July Round-up - Climate Change, Future Homes and Customer Care Culture
Ordinarily, I would make a quip about making the most of the sunshine. As an Aussie in London, opportunities to mention an upturn in the weather tend to be few and far between. But the heatwave we have just experienced is more cause for concern than celebration. This wasn’t ‘sit in a park and drink Pimms’ weather, that’s for sure.
People asked me things like “does this still feel like winter for you?”
I wouldn’t say I’ve been here long enough to have lost my Australian tolerance to heat but it certainly didn’t feel like winter - 40°C is hot even in Oz!
It all comes down to infrastructure and the built environment. 63% of Australians use air conditioning for over 6 hours per day during the summer. In the UK, less than 5% of households have air conditioning. And that’s just at home. When you consider things like the materials used to build roads and rails not being able to withstand such high temperatures, you can see why the disruption quickly mounts. It will be interesting to see how severe weather could influence the way developers design homes over here in the coming years.
Incredibly, there are still enviro-sceptics who make unhelpful generalisations like ‘summer is supposed to be hot.’
Not this hot. Not in the UK. This is climate change.
There is plenty of finger pointing at industries like construction, often with justification, but developers like Bellway are driving forward a new era of homebuilding. Our first blog looks at their Future Home, which is being built for testing in various climates and to analyse the energy efficiency of various technologies.
We stick with the topic of environmental challenges for our second blog, which promotes the use of public transport as a means of reducing carbon emissions. We work with many developers who have built car-free developments, while our Sustainability and Community Guides detail the nearest public transport facilities, with maps and timetables.
As experts in customer care, having spent 25 years as the market-leader in the field, we have collated five customer care tips to help developers elevate their customer experience. I’m sure you’ll find some useful advice in this blog.
Finally, we highlight the recent figures coming from Rightmove about the continued increase in property prices, despite signs that a slowdown could be on the horizon. We look at what these figures mean and how we can reach the point of a more manageable buyer-seller market.
We have some exciting updates coming soon with regards to new features on Spaciable, so keep your eyes peeled. In the meantime, stay safe in the sun and if you have any summer holidays lined up, safe travels.
