17-07-2025
Ethical developers rebuild property sector's reputation
It's a trying time to be in the property business. The government looks set to miss its much-trumpeted 1.5 million housebuilding target, firms are struggling to attract skilled tradespeople and last week seven of the UK's biggest homebuilders offered to pay a record £100 million fine to end an inquiry by the Competition and Markets Authority.
While property development has long suffered an image problem — from incompetent amateurs inspired by primetime TV shows to rapacious builders devouring greenfield with poor-quality identikit estates — in reality it is a foundation of the economy. The sector provides housing, workplaces, leisure spaces, infrastructure and jobs ranging from chief executives and surveyors to carpenters and technology specialists. Now a growing wave of ethical developers is attempting to rebuild the sector's tarnished reputation.
