Homes England, Barratt and Lloyds launch JV to deliver large schemes

Housing minister Matthew Pennycook said: “The landmark new partnership announced today will support our commitment to ramp up housing supply and boost economic growth by developing more large-scale, attractive and sustainable places across the country with the homes, jobs and infrastructure that communities need to thrive.”

The new initiative follows a series of announcements by the new government aimed at delivering 1.5m new homes over the next five years. It has included the reintroduction of mandatory housing targets and proposals to reform the planning system. 

A new taskforce was launched last month aimed at speeding up the delivery of up 200 stalled schemes, while plans for a new generation of new towns have also been announced.

Peter Denton, chief executive of Homes England, said that the new partnership will have “the finance, tools, expertise and partners required to ensure a cohesive approach to delivering a fabulous place that people want to live and work [in]”.

David Thomas, chief executive of Barratt Developments, which is the UK’s largest house builder, said: “We are committed to playing our part in delivering the millions of new homes the country needs over the next 10 to 20 years. To help us achieve this goal, we need to deliver more large developments.”

It is the latest move by Lloyds Banking Group aimed at tackling the housing crisis. In July, the bank announced that it planned to expand its private rental arm, Citra Living, to acquire homes for families at risk of homelessness. 

Charlie Nunn, chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group, said of the new partnership: “This is the cross-sector collaboration we need, at significant ambition and scale.”