• Strategic Asset Management CPD Morning
• MA Delivers Due Diligence services for £1bn Property Acquisition
• 1.5 Million Homes: Pipeline or pipe dream
• Project Case Study: Tye Green Farm
• Tender Price Index Update
• Project Case Study: Lloyds Living sites
• Managing Rising Maintenance Costs is Key to Success
• Making a Difference Beyond the Built Environment

Strategic Asset Management CPD Morning

Just as last year, Martin Arnold were delighted to host a full morning of free CPD at the British Library Knowledge Centre in London for our clients and colleagues from across the sector.

On Wednesday 10 June 2026, we held three sessions, focusing on strategic asset management and how this challenge is affecting social housing landlords and their wider business performance and goals.

Aside from Martin Arnold’s own speakers, we were honoured to welcome Richard Parkin of RB Greenwich and Luke Driscoll of Hyde Housing, who contributed hugely with some honest and practical insights from a client’s perspective.

In our first session we looked at the key regulatory pressures, and how landlords are prioritising their budgets and activities to deal with challenges in their existing housing stock. We looked at the trilemma affecting social housing landlords as they try to balance competing issues around solvency, building new homes and maintaining quality, compliant homes. With incredible insights from Richard Parkin, including Greenwich’s exciting use of AI in helping them address their challenges, we finished on how best to decide to invest, divest or dispose of existing assets.

Our second session examined building safety issues more closely, particularly the ongoing programme of remediation to external walls and facades in buildings over 11m in height. Having spoken earlier in the year at UKREIIF with the Building Safety Regulator (BSR), Martin Arnold shared insights on remediation progress and the true cost of façade remediation and examined the upcoming Building Safety Levy. Luke Driscoll’s perspectives on the BSR, legal challenges and the wider market were delivered with an honesty and pragmatism that was well-received by all those in attendance.

Roger Arnold brought the CPD morning to a close with a forensic panel review, including our guest speakers, where opinions were exchanged and predictions cast about how the sector continues to adapt to these challenges and what further complications remain on the horizon for the sector.

If you are interested in hearing more about our strategic asset management services, including stock condition assessment and validation, asset management plan reviews or our work in building safety and fire remediation, please contact us here.

If you missed the free CPD sessions, but would like an opportunity to arrange for a free session yourself, you can get in touch here: ma@martinarnold.co.uk.

Martin Arnold Delivers Due Diligence for £1bn Property Acquisition

We’re delighted to share that we have provided Technical Due Diligence consultancy services on behalf of Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing and the Ridgeback Group for their recent £1 billion acquisition of the Metra Living PRS portfolio, acting as sole Technical Advisor to the purchaser team.

The Metra Living portfolio comprises 3,000+ PRS units in London and was the private rental arm of Registered Provider L&Q Housing Trust. We have worked closely with the purchasing team over the past 12 months to provide Technical Advisor services in support of their acquisition.

We supported the purchaser team in understanding the assets’ condition, regulatory compliance position and the building safety risks across the portfolio. We translated key findings into clear advice that supported the needs of the transaction, our client’s negotiating position and the post-completion strategic asset investment plan.

We programmed our due diligence to focus first on the highest risk and highest value issues, enabling the client team to build confidence early and make well-informed decisions during the initial stages of their bid. This approach also helped prioritise follow-up enquiries and direct deeper review of the themes most likely to support and protect asset value, as well as to develop any necessary investment and remediation strategies.

During the 12-month period that we worked on the project, our key focus was on:

• Compliance: We reviewed the compliance information across the portfolio, focusing on key statutory obligations, record completeness and management arrangements.
• Fire safety: We completed due diligence on the fire safety documentation (including EWS1 forms, FRAEWs, strategies and risk assessments), identified risks from the perspective of institutional investors and helped develop solutions to any concerns.
• Statutory consents: We examined the relevant consents and approvals, highlighting constraints, missing information and items requiring follow-up or regularisation.
• Condition: We carried out an assessment of asset condition, including capital expenditure considerations, identifying material defects and likely investment priorities.
• External wall remediation: We provided advice on assets requiring external wall remedial works, including a review of remediation proposals and delivery considerations to support a practical, proportionate and compliant strategic plan for our client.
  

Where external wall remediation was identified, we supported the purchaser team by reviewing and assessing remediation proposals and in testing scope, deliverability and potential programme implications.

We also provided technical input to help negotiate the relevant legal agreements, ensuring that responsibilities, information requirements, deliverables and timescales were clearly captured and aligned to the transaction’s commercial objectives.

With multiple purchasing parties involved, we balanced different risk appetites and reporting needs while keeping outputs clear and actionable. Throughout the process, we worked constructively with the seller’s team to resolve technical queries efficiently and maintain a professional, solutions-focused dialogue.

To find out more about our Technical Due Diligence and Building Safety advisory services for stock acquisitions and for existing residential portfolios, please click here.

1.5 Million Homes: Pipeline or pipe dream

This summer has been packed with conferences! With an enthusiasm for collaborating with our colleagues in the sector to help find solutions to the housing crisis and the existing housing stock, we sent delegates to both CIH Housing Brighton and UKREiiF in Leeds.

Most delegates we met agreed that the Government has provided the political context to back the sector by providing capital investment now and in the future with:

• The long-term commitment of £39bn in funding over the 10-year programme and
• The rent convergence increase: from April 2027, this will be £1 per week in addition to CPI+1%, increasing to £2 per week in addition to CPI+1% from April 2028 onwards.

The national strategic priorities behind these commitments are meeting the 1.5m home target and delivering 60% of homes for social rent. The funding is available for new homes, enabling the repurposing of empty properties. Funding will also allow for the acquisition of market homes for affordable housing and for the regeneration of existing housing estates, all of which is a positive start.

Despite this positivity, 99% of delegates we spoke to acknowledged that the 1.5m homes target is almost impossible in the life of this parliament and that the sector is struggling with the delivery of new affordable homes.

From our discussions, the main blockers to the provision of new affordable homes include:

• Viability issues, stemming from the wider state of the economy and the housing market
• Development challenges including insufficient infrastructure, the performance of the BSR and its backlog, and post-planning local challenges
• Financial pressures to prioritise spending on asset and maintenance as a matter of urgency, to deal with regulatory compliance concerns, moving capital away from new construction

It seems that the view from the sector is that policy conditions are maturing to provide the right opportunity for growth, but that the barriers caused by viability and post-planning challenges mean that for development to proceed, it needs to be at optimal scale, speed and risk.

Through discussions with other delegates, it became clear to us that balancing scale, speed and risk will likely be best managed through partnerships and collaboration and that those organisations that work together effectively to manage these factors, will likely be the most successful in the period ahead.

We are working on several successful joint venture and long-term partnerships which are delivering homes at both scale and over time; you can find out more about these projects and get in touch via our website here.

We will also be attending the NHF & CIH Housing Summit in Liverpool in September. If you are attending and would like to meet to discuss opportunities and ideas or to collaborate with us, please reach out to ma@martinarnold.co.uk.

Project Case Study: Tye Green Farm

Martin Arnold were appointed as Employer’s Agent, Cost Consultant and Clerk of Works on the Tye Green Farm development in Essex, a scheme delivering 90 new affordable homes through a partnership between Countryside Properties and Sage Housing.

Working with the project team since 2019, our role included contract administration, valuation management, change control and quality inspections, helping to ensure the homes were delivered to the required standards and in compliance with Homes England funding requirements.

Despite planning-related challenges during construction, the team worked collaboratively to resolve issues and maintain progress. The development will provide a mix of Shared Ownership and Affordable Rent homes, creating much-needed housing opportunities for local people across the Braintree district.

Read the full project case study here: https://www.martinarnold.co.uk/project/tye-green/

Tender Price Index Update

The UK construction market continues to operate within a transitional environment as it moves through Q2 2026. While tender price inflation remains relatively moderate compared with the exceptional levels experienced in 2022 and 2023, recent economic and geopolitical developments have introduced renewed uncertainty around costs and market confidence. The overall picture remains one of cautious recovery, supported by infrastructure investment and public-sector activity but constrained by labour shortages, affordability challenges and uneven private-sector demand.

Latest figures from the Building Cost Information Service (BCIS) indicate that the All-in Tender Price Index increased by approximately 1% between Q4 2025 and Q1 2026, reflecting continued but measured growth in tender pricing. Annual inflation remains in the region of 2–3%, suggesting that the market has stabilised following the sharp cost escalation experienced in previous years. Whilst materials inflation has eased, labour availability, specialist subcontractor capacity and regulatory compliance continue to exert upward pressure on project costs.

Market sentiment indicates that contractor engagement in the tendering process remains relatively healthy, particularly where projects are well-defined and procurement routes provide certainty. However, workloads continue to vary across sectors, with infrastructure and public investment maintaining stronger pipelines than some areas of private development.

The residential construction sector continues to recover gradually following the slowdown experienced during 2024 and 2025. Although housing starts improved modestly during 2025, activity remains below the level required to meet long-term housing targets. Planning constraints, viability concerns and financing conditions continue to affect development pipelines, meaning that any recovery in housebuilding is expected to be measured rather than rapid.

Taken together, these indicators suggest that the construction market stays in a transitional phase. Whilst short-term tender price growth stays modest, medium-term pressures associated with labour availability, regulatory requirements, infrastructure investment, and supply chain capacity are likely to sustain inflation across selected sectors. For cost planning purposes, allowances of around 2–3% remain proper for the majority of building projects. Consequently, early supply chain engagement, robust procurement strategies and realistic inflation allowances will remain critical to keeping cost certainty and managing commercial risk as the industry progresses through the rest of 2026.

Project Case Study: Lloyds Living sites

Martin Arnold provided multidisciplinary support across three residential developments for Lloyds Living, spanning Kent, Nottingham and Bradford. Together, the sites will deliver 210 new homes, helping to meet growing housing demand across the regions.

Appointed from the technical due diligence stage, our team supported the acquisition process by reviewing development proposals, preparing technical due diligence reports and assisting with contractual documentation. Following contract completion, we continued to provide ongoing project monitoring through regular site inspections and monthly progress meetings.

Working closely with Lloyds Living, developers and stakeholders, the team helped manage programme, quality and compliance risks throughout the developments, including supporting the timely review of Regulation 38 requirements at the Kings Hill scheme.

Read the full project case study here: https://www.martinarnold.co.uk/project/lloyds-living-sites/

Managing Rising Maintenance Costs is Key to Success

Earlier this year, the Regulator for Social Housing (RSH) published their latest report that provided a comprehensive analysis of the social housing sector based upon the value for money (VFM) metrics used across the sector.

One of the key findings of the report was that the weighted average cost to maintain and manage an affordable home, per home per year, has risen to £6,280 per annum and the median cost per annum has shown an 11% increase over the previous 12-month period. An 11% cost increase is substantial and significant, especially when compared to the increase in CPI of just 2.6% for the same period.

The report from the RSH notes that the overall increase in headline cost is primarily driven by maintenance and major repair costs, inclusive of capitalised major repairs. The sector weighted average spend on maintenance and major repair costs has increased by over 25% since 2023 from £2,710 to £3,420 per home per year, as shown in the figure below.

This continued increase in spend on maintenance and major repairs is part of a bigger trend. Back in January 2026, the RSH reported that the total sector equivalent spend in 2020 was £5.7bn compared to the latest figure of £10bn in 2025, resulting in the near doubling of cost in this area over the last five years.

This significant increase in spending on maintenance and major repairs is reflective of the sector’s continued financial commitment to meeting stock quality, compliance, building safety and energy efficiency improvements and the RSH reports that the sector itself is predicting that costs will continue to rise for the next 5 years.

The significant cost drivers affecting the sector include:

• Damp and mould remediation
• Fire safety and recladding
• Decent Homes
• Energy efficiency and decarbonisation
• New consumer regulation

All these drivers are regulation driven and unavoidable. It will continue to take time for registered providers (RPs) and local authorities (LAs) to put together effective asset management strategies and plans that can help them deliver the best possible VFM in relation to their maintenance spend.

In the work we have been involved with for RPs and LAs, particularly in relation to energy efficiency and decarbonisation programmes as well as building safety and recladding projects, we have assisted our clients in creating innovative ways to deliver these works at best value. Our clients are not only looking at their rectification budgets in the short-term, but also considering medium- and long-term expenditure and the best ways to utilise grants to help programme their capital expenditure against maintenance and major repair works.

You can find out more about our services and reach out to talk with one of our Directors, here.

Making a Difference Beyond the Built Environment

Over the past few months, members of our team have had the opportunity to engage with students at both Beths Grammar School, Bexley, for their career fair and at Our Lady of Hartley Catholic Primary School’s careers day, Longfield. These events gave us a chance to speak with young people about careers in the construction industry, helping to raise awareness of the many different pathways available. We look forward to continuing these conversations in July when we attend another careers fair at Hurstmere School, Sidcup.

Supporting local environmental projects remains an important part of our social value activities and so earlier this year, we partnered with MidKent College to support its community litter picking programme through the donation of 48 litter pickers and 2 bag holders.

The initiative sees students take part in weekly litter picking sessions within the local community, helping to improve shared spaces, protect local wildlife and develop a greater understanding of sustainability and environmental responsibility.

Our Marketing Coordinator Laetitia Kasongo, visited the Maidstone Campus to meet the staff and students involved in the programme and learn more about the impact. The visit highlighted not only the positive difference the initiative is making to the local environment, but also the benefits it is bringing to students through increased confidence, teamwork and community engagement.

Continuing our relationship with Thamesmead Sporting Club, our team recently returned to support further improvement works at the site following our social value activities there last year. Volunteers spent the first day carrying out litter picking and general ground maintenance, before returning for a second day to repaint fencing around the club’s pitch area. These efforts helped improve the appearance of the grounds and support a valued community facility that continues to bring local people together through sport.