Homes England signs partnership to accelerate large site development

Homes England has signed a long-term joint venture with Countryside Properties, part of Vistry Group plc to leverage the investments made by them to accelerate the development of large sites across England.

The venture, Hestia, is backed by a combined £150 million of capital investment by Homes England and Vistry. It will focus on the delivery of high-quality, mixed-tenure communities at pace and scale, which will contribute towards the government’s commitment to build 1.5 million homes in this Parliament.

The investment strategy will focus on identifying sites to bring forward vital new infrastructure and manage the construction of new communities of between 400 and 3,000 homes each.

This follows an announcement in December of a £700 million extension to the Home Building Fund and it comes ahead of the launch of the £16 billion National Housing Bank.

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."

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."