and schools, alongside being a safe haven from the world outside, which at this moment can be a scary place. At Custom Build Homes, we wanted to understand how people’s homes have adapted to meet today’s new demand. Over the course of the last ten weeks we have seen many people turn their living spaces into gyms, yoga studios, art studios, offices, classrooms, and even pubs! It got us thinking about our mission. We aim to enable people to access a home which is designed or customised to be suitable for their individual needs now and in the future, a home that is well designed, sustainable and affordable.

We realised this pandemic could offer us, as a nation, the chance to step up and take control to change the way new homes are designed and built, moving forward. The cold reality is that our housing is not suitable for other aspects of our lives which are ordinarily catered for by gyms, workplaces or schools. They are not designed to be lived in as much as they are basic shelters. At a time of confinement and quarantine, design can often be forgotten. Now more than ever could the power of well-designed homes be used to highlight how our lives could be enhanced as a result? The new normal of homecooked meals, exercising at home, meditating, families being together in the home and a better work life balance can become permanent, if our homes allow it.

We don’t yet fully know how this pandemic will play out. But we can be certain that it will have a massive social consequence and that lasting change, whatever it may be, will change the way we view our homes forever. Practices like remote working and home schooling will no longer be for the select few, they will remain, at least at specific times, the norm into the future. Our thought processes have changed, we now look upon our homes as places to move through and around. They are no longer units, but places in their own right where areas for families, zones for work and outdoor spaces for exercising should be considered in their design. We must now engage properly with the opportunities we have under the new Right to Build legislation which gives powers to consumers in England to design and create their own homes and local planning authorities are obligated to provide new permissions on an ongoing three-year cycle.

As such, we ask everyone out there, help us keep the good aspects of our “new normal” and sign up to our demand register at www.custombuildhomes.co.uk/your-demand today.

It’s your right, and the time is right now!

Mario Wolf; Founding Director of the Right to Build Task Force and influential expert in the UK custom and self-build sector has joined the Custom Build Homes’ senior management team.

The appointment will strengthen the custom build specialists’ strategy to focus on growth of delivery within the sector.

Custom Build Homes welcomes Mario Wolf as its new Director of Planning & Strategic Engagement. Mario joins the company after a highly accomplished career in the Civil Service and the planning and development sector. He is a Corporate Member of the Royal Town Planning Institute and prior to working in Government enjoyed an extensive career in Planning across the globe in both private and public sector roles.

In the Civil Service, Mario led the introduction and implementation of a range of housing programmes and planning reforms spanning almost 20 years. His final two years as a Civil Servant was on secondment to the National Custom and Self-Build Association (NaCSBA) as Director of The Right to Build Taskforce; where he established a specialist group of industry experts focused on supporting Local Planning Authorities implement their new legal obligations to provide serviced plots for custom build housing and supporting builders and landowners to bring forward projects at scale.

Mario’s leadership of the Taskforce proved to be testament to his attitude, vigour and belief that custom build housing must be scaled in the UK to provide the much-needed diversification and additionality required to reduce the housing deficit and affordability crisis. He and his team of experts provided much needed hands-on advice on multiple projects including; the design of Local Authority Planning policies to bring forward allocations of plots on volume housebuilder sites and the use of effective Design Codes and Plot Passports to help streamline the Reserved Matters Application Process for Local Authority Planning Teams.

Throughout his time as Director of the Taskforce he, alongside his colleague Bryony Harrington (Now Head of the Taskforce), oversaw a programme of capacity-building events and workshops in the form of ‘Right to Build Expos’ across England and Scotland which enabled over 100 Local Planning Authorities to engage with custom build housing first hand and gain the valuable insight and education they needed to accelerate delivery of new permitted sites.

Mario spent more than 15 years at the Department for Communities Local Government (DCLG), now known as Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), as a senior policy advisor in both the Housing and Planning Directorates. He was instrumental in working closely with Ministers and industry to introduce a radical programme of support measures for self-build and custom housebuilding. He also held posts in the Government Offices for the South East and London and worked in local government and the private sector as a planning consultant. He brings considerable international experience to our sector and is also a custom builder himself.

His new role as Director of Planning & Strategic Engagement at Custom Build Homes will see him join the company’s Senior Management Team and will be focused on developing and scaling it’s new Planning function in line with Custom Build Homes’ vision to change the narrative of custom build housing from conversation to delivery of homes on the back of positive steps taken by industry and Government by way of new legislation and change in market conditions and consumer understanding.

Custom Build Homes’ Director, Tom Connor described the significance of Mario’s introduction to Custom Build Homes, as it enters a new phase of growth. He said:

“As soon as I was made aware of Mario’s interest in joining Custom Build Homes, I was immediately excited.

“His experience and knowledge of the custom build sector in the UK is second to none, and he made it clear from the outset that he was equally excited to work with our dynamic team to realise custom build delivery at scale.

“The decision to welcome Mario to the company was very easy,” he added.

Mario will take up this new role at Custom Build Homes from March 1, 2020. Mario said:

“I am absolutely delighted to have the opportunity to join Custom Build Homes at such a key point in time.

“The custom build housing sector in this country is on the verge of an imminent explosion in activity as more land is coming forward through local plans than ever before and landowners identify new ways to build much needed new housing.

“Custom Build Homes is well-positioned to lead the way in unlocking this significant market potential; to radically scale-up the delivery of serviced building plots and enable many more people to build their own homes in line with the shared ambition between the Government and industry.”