Councillors Jeremy Christophers and Barry Wood, of Teignbridge and Cherwell respectively, have been named as ambassadors for the National Custom and Self Build Association’s (NaCSBA) task force. The group’s goal is to work with local authorities to help increase custom build opportunities and ensure officials understand the benefits of this alternative route to home ownership. “I invite my fellow ambassadors to help me engage with our local authority colleagues to change the way our broken housing market works,”says MP Richard Bacon.
40%
Of smart tech owners purchased their home automation systems to save on energy bills, according to a survey by bespoke blind and curtain specialist Thomas Sanderson. Other popular reasons included the prestige of owning cutting edge technology (25%) and to help simplify household tasks (24%). Smart TVs were the most popular automated gadgets, owned by 66% of respondents. However, over 50% of the participants who took part in the research admitted that they believe the tech to be expensive.