Homes England Acquires 19 Sites Worth £180 Million

Homes England Acquires 19 Sites Worth £180 Million

While good news may seem a little thin on the ground at the moment thanks to the coronavirus crisis, those in the construction industry may take a little bit of heart from the latest announcement from Homes England, revealing that it acquired 19 sites worth £180 million in the last financial year.

The government housing agency says that this land has the capacity for 5,000 new homes across the country, with recently acquired sites including the 37-hectare Panshanger Aerodrome in Welwyn Garden City, one of the region’s biggest housing developments with capacity for 815 properties.

It’s expected that 30 per cent of these new houses will be affordable, with the site also including self-build plots, a community centre and a new primary school.

In Birmingham, meanwhile, a 2.5 hectare stretch of land in Digbeth has been acquired from Birmingham City Council. The site, on Montague Street, is one of four land parcel acquisitions in the local area, creating one of the biggest developments in the city with capacity for 1,000 new homes and 25,000 sq/m of employment space.

Homes England has the ability to acquire stalled or challenging sites that have found themselves incapable of progressing without intervention from the public sector, using its resources and expertise to restart work and bring the developments back to market, which means that more new homes will be built.

Interim Homes England chair Simon Dudley commented on the news, saying: “I want to reassure the sector that Homes England is very much open for business and investing in a long-term pipeline of development opportunities to support market recovery.

“The need for new housing will remain a priority, so we will continue to do business with partners across the sector to create opportunities for future development and support the government’s housebuilding objectives.”

According to the National Housing Federation, the number of homes that housing associations developed in 2018-2019 was 45,604, a ten per cent increase on the previous year – and above the group’s target of increasing supply by ten per cent annually.

Not only that but housing associations also started work on 49,372 houses, a 13 per cent increase on the year before. Social rent was also up at 31 per cent, the highest it’s been since the survey was started in 2015/2016.

And back in February, the National House Building Council reported that 1.4 million new homes have been registered to be built in the last ten years, with 2019 the highest year for new home registrations in the UK since 2007.

So as you can see, there is good news to be found at the moment and it’s important not to give up hope. This situation cannot last forever, so if and when you do need scaffolding services in Leeds in the future, get in touch with the Burflex team to see how we can get your project off the ground.

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