• Merry Christmas from MA
• ESG Summary 2025
• Autumn Budget Lacklustre for Housing
• Ringside Revival: A Community Fightback
• Project Case Study: Saville Row
• Tender Price Index Update
• Project Case Study: Oakwood House
• Supporting Clients with Party Wall Matters
• Art Project Unveiling Shepway

Merry Christmas from MA

As we come to the end of another successful year, we’d like to take a moment to thank our clients, colleagues and partners for their continued trust and collaboration. Your support has been invaluable and we look forward to achieving even more together in 2026.

From all of us at Martin Arnold, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Please note that our offices will be closing for the Christmas Break on Wednesday 24th December and reopening on Monday 5th January 2026.

ESG Summary 2025

Social value, sustainability and positive community impact are central to Martin Arnold’s ethos. In 2025, we strengthened our ESG commitments by supporting local communities, creating opportunities for young people and giving back through purposeful partnerships and initiatives.

This year we:

• Dedicated over 292 volunteering hours across a range of community projects, from litter picking and site improvement at Sporting Club Thamesmead to attending schools career fairs to hosting mock interviews and volunteering at the Charlton Athletic Community Trust (CACT) Extra Time Christmas Party.
• Worked with Skillcrown and Golding Homes on community initiatives to support the Cambridge Crescent Regeneration in Maidstone; initiatives included an art project with Dulverton Primary and Five Acre Wood Schools, donating new art supplies, and sponsoring Maidstone Amateur Boxing Club with vests, punch paddles, hand wraps and jackets. We also contributed to the establishment of the club’s Hardship Fund which supports families facing financial challenges.
• Continued our support of Royal British Legion Industries (RBLI), raising funds through running the London Landmarks Half Marathon and giving charitable donations in honour of the veterans they support.
• Welcomed 2 new apprentices on a permanent employment basis as part of our social value work with Hyde and provided placements for 12 students, helping nurture the next generation of talent in the built environment.
• Visited 3 schools to provide insights into careers in the built environment; these included Eltham School as part of our social value work with RBG and Hurstmere School which our Graduate Trainee Building Surveyor Kieran Lowe attended, and Beths Grammar School which our Trainee Building Surveyor Toby Arnold attended.
• Hosted our first CPD Morning event at the British Library Knowledge Centre, welcoming 154 attendees for a 3-hour session that delivered a total of 462 hours of CPD towards our clients’ professional development, completely for free! The event was a great success, bringing together industry professionals to share knowledge, provide networking opportunities and gain valuable insights to support their continued learning.
• Committed 2% of our pre-tax profit to charitable or social causes and communities, including CACT, RBLI, Pancreatic Cancer UK, Dementia UK and Demelza Hospice care for children, among others.

We were proud to be named the ‘Partner of the Year’, alongside Potter Raper and Faithorn Farrell Timms, at the annual Charlton Athletic Community Trust (CACT) Award Ceremony at the House of Lords in Westminster in recognition of our joint commitment to delivering meaningful social value through our partnership with Royal Borough of Greenwich.

As we look ahead to 2026, we remain dedicated to growing our positive impact by strengthening communities, supporting local opportunities, and contributing to a more sustainable future for all. We’re currently preparing our annual Social Value Report, which we look forward to sharing early next year to provide a more in-depth look at our ESG achievements over the past 12 months.

Autumn Budget Lacklustre for Housing

This Autumn’s Budget may have been the most nervously awaited budget for some time. It finally arrived amongst the controversary of the OBR publishing its economic forecast ahead of the Budget itself. Despite all this anticipation, in hindsight, the shadow of the announcements in the spring, probably meant this budget would always be less impactful for the housing sector.

Nonetheless, there were still some important inclusions and exclusions that will have an impact on the delivery and maintenance of affordable housing. We have considered some of the key points in more detail below:

Funding

An additional £1.5bn will be provided to the Warm Homes Plan in the sector’s continued campaign against fuel poverty. Ensuring energy efficient homes for the most vulnerable in our society is imperative; this will help to deliver savings on customers’ bills, giving them more available money to spend on other essential items which will improve the quality of their lives.

Disappointingly Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates remain frozen; the Resolution Foundation believes that this will result in an affordability gap of 17% between the support low-income private tenants receive and the 30th percentile of local rents in 2026. This is causing more stress on household incomes for poorer families who can’t afford to own their home and rent in the private sector, because of a lack of sufficient local affordable housing being available.

Most obviously delayed, was the key issue of rent convergence, which many registered providers hope will result in a £3 increase. It seems this decision has been pushed back to January 2026. If this increase does land in the new year, we hope this will help with viability issues and, coupled with the new Social and Affordable Homes Programme, help start building toward the 1.5 million homes we need.

Regionalised and devolved delivery of the £5bn National Housing Delivery fund was also confirmed. The budget outlined that £1.3bn will go to Mayoral Authorities and that the entire fund will be distributed across seven UK regions. More funding for regeneration outside of London seems central to the Government’s strategy for devolution as the budget noted that it wants Mayoral authorities to set strategic direction for social and affordable housing in their areas.

Jobs & Skills

Free training for all apprentices up to the age of 25 at SMEs was confirmed; we hope this will help future talent access our sector. More construction professionals are desperately needed to fight the housing crisis.

£48m to support 350 new Planners, delivered by a planning graduate scheme and a careers hub to retrain existing professionals, was also promised. Planning departments are critical to the supply of new homes and we hope this proposal exceeds its own relatively modest goals.

Despite the anticipation and controversary surrounding this Autumn Statement, we think that overall it was a bit of a mixed bag for housing. Going forward, we put our focus on understanding how the new Social and Affordable Homes Programme can be best utilised to bring forward new and more warm and safe affordable housing for those who need it most in our society.

Ringside Revival: A Community Fightback

As part of our ongoing commitment to creating lasting social value within the communities we work in, Martin Arnold attended and supported the Ringside Revival event on 20 November 2025, hosted by our valued partners Golding Homes and Skillcrown Homes.

The event celebrated the much-anticipated reopening of the Maidstone Amateur Boxing Club, marking an important milestone in the wider Cambridge Crescent Regeneration, a project that will deliver more than just new high performance homes to the community through genuine social value opportunities to local residents. The Ringside Revival event represents a community focused initiative, bringing new energy, purpose, opportunities and hope to the residents of Cambridge Crescent.

In partnership with Golding Homes, we are currently delivering Phases 1 and 2 of this estate regeneration project; once complete, a total of 236 energy efficient affordable homes and four commercial units will be constructed before summer 2027.

Led by our Senior Associate Joe Evans, our team has been working closely with Skillcrown Homes to deliver meaningful social value as part of the regeneration programme. As part of this initiative, we were honoured to sponsor Maidstone ABC, by providing vests, punch paddles, hand wraps and MA-branded jackets. We also contributed to the establishment of the club’s Hardship Fund, which supports families facing financial challenges. Maidstone ABC plays a vital role in supporting local young people and families; we’re proud to contribute to the positive impact they’re making in community.

The club offers a safe and positive space for young people to develop confidence, become more disciplined and build their resilience, with values that extend well beyond the boxing ring. The club’s revival symbolises what a true regeneration should achieve: not just improving buildings, but empowering people. The project is another example of Golding Homes, and the project team, doing what they can to give back to the community.

At Martin Arnold, we’re proud to be part of initiatives like this which champion community spirit, create opportunity and make real, lasting difference to people’s lives in Maidstone and beyond.

Project Case Study: Saville Row

Martin Arnold provided strategic tender support to Ambit Moat for the refurbishment of 18-20 Saville Row, an eight-storey commercial building located in one of London’s most iconic districts.

The project aims to deliver a refined refurbishment that complements the area’s rich tailoring heritage and architectural character, including a full strip-out, structural alterations, new mechanical and electrical public health systems, and bespoke joinery.

Our team led the procurement and tender process in close collaboration with the client’s supply chain. This included preparing tender documentation, reviewing costs, advising on risk and providing budget cost analysis to support an informed tender recommendation.

For more details about this project, read full case study here:

Saville Row

Tender Price Index Update

As the end of 2025 approaches, the most recent BCIS reports show that the construction market is slow but steady, although ongoing cost pressures are still noticeable throughout the industry. Tender prices are still rising, but at a slower and steadier rate than in prior years, indicating a change from the volatility that marked a large portion of the recent period.

For Q3 2025, the BCIS All-in Tender Price Index shows a quarterly increase of about 0.7% while annual inflation remains stable at about 2.5%. Rather than an increase in underlying demand, this still reflects cost-push inflation caused by labour shortages, specialised trades, and changes in regulations. Tender pricing is still influenced by a number of these structural cost drivers, despite materials inflation decreasing in comparison to previous peaks.

BCIS survey results indicate a cautiously optimistic outlook for pipelines in the future, with slightly more than half of the survey participants reporting a slight increase in expected tender opportunities. However, compared to earlier in the year, contractor willingness to tender has softened, indicating increased selectivity brought on by resource limitations and increased operational demands. This fits with the overall market picture of delivery teams’ ongoing caution and uneven workloads.

This position indicates that tender prices will probably continue to rise moderately through 2026. It is still appropriate to set aside 2-3% for general building projects in terms of tender price inflation allowance. Assumptions of a return to softer market conditions would be premature given ongoing shortages of specialised trades, slower approvals and regulatory pressures, even though some competitive tension may still be achievable.

Overall, the data indicates that the market is becoming more stable, but is still limited by capacity and cost constraints. As 2026 approaches, risk management and cost certainty across projects will continue to depend on early engagement, transparent procurement strategies, and reasonable inflation allowances.

Project Case Study: Oakwood House

Appointed by Kent County Council, Martin Arnold provided Clerk of Works services for an extensive refurbishment of Oakwood House, a historic Victorian mansion in Maidstone, originally built in 1869.

The project involved transforming the former training and conference centre into a modern, multi-use facility now home to the Kent Coroners Service, Kent Register Office, Kent Adult Education Centre, and Adoption Partnership South East.

Delivered during the height of COVID-19 restrictions, the works required careful planning to manage reduced site capacity and revised ventilation designs. The discovery of protected bats within the roof spaces introduced further complexity, requiring close coordination with ecological specialists to ensure compliance and minimise disruption.

Our team conducted weekly inspections to monitor workmanship and quality standards, maintaining open communication with the contractor throughout. This proactive approach ensured that potential issues were identified early and resolved efficiently, supporting the successful delivery of this sensitive and historically significant project.

For more details about how we supported this project, you can read the full case study here:

Oakwood House

Supporting Clients with Party Wall Matters

At Martin Arnold, we understand that Party Wall and Neighbourly Matters can be complex and often misunderstood. That’s why we adopt a personable and proactive approach to ensure our clients and their neighbours feel informed, supported and protected throughout the process.

Our experienced team of Party Wall Surveyors work closely with Building Owners, Adjoining Owners and developers to provide clear, practical advice from the earliest stages of a project. We believe early engagement is key to avoiding disputes and ensuring compliance with the Party Wall etc. Act 1996.

Whether you’re planning a new development, undertaking structural alterations or simply maintaining your property, our team is here to help you navigate the legal requirements and minimise risk.

What We Offer

Our Party Wall and Neighbourly Matters services include:

• Party Wall Advice
• Building Owner, Adjoining Owner and Agreed Surveyor Appointments
• Schedules of Condition
• Preliminary Assessments / Neighbourly Matters Reports
• Access, Oversail and Scaffold Licensing
• Access to Neighbouring Land
• Boundary Reports and Advice
• Neighbourly Liaison

We provide tailored assessments to identify affected properties, advise on required notices and manage the process of serving Notices and agreeing and serving Party Wall Awards. Our tailored Neighbourly Matters Assessments also help clients understand potential risks and liabilities, ensuring these are captured within project risk registers at the outset of a project.

Understanding the Party Wall etc. Act 1996

The Party Wall etc. Act 1996 enables Building Owners to carry out certain works while protecting the interests of Adjoining Owners. It does not prevent development; it enables it.

Typical scenarios where the Act applies include:

• Building on or near a boundary
• Excavating close to neighbouring foundations
• Altering or repairing shared structures

Our team ensures all notices are correctly served and that the rights and responsibilities of both parties are clearly defined and respected.

The Role of the Surveyor

Surveyors play a vital role in safeguarding both Building and Adjoining Owners. Once appointed, they prepare a Schedule of Condition, agree the Party Wall Award and assist the owners in any disputes that may arise during the works.

Surveyors may act as:

• Agreed Surveyor (appointed by both parties)
• Building Owner’s Surveyor
• Adjoining Owner’s Surveyor

In cases where two Surveyors are appointed, a Third Surveyor is selected to resolve any disputes that may arise between either the Surveyors or the Owners and their Surveyor.

Costs and Fees

Fees for Party Wall Matters vary depending on the complexity of the works and the number of parties involved. Typically, the Building Owner covers the cost of all Surveyor appointments, including any additional consultants that may be required to assist or advise on the matter.

At Martin Arnold, we offer competitive rates for senior professionals and provide tailored quotations based on the specific requirements of each project. We encourage early engagement to ensure clarity and cost efficiency.

For further information on our services, or to arrange a CPD on the topic of Party Wall Matters for your team, please contact us at ma@martinarnold.co.uk. You can also view our capability statement which is available on our website: https://www.martinarnold.co.uk/services/professional-services/party-wall/.

Art Project Unveiling Shepway

We’re proud to be supporting initiatives that go beyond construction and create lasting value for the local community as part of the ongoing regeneration of Maidstone’s Shepway Estate.

In partnership with Golding Homes, we are currently delivering Phase 2 of the Cambridge Crescent Regeneration, which will provide 57 new homes for Shared Ownership and Social Rent. This work forms part of a wider regeneration programme that will deliver 236 energy-efficient affordable homes and four new commercial units before summer 2027. Together, these developments are helping to revitalise the area and bring modern, sustainable housing options to the heart of the community.

As part of our commitment to social value and community engagement, we recently donated a selection of art supplies to Five Acre Wood School to support a Hoarding Art Project. This initiative gave students the opportunity to showcase their creativity by transforming sections of the existing construction hoarding into vibrant, colourful artworks. The project not only brightened up the local landscape but also gave students a sense of pride and ownership in a development taking place right on their doorstep.

The project was led by our Associate Joe Evans, together with Matt Arnold from Skillcrown Homes and Lucy Older from Golding Homes. The artwork was unveiled on the 6th October, celebrating the creativity, enthusiasm and community spirit of the young people involved.