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Category Archives: News

8
May 2023

The Importance of Planned Preventative Maintenance

When you own a portfolio of properties, be it domestic or commercial, maintenance is unavoidable. Whilst many of us live by the ‘if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it’ rule in our own lives, when it comes to an investment, it pays to take good care of it. Having a handle on planned preventative maintenance is a must-have for all property owners. What is planned preventative maintenance? Often shortened to PPM, planned preventative maintenance does what it says on the tin. This task is all about forward-thinking and involves creating a plan that highlights any elements of your property that […]

Image to depict owning multiple properties and someone who may require planned preventative maintenance
13
Mar 2023

New EPC Regulations in 2025: Everything you need to know as a landlord

With the news announcing the introduction of new EPC regulations in 2025, landlords are eager to know how this is going to impact them financially. Finding the right information online can be tricky. So that you can properly prepare for what’s to come, our team have broken this down below. What is an EPC rating? EPC stands for ‘Energy Performance Certificate’. This is a document that details how environmentally friendly a property is. Usually, your score will be determined during a home or commercial survey. There are 7 ratings from A-G, with ‘A’ being the most efficient. EPC ratings were […]

Image of cosy living room with good EPC rating.
3
Oct 2022

Public Sector Decarbonisation Fund: Phase 3B 

Thinking about applying for the Public Sector Decarbonisation Fund? Now more than ever, it’s vitally important that everyone is doing their bit to lower their use of fossil fuels. To help promote this, the government is offering funding to help the public sector decarbonise their infrastructure. This being said, applying for funding is easier said than done, with lots of hoops to jump through.  For more information on the scheme and how Munday + Cramer can help, keep reading.  What is the Public Sector Decarbonisation Fund? For those of you who missed our previous blogs on PSDS, let us start […]

Public Sector Decarbonisation Fund Phase 3B from the government
31
Jan 2022

Landlords affected by new EPC regulations proposed for 2025

The government has proposed that the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) should be increased for rental properties across England and Wales. The proposal is to increase the minimum Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating from an E up to a C by 2025. This is in line with the government’s plans to cut carbon waste and hit net-zero targets over the next couple of decades.  These changes would not be instantaneous for all properties, but new tenancies would have to comply in 2025. Following this would be all domestic and private rental properties from 2028. Failure to comply with the new […]

New EPC rules from 2025
24
Jan 2022

How Important are Building Regulations?

Building regulations are in place for the safety and wellbeing of the people that use the building. Depending on the type of building, they can cover many things, ranging from foundations, insulation and sanitation on domestic buildings to accessibility and escape routes for business/public buildings.  Without building regulations a building could be unsafe and not fit-for-purpose. This puts occupants and potentially the public at risk. They also prevent “cowboy” builders from getting away with shoddy workmanship. They provide a minimum standard for construction, so if they try to cut corners, they aren’t getting paid.  These standards also help to inform […]

Building Regulations
17
Jan 2022

Important Education funding dates and deadlines 2022

A new year brings new rounds of funding for the education sector’s buildings and facilities. Below we have listed some information on different types of funding and the important dates to take note of if you are looking to apply this year.  T Level Capital Fund (TLCF) TLCF is available to help eligible further education providers implement top-of-the-range facilities to enable a high quality of delivery for T-Levels. This funding is split into Specialist Equipment Allocation (SEA) and the Buildings and Facilities Improvement Grant (BFIG).  To apply for BFIG you need to be able to demonstrate that your facilities are […]

important dates and deadlines for education funding 2022
3
Jan 2022

New year, New Tech: How architectural technology has evolved over time

Once upon a time an architect’s toolkit would have only contained a mere pencil and a ruler, but this is far from the case in current times. As we move into 2022, it’s the perfect time to reflect on how things have changed in the architectural world and how incredible advances in technology have taken the profession and its creations to the next level. Examples of how far we’ve come can be seen at every stage of an architectural project. The simple introduction of computer aided design (CAD) has brought the design world from 2D hand drawings to 3D modelling. […]

architectural technology
13
Dec 2021

In Conversation With… Philip Ruffle

As part of our firm’s 40-year anniversary celebrations, we’ve been talking to some of the key figures involved in making Munday + Cramer tick. Phil Ruffle is head architect here at the practice, and heads up its architectural design team. He also happens to be one of its Directors, too. Earlier this week, we managed to nab him for half an hour, and talked to him about a wide variety of topics, ranging from his earliest influences, to where he sees the future of architecture headed. Here’s what he had to say… “What first drew you to architecture?” “I know […]

Phil Ruffle - Head of Architectural Design
21
Oct 2021

The UK’s plan to bring down the cost of green heating

This week the government announced their new incentive to install more energy efficient, environmentally friendly, domestic heating systems. £450million has been allocated to the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, with the aim to entice people to replace old boilers with low-carbon alternatives such as electric heat pumps. Currently, these systems are more expensive than boilers, so to bring down the costs to make them comparable with new boilers the government are offering £5,000 grants to homeowners that choose to make the switch.  The numbers work out to provide funding for 90,000 grants over the 3 years, so anyone that is interested in this fund will need to […]

The decarbonisation of green heating systems
23
Sep 2021

What is new with Phase 3 PSDS Funding?

Last November we talked about the newly launched Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS). With the Phase 3 PSDS application period opening up in just a couple of weeks, we thought it would be a good time to revisit and take a look at what the focus is for this phase. What is PSDS? Just in case you are not yet familiar with the scheme, PSDS is a part of the government initiative to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions across the UK by 2050. Specifically for PSDS, the focus is on funding projects that reduce carbon emissions from buildings’ energy […]

Phase 3 PSDS (Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme)