Business
Nature is not a blocker to housing growth, MPs find
Pritti Mistry,Business reporter and
Marc Ashdown,Business correspondent
Getty ImagesNature is not a blocker to housing growth and the government risks missing both its housing and nature targets if it views it as one, a cross-party group of MPs has warned in a new report.
The Planning and Infrastructure Bill overrides existing habitat protections, which the government has suggested is a barrier to its target to build 1.5 million houses by the end of this parliament.
But in a report published on Sunday, the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) found the measures outlined in the bill are not enough to allow the government to meet its goals.
“Using nature as a scapegoat means that the government will be less effective at tackling some of the genuine challenges facing the planning system,” the report said.
A Ministry of Housing spokesperson said it was fixing a failing system with landmark reforms, which would deliver a win-win for the economy and the environment.
The Labour government has promised to build 1.5 million new homes in England by 2029 as part of efforts to solve the housing crisis and boost economic growth.
Under its housing reforms, it wants to simplify the planning system to speed up house-building on smaller sites by overriding existing habitat and nature protections.
If passed, the draft legislation, which is currently making its way through the final stages in parliament, would instead allow developers to make general environmental improvements and pay into a nature restoration fund that improves habitats on other sites.
But the EAC has argued that nature is not a “blocker” to delivering housing – it is a necessity for building resilient neighbourhoods.
The EAC urged the government to instead focus on addressing a skills shortage in ecology, planning and construction.
“The government must not veer down the path of viewing nature as an inconvenience or blocker to housebuilding,” the report said.
“In most cases, housing delivery is delayed or challenged due to unclear and conflicting policies, land banking and skills shortages.”
The EAC suggested offering people better incentives to build and live in “carbon-friendly homes”, or to retrofit existing ones.
It outlined a series of recommendations aimed at boosting manufacturing viability of green construction products and alter the tax burden to support eco-friendly homes.
Environmental group Friends of the Earth said the government needed to set the right priorities.
Paul De Zylva, nature campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: “This report shows that the Planning & Infrastructure Bill is bad legislation that neither provides the quality homes people need nor truly protects our already depleted nature.
“Instead of attacking newts, bats and our nature laws to justify its growth-at-any-cost agenda, the government would be better focusing on delivering against its legal targets for nature which are at risk of being missed.”
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government said: “The Government inherited a failing system that delayed new homes and infrastructure while doing nothing for nature’s recovery.
“We are fixing this with landmark reforms, including the Nature Restoration Fund, that will create a win-win for the economy and the environment.
“This will get Britain building the 1.5 million homes we desperately need to restore the dream of homeownership, and not at the expense of nature.”
Business
IGL Hikes CNG Prices In Select Cities; Check Latest Rates
Last Updated:
Indraprastha Gas Limited hiked CNG prices by Rs 1 in select cities from November 16, 2025. Delhi remains at Rs 77.09 per kg, Noida and Greater Noida at Rs 85.70 per kg.
IGL hikes CNG prices in some cities.
IGL CNG Prices: Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL) on Saturday hiked the prices of compressed natural gas (CNG) across select cities around Rs 1. It came into effect from 6:00 AM on November 16, 2025.
Following the revision, the latest price of CNG in Noida and Greater Noida is Rs 85.70 from Rs 84.70 per kg. While in Delhi, the price of per kg CNG remained the same of Rs 76.09.
CNG stands for compressed natural gas. It is gaseous fuel and is a mixture of hydrocarbons mainly Methane.
IGL has been supplying CNG to over 15 Lakhs vehicles, through its robust network of above 725 CNG stations in Delhi, Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad, Hapur, Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Meerut , Kanpur, Fatehpur, Hamirpur, Rewari, Gurugram, Karnal and Kaithal.
| CNG Retail Prices (w.e.f 6:00 AM of 16th Nov 2025) | |
|---|---|
| NCT of Delhi | Rs. 77.09 /- per Kg |
| Noida | Rs. 85.70 /- per Kg |
| Ghaziabad | Rs. 85.70 /- per Kg |
| Muzaffarnagar | Rs. 86.08 /- per Kg |
| Meerut | Rs. 86.08 /- per Kg |
| Shamli | Rs. 86.08 /- per Kg |
| Gurugram | Rs. 82.12 /- per Kg |
| Rewari | Rs. 82.70 /- per Kg |
| Karnal | Rs. 82.43 /- per Kg |
| Kaithal | Rs. 83.43 /- per Kg |
| Kanpur | Rs. 88.92 /- per Kg |
| Hamirpur | Rs. 88.92 /- per Kg |
| Fatehpur | Rs. 88.92 /- per Kg |
| Ajmer | Rs. 86.94 /- per Kg |
| Pali | Rs. 86.94 /- per Kg |
| Rajsamand | Rs. 86.94 /- per Kg |
| Mahoba | Rs. 83.92 /- per Kg |
| Banda | Rs. 83.92 /- per Kg |
| Chitrakoot | Rs. 83.92 /- per Kg |
| Hapur | Rs. 86.70 /- per Kg |
| Gautam Budh Nagar | Rs. 85.70 /- per kg |
| Greater Noida | Rs. 85.70 /- per Kg |

Varun Yadav is a Sub Editor at News18 Business Digital. He writes articles on markets, personal finance, technology, and more. He completed his post-graduation diploma in English Journalism from the Indian Inst…Read More
Varun Yadav is a Sub Editor at News18 Business Digital. He writes articles on markets, personal finance, technology, and more. He completed his post-graduation diploma in English Journalism from the Indian Inst… Read More
November 16, 2025, 18:04 IST
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Business
IPO Calendar: Two Issues To Hit The Market; PhysicsWallah Listing In Focus This Week
Last Updated:
With fresh issues and major listings lined up, the action in the IPO market is likely to remain steady through the month.
News18
IPO Calendar 2025: As we head to the third week of November, primary market will remain abuzz, with two new mainboard and SME issues hitting the market and listing of PhysicsWallah. November also witnessed the launch of several stellar and heavyweight IPOs of 2025, including Billionbrains Garage Ventures (Groww), Pine Labs, Lenskart, etc.
One Mainboard And One SME IPOs To Hit The Market
The market is seeing four IPOs that are currently accepting applications or are about to open this week.
Excelsoft Technologies IPO will open this week between Friday, November 19, 2025, and November 21, 2025. The company is raising Rs 500 and will list shares on both BSE and NSE exchnages. The price band of the issue is Rs 114-120.
Another IPO is Gallard Steel. It is BSE SME IPO, raising Rs 37.50 crore. The issue will open between Friday, November 19, 2025, and November 21, 2025. The price band is Rs 142-150.
Meanwhile, two other major IPOs are closing soon. Fujiyama Power Systems Ltd. IPO is active from Thursday, November 13, 2025, to Monday, November 17, 2025. This large offering, managed by Motilal Oswal Investment, is raising Rs 828.00 crore and has shares priced between Rs 216.00 and Rs 228.00. The Capillary Technologies India Ltd. IPO, which runs from Friday, November 14, 2025, to Tuesday, November 18, 2025, is seeking an even higher amount of Rs 877.50 crore at a premium price of Rs 549.00 to Rs 577.00 per share. Both Fujiyama and Capillary will be listing on the main BSE and NSE exchanges, with JM Financial acting as the lead manager for Capillary.
Upcoming Listings
Five companies have recently concluded their Initial Public Offerings and are now in the process of getting listed on the stock exchanges.
Three of these are very large Main Board issues. The Tenneco Clean Air India Ltd. IPO, which closed on Friday, November 14, 2025, is the biggest, having raised a massive Rs. 3,600.00 crore. The PhysicsWallah Ltd. IPO closed on Thursday, November 13, 2025, and successfully raised a substantial Rs. 3,480.71 crore with an issue price of Rs. 103.00 to Rs. 109.00. Also closing on the 13th was the Emmvee Photovoltaic Power Ltd. IPO, which raised Rs. 2,900.00 crore at a price between Rs. 206.00 and Rs. 217.00 per share. All three will list on the BSE and NSE. JM Financial managed Tenneco and Emmvee, while Kotak Mahindra Capital managed PhysicsWallah.
The remaining two are smaller issues listed on the BSE SME platform, both closing on Thursday, November 13, 2025. Mahamaya Lifesciences Ltd. IPO raised Rs. 70.44 crore with an issue price between Rs. 108.00 and Rs. 114.00, led by Oneview Corporate. The Workmates Core2Cloud Solution Ltd. IPO raised a similar amount, Rs. 69.84 crore, at an issue price of Rs. 204, managed by Horizon Management.
Disclaimer: The views and investment tips by experts in this News18.com report are their own and not those of the website or its management. Users are advised to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.

Varun Yadav is a Sub Editor at News18 Business Digital. He writes articles on markets, personal finance, technology, and more. He completed his post-graduation diploma in English Journalism from the Indian Inst…Read More
Varun Yadav is a Sub Editor at News18 Business Digital. He writes articles on markets, personal finance, technology, and more. He completed his post-graduation diploma in English Journalism from the Indian Inst… Read More
November 16, 2025, 17:41 IST
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Business
Inside Ford’s new world headquarters: Scratch kitchens, rotisserie chickens and design secrets
The exterior of the main entrance of Ford Motor’s new world headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan.
Ford
DEARBORN, Mich. — Ford Motor is swapping its 1950s “Glass House” headquarters for a new, modern industrial facility to promote collaboration and better appease thousands of employees who have returned to offices in recent years after remote working.
The new 2.1-million-square-foot facility in Dearborn, Michigan, is ceremoniously opening Sunday, although construction is expected to continue into 2027.
It replaces a 12-story, rectangular-shaped headquarters roughly three miles away in the city that is expected to be demolished. The new building marks Ford’s sixth headquarters since its founding in 1903.
Currently nicknamed “The Hub,” the new headquarters will consolidate thousands of employees and several prior locations under one — albeit very large — roof. It is eventually expected to be home to up to 4,000 executives and employees involved with daily business operations, design and product development.
Ford Motor’s new world headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan, will function as corporate offices as well as a design and product development center.
Ford
From an operational basis, the new headquarters is roughly split evenly between design and industrial operations. Design includes massive studios with hidden courtyards and a large showroom. The other half is set to be used for general business operations such as executive offices and common work and meeting areas.
There are very few actual offices outside of those for top executives, according to the company. The idea is for employees to be able to work as they choose in different areas, or “neighborhoods,” depending on what they’re working on that day, officials said. Domain staking, where employees attempt to make a space their permanent workplace, will be discouraged, said Jennifer Kolstad, global design and brand director for Ford Land, the automaker’s property management group.
“It’s not just a building. This is a space that is a tool for our employees to be more productive, to be more collaborative, and really help deliver the Ford+ plan,” said Jim Dobleske, Ford Land chair and CEO, during a tour of the building.
The Ford+ plan was introduced by CEO Jim Farley as a turnaround and efficiency plan for the automaker in 2021.
A coffee bar in Ford Motor’s new world headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan.
Ford
As of the end of last year, Ford employed roughly 30,500 white-collar salaried workers in the U.S. The company continues to own or utilize other properties throughout the U.S., including large bases in Dearborn and surrounding areas.
Many salaried employees are expected in offices at least four days a week, as of earlier this year, after many of them had a more loose hybrid office-home schedule following the end of the pandemic.
“We’re inviting them back into a space that is a tool to help them do their best work. And that best work tends to come with collaboration with other teams,” Dobleske said.
Scratch kitchens
Some of that collaboration is expected to occur over food.
The new headquarters includes a 160,000-square-foot dining area with eight “kitchen concepts” that will feature rotating menus as well as take-home options such as pizza and $6 whole rotisserie chickens, decadent desserts and a juice bar complete with a herb garden.
A worker takes out a batch of rotisserie chickens inside Ford Motor’s new world headquarters on Nov. 10, 2025, in Dearborn, Michigan.
Michael Wayland / CNBC
“We have guests coming in from all over the world, so we wanted to make sure we have designed our menus to kind of play homage to that diversity,” said Grant Vella, executive chef for the new ]headquarters. “We wanted to do something different, push the boundary of business dining.”
Outside of the kitchens and dining areas, vegetation and outdoor spaces are meant to make for a more walkable-friendly campus compared with the automaker’s prior, largely street- and parking lot-locked facility.
“This headquarters is the cornerstone of our campus redevelopment, but there’s been a tremendous amount of work that we have done throughout the campus to really connect it and make it much more walkable for our employees,” Dobleske said, pointing to several facilities and areas, including a test track and 18-acre “Horsepower Park,” surrounding the building.
An herb garden inside the dining and kitchen area of Ford Motor’s new world headquarters on Nov. 10, 2025 in Dearborn, Michigan.
Michael Wayland / CNBC
Inside the building are six courtyards, including a dual-level one at the center of the company’s new design studios to allow designers to take products outside to view them outdoors in natural light. Those design courtyards are exclusive areas that can only be viewed by the surrounding, private studios.
Most of the four-story building features outside natural light from the exterior glass walls as well as skylights and other windowed areas.
Ford Motor’s new world headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan, which will function as corporate offices as well as a design and product development center.
Ford
Hidden designs
In addition to making a more walkable exterior campus, Ford wants employees to use purposefully designed stairs rather than elevators and escalators that are the primary modes of transportation in its most-recent 12-story headquarters.
Craig Dykers, founding partner of Norwegian architectural firm Snøhetta that worked on the building, said each staircase in the building, especially in its 14 different arrival areas, are prominent and meant to be inviting to use.
“Obviously people don’t naturally want to climb a stair, so you have to design it very carefully so that people feel good about using the stair,” he said. “Part of the trick is that as you go up one flight, you don’t necessarily see the next flight, so it’s kind of a journey.”
Stairs inside the main lobby of the building are extremely wide and feature seating areas alongside the actual low-rise stairs. There’s also a coffee bar on a large landing above the main lobby.
Ford Bronco parts painted white in the American Road Lobby of the automaker’s new world headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan.
Ford
The coffee bar overlooks a white artwork that features vehicle parts — one of many prominent pieces of art Ford purchased or has curated for the new facility. Others are photos or drawings of vehicles, while some are simply non-automotive artistic pieces.
Inside the company’s design operations are large studios with advanced clay milling machines, a spacious showroom that will operate as a modern design dome and a 64-foot screen showing virtual reviews and testing.
What employees will not see much of is the company’s logo, the well-known blue oval surrounding the “Ford” name. There will be a massive Ford blue oval logo on the outside of the building but not on its interior. Unless you look closely.
On some exterior glass walls, such as the company’s design operations, there’s a glass pattern that features the ovals accompanied by hidden numbers that represent Ford patents.
Ford’s signature blue oval design can be seen in glass on the outside of its new world headquarters, in addition to numbers representing patents held by the company.
Ford
Ford declined to discuss the capital spent to build its new headquarters and design center, which was part of a previously announced $1 billion campus transformation that began under former CEO Jim Hackett, who previously led furniture company Steelcase.
Here’s a look inside the new world headquarters:
Workers prepare to raise a large Ford Motor blue oval onto the company’s new headquarters on Nov. 10, 2025 in Dearborn, Michigan.
Michael Wayland / CNBC
Artwork made of vehicle parts hangs in the main lobby of Ford Motor’s new world headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan.
Michael Wayland / CNBC
Ford is trying to make coming into the office more enticing with scratch kitchens, more outdoor space and places to collaborate at its new world headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan.
Michael Wayland / CNBC
A collaborative work space inside Ford Motor’s new headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan.
Michael Wayland / CNBC
Ford’s new headquarters includes a 160,000-square-foot dining area with eight “kitchen concepts” that will feature rotating menus as well as take-home options such as pizza and $6 whole rotisserie chickens, decadent desserts and a juice bar complete with a herb garden.
Michael Wayland / CNBC
Ford’s new headquarters includes a 160,000-square-foot dining area with eight “kitchen concepts” that will feature rotating menus as well as take-home options such as pizza and $6 whole rotisserie chickens, decadent desserts and a juice bar complete with a herb garden.
Michael Wayland / CNBC
Ford’s new headquarters includes a 160,000-square-foot dining area with eight “kitchen concepts” that will feature rotating menus as well as take-home options such as pizza and $6 whole rotisserie chickens, decadent desserts and a juice bar complete with a herb garden.
Michael Wayland / CNBC
A large courtyard near the kitchen and dining inside Ford Motor’s new world headquarters remains under construction on Nov. 10, 2025 in Dearborn, Michigan.
Michael Wayland / CNBC
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