Barratt to build Passivhaus homes for the masses
Think Passivhaus is only for the rich? Fewer than 2,500 homes in Britain have met this standard, which is seen as the pinnacle of sustainable design around the world. Now Britain's biggest housebuilder is going to bring it to the mass market: Barratt plans to build all its flats in London to Passivhaus standards.
The developer's new Lo-E homes will be super airtight with triple glazing. Each flat will have its own heat pump that can also cool in a heatwave. Residents will save as much as 60 per cent on their heating bills, compared with typical new-build flats with shared district heat networks, according to the developer.
It will be the biggest Passivhaus rollout in Britain, with thousands of new homes certified to the
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The Sun
11 minutes ago
- The Sun
M&S issues update for customers with gift vouchers after cyber attack
MARKS and Spencer has issued an update for customers with gift vouchers after its cyber attack. Customers have taken to social media to share their dissatisfaction with the retailer's latest update. 1 It comes as the ongoing chaos has left scores of M&S shoppers unable to use their gift vouchers. Yet the retail giant initially told customers they won't get extensions of the expiry dates on vouchers due to expire. One customer took to X, pleading: 'My vouchers expire at the end of this month but I can't use them. Can I have them extended?' But M&S responded: 'Unfortunately we're unable to extend vouchers.' They later appeared to soften, agreeing to "double check" on the customers behalf. Last month, shoppers also said they'd hit a brick wall. One couple revealed on the MoneySavingExpert forum that they've been saving up vouchers from their M&S credit card for months, only to be told they'd have to use them now or lose them entirely. The customer posted: 'We contacted M&S Customer Support which bluntly said that if we didn't use the vouchers by their expiry date then that was tough. 'The only option we have is to spend them on something we don't really need.' They added that M&S stores aren't even able to place orders, meaning customers can't just pop in and buy bigger items either. Even staff are reportedly unable to order stock, with fears some branches could start running out of essentials altogether. Some stores have even been stripped of staples like bananas and Colin the Caterpillar cakes, and popular meal deals were pulled in smaller branches An MSE forum ambassador said: 'Given the number of people this may affect, perhaps thousands as you suggest, I would expect M&S to extend the end date for these.' While another shopper fumed: 'The least they could do is extend the date.' M&S credit card reward vouchers are valid for 17 months, while shoppers with gift cards have 24 months from the last transaction to spend them. When The Sun contacted M&S, it advised affected customers to get in touch - but didn't confirm whether it would offer extensions on a case-by-case basis after all. A M&S spokesperson said: "The majority of M&S credit card customers redeem their reward vouchers in stores, and they can continue to do so. "If for any reason customers aren't able to redeem in store, and their vouchers are due to expire soon, we would ask them to get in touch with us so we can support them.' Meanwhile, the attack is still causing carnage across the business. M&S was forced to pull online orders, birthday perks were suspended, and Sparks offers were frozen. The store has now confirmed that some freebies, like birthday cookies, will still be honoured eventually. But when it comes to Rewards Vouchers — a perk many customers save up to use for larger purchases — the answer so far is a hard no. The cyber attack, which kicked off over Easter weekend, has been one of the worst to hit the high street in years. It has forced M&S to halt online orders and triggered widespread disruption, including a £300million blow to profits. Online shopping is still out of action and is expected to remain patchy until at least July, with fashion, home and beauty sales taking a battering. Timeline of the attack Saturday, April 19: Initial reports emerge on social media of problems with contactless payments and click-and-collect services at M&S stores across the UK. Customers experience difficulties collecting online purchases and returning items due to system issues. Monday, April 21: Problems with contactless payments and click-and-collect persist. M&S officially acknowledges the "cyber incident" in a statement to the London Stock Exchange. CEO Stuart Machin apologises for the disruption and confirms "minor, temporary changes" to store operations. M&S notifies the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) and engages external cybersecurity experts. Tuesday, April 22: Disruptions continue. M&S takes further systems offline as part of "proactive management". Wednesday, April 23: Despite earlier claims of customer-facing systems returning to normal, M&S continues to adjust operations to maintain security. Contactless payments are initially restored, but other services, including click-and-collect, remain affected. Thursday, April 24: Contactless payments and click-and-collect services are still unavailable. Reports surface suggesting the attackers possibly gained access to data in February. Friday, April 25: M&S suspends all online and app orders in the UK and Ireland for clothing and food, although customers can still browse products. This decision leads to a 5% drop in M&S's share price. Monday, April 28: M&S is still unable to process online orders. Around 200 agency workers at the main distribution centre are told to stay home. Tuesday, April 29: Information suggests that the hacker group Scattered Spider is likely behind the attack. Shoppers spot empty shelves in selected stores. Tuesday, May 13: M&S revealed that some customer information has been stolen. Wednesday, May 21: The retailer said disruption from the attack is expected to continue through to July. Meanwhile, M&S isn't the only store facing cyber trouble. Co-op was forced to shut down part of its IT system after facing a hacking attempt last month. It confirmed that it had "taken proactive steps to keep our systems safe". It was later revealed that the personal data of a "significant number" of its 6.2million customers and former members had been stolen. The details included names, contact information, and dates of birth. However, the retailer assured customers that passwords, credit card details, and transaction information were not compromised. Full services resumed on May 14, following the .
Finextra
an hour ago
- Finextra
Liberis builds AI underwriting agent
Embedded business finance platform Liberis has launched a proprietary AI underwriting agent built to boost accuracy and slash decision times. 0 Called Ada after programming pioneer Ada Lovelace, the agent is designed to eliminate repetitive manual tasks and accelerate funding decisions for businesses. It ingests and analyses financial, compliance, and digital footprint data in real-time, automatically surfaces key risk factors, trends, and anomalies to support human underwriters. Liberis has been using AI for years and 85% of its financing decisions are already automated. However, manual underwriters are used for more complex cases. In those scenarios, underwriting accounts for nearly half of application processing time. Ada tackles these inefficiencies by automating data analysis across multiple sources including open banking data, Companies House records, credit bureau information, and digital footprint indicators. This, projects the firm, will deliver a 50% reduction in manual decision time for complex cases, while improving accuracy by correcting for human bias and blind spots. "Ada's value goes far beyond just time savings. As humans, we all have biases and blind spots. Ada helps us uncover those. It flags what we might have missed and brings those risks to the surface, improves fairness, and helps us learn from past decisions," says Rob Straathof, CEO, Liberis.
Times
an hour ago
- Times
Plea to Starmer over ‘devastating' cost of employment rights bill
Businesses keeping Britain's hospitals, train stations, airports, offices, warehouses and factories clean, maintained and secure have warned the prime minister of the 'devastating impact' of the government's employment rights bill. In an open letter to Sir Keir Starmer, his deputy Angela Rayner and the business secretary Jonathan Reynolds, the 128 companies — including the sector leaders OCS Group, Churchill Group and Mitie — urged the government to rethink its plans. The letter highlighted what its authors believe will be the 'serious unintended consequences' from the large-scale changes to employment law proposed by the legislation, which is passing through parliament. The reforms include making protection from unfair dismissal a right from the first day of employment, increased union representation and more generous sick pay, which has to be paid for by businesses. • Workers' bill 'won't work unless tribunal backlog is cleared' 'We are deeply concerned that some of the bill's provisions … could harm both good employers and the very employees that the bill seeks to protect,' the authors of the letter say. The additional costs or risks of hiring the wrong person for a role would 'force some employers to reduce staff headcount or reduce their hours, turn down new contracts, or even exit the market altogether,' they added. Dominic Ponniah, chief executive of the office and commercial cleaning company Cleanology and a co-author of the letter, said concerns had been building about the negative impact of the legislation for some months, but they had come to a head once facilities management firms had seen the impact on their operating costs of April's rise in employers' national insurance to 15 per cent. 'Suddenly people are feeling that on their bottom lines and we need to make our voice heard,' he said. The 128 signatories of the letter also include Josie Marshall-Deane, regional director of OCS Group, whose services include passenger screening, surveillance and emergency response at airports, and Charlotte Parr, executive director of Churchill Group, which is majority-owned by 10,000 of its employees and works to maintain social housing for housing associations, among other services. The facilities management industry overall employs 1.4 million people and generates £60 billion for the economy, making it many times more important for economic growth than other more favoured industries such as fashion and farming, the authors note. It is dominated by thousands of small and medium-sized companies, typically operating on tight profit margins. They said the changes to employment law 'risk penalising the good companies while doing little to deter the bad players'. The companies make clear their support for the government's efforts to tackle exploitative labour practices and establish fair treatment of agency workers. The government is phasing in the introduction of the new rights, which it has calculated could add £5 billion in costs to the economy each year. Smaller companies will be hit disproportionately, it acknowledges. It has said most of the new rules would not take effect until next year. A Government spokesperson said: 'Insecurity and poor health at work aren't just bad for workers, they also impact productivity and drive down competitiveness in businesses and the wider economy. 'That's why through our transformative plan for change, this government is delivering the biggest upgrade to workers' rights in a generation, and our measures already have strong support amongst business and the public. 'We've consulted extensively with business on our proposals, and we will engage on the implementation of legislation to ensure it works for employers and puts money back into the pockets of working people.'
