Deals round-up: December 2020

News08 Jan 2021Social Housing

A round-up of the main deals involving housing providers, local authorities and the private sector

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Deals round-up: December 2020 #UKhousing #SocialHousingFinance

A round-up of the main deals involving housing providers, local authorities and the private sector in December #UKhousing #SocialHousingFinance

Great Places – Innovation Chain North

Great Places Housing Group’s £750m Innovation Chain North (ICN) procurement framework has added eight modular housing suppliers to its new dynamic purchasing system (DPS).

The firms are: Ilke Homes, Adston, Cygnum Timber Frame, LF FastHouse, NetZero Buildings, Osco Homes, Extraspace Solutions and Ideal Modular Homes.

The DPS will run alongside the existing ICN framework to support affordable housing providers to deliver homes across the North of England, as well as Great Places’ commitment to increase its use of modular construction.

Countryside and Places for People

Developer Countryside and housing association Places for People have agreed to work together to deliver up to 10,000 mixed-tenure homes across the UK in the next 10 years.

The partnership will take the form of a “national framework agreement”, which they hope will speed up existing and future projects, and provide them with quicker access to larger sites.

The GLA purchased the former hospital site in 2018, following lobbying from the St Ann’s Redevelopment Trust over the number of affordable homes. The community organisation took action as the original plans for the site would have resulted in only 14 per cent of the homes developed being classified as “affordable”.

Catalyst and the GLA have now committed to a minimum 60 per cent of the development being for affordable housing. Of these, 50 will be set aside for community-led housing for local people.

Swan Housing and LINQ Housing

Swan Housing has agreed a £22m deal to develop a 40-home scheme for build-to-rent developers.

The deal is part of a larger project that will deliver 1,575 homes on the 20-acre Blackwall Reach site in east London, which is being developed by Swan and NU Living.

Swan will sell the build-to-rent apartments to LINQ Housing. LINQ is a financing model set up in 2016 by Notting Hill Genesis, M&G Investments and LINQ Partners, a private entity run by two Centrus partners.

Resonance

Social impact investment firm Resonance has raised an initial £20m for a new homelessness property fund and found its first partner organisation.

The National Homelessness Property Fund 2 will work with Let Us, a group of registered providers set up by Greater Manchester Housing Providers that offers ethical lettings agency services to landlords.

The fund will initially work to buy affordable homes in the region before expanding nationally. It has a target size of £50m to £100m.

Initial investors include the Greater Manchester Pension Fund, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Big Society Capital.

Countryside and Midland Heart

Countryside and Midland Heart have committed to building 158 affordable homes in Rugby, West Midlands, as part of a framework agreement that will see 1,000 new homes delivered over three years.

The scheme in Houlton, known as Midland Heart at Houlton, is part of the ongoing redevelopment of the former Rugby Radio Station site – an urban extension project brought forward by Urban & Civic in partnership with Aviva Investors.

Homes England has provided grant funding for the homes and associated infrastructure.

Wheatley Group

Wheatley Group subsidiary Loretto Housing Association has started work on 111 new affordable homes across three sites in central Scotland.

The new homes in Glasgow, Renfrewshire and Falkirk will be made available at social rents.

The largest scheme, a 58-home development in Bishopton, are part of a major regeneration project on the former Royal Ordnance munitions factory.

Loretto’s homes will be built by Robertson Partnership – part of its wider development of 206 homes, funded partly by a £3.6m donation from the Scottish government’s investment programme.

L&Q and Phoenix Community Housing

L&Q and Phoenix Community Housing have opened talks over the proposed transfer of 1,500 homes in the borough of Lewisham in south-east London, subject to a consultation with residents.

Under the deal, Phoenix would take ownership of the homes in Lewisham’s Grove Park ward towards the end of next year.

The transfer would free up L&Q, which acquired the homes from Lewisham Council in 2008, to invest in its remaining stock and develop new homes in other areas.

Meanwhile, the homes would be taken over by a locally focused community landlord, which will be able to offer greater local accountability.