Homes England has signed a long-term joint venture with the Vistry Group, seeking to improve investment on several English sites
The Homes England-Vistry partnership, named Hestia, is being supported by a combined investment of £150m from the two partners. The funding will be allocated towards several community developments, including the construction of new homes.
Investing and developing new communities
The money will especially go towards identifying new sites for new infrastructure and constructing new communities with anywhere between 400 and 3,000 new homes.
Matthew Pennycook, housing and planning minister, said: “Rapidly growing the pipeline of large mixed tenure sites across the country, making more use of Modern Methods of Construction, and backing SME housebuilders are all essential to achieving our Plan for Change target of building 1.5 million homes in this Parliament.
“By mobilising private capital alongside government investment, this significant new joint-venture will bring forward more high-quality, mixed-tenure developments and deliver thousands of new homes to buy and rent.
Stephen Teagle, chief executive – partnerships & regeneration at Vistry said: “This joint venture is a powerful example of what can be achieved when ambition is fused with collaboration. By coinvesting with Homes England, Vistry are upscaling the delivery of mixed tenure communities – Vistry is not just building homes – we’re investing in the future of communities across the UK and supporting our focus on social value including developing social and affordable housing.
“Our intention is also to pilot selling a proportion of de-risked land parcels to small and medium-sized housebuilders (SMEs) helping to increase the availability of land and stimulate growth among smaller developers.
Pat Ritchie CBE, chair of Homes England, said: “As the government’s housing and regeneration agency, one of our key responsibilities is to unlock strategic housing sites by working with both the public and private sector to bring them forward at pace and scale, helping to meet the government’s housing targets.
“This joint venture with Vistry Group will do just that, by targeting large sites capable of delivering up to 3,000 new homes in well-designed communities, while continuing to support SME housebuilders in achieving their own growth ambitions.
This partnership follows an announcement last December, which allocated an additional £700m to the Home Building Fund, and precedes the National Housing Bank, which will invest £16bn in new housing and help unlock £59bn of private sector investment.
Homes England is forming multiple partnerships
Earlier this month, the government housing agency signed a Strategic Place Partnership with the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority (YNYCA) to access greater funding for housebuilding and regeneration in the region.
The partnership has the potential to deliver 2,500 new homes, with investment already confirmed for Maltkin and Elvington Garden Village.
Furthermore, in July, the agency signed a rental deal with NatWest and the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) to support 1,000 homes in Digbeth, Birmingham.
The first phase of the Stone Yard project in the area will feature four housing blocks, encompassing 605 new homes.
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