The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) has revealed the 105 shortlisted schemes bidding for the second round of Get Britain Building investment.
The £570m fund, part of the Government’s housing strategy, aims to unlock up to 16,000 new homes by providing house builders access to financial support on stalled schemes with planning permission.
The second round, which was opened up to schemes of just 15 homes, received 162 expressions of interest. These projects were assessed by the HCA – looking at value for money, deliverability and fit with local priorities – and the shortlisted schemes, which could unlock up to 7,000 homes, will now be invited to enter a due diligence process before contracts are signed.
The shortlist includes bids for funding from:
- The Thrunscoe School Development in North East Lincolnshire, a Snape Properties development of 35 homes.
- Kaleidoscope, a Crest Nicholson project delivering 129 new homes in Cambridge
- Beddows Road in Walsall, a Lovell Partnerships’ 42-home scheme
- Vulcan Street in Bradford, a Stocksfield Construction project of 18 homes
Get Britain Building is intended to address difficulties in accessing development finance faced by some house builders and to help bring forward sites with planning permission. It will operate by making loans available to projects on commercial rates, or taking equity stakes to share risk. The investment is recoverable over a two to five year period, and by March 2018.
Pat Ritchie, Chief Executive of the HCA said: “We listened to feedback from the sector and reduced the minimum scheme size to 15, and I’m therefore especially pleased that 20 smaller projects have come forward and the majority of bidders are SMEs.”