Fast track affordable house building planned

Plans to quickly boost affordable house building to help stimulate the economy are under consideration by the Government and the Greater London Authority.

The Greater London Authority is considering plans to rapidly build up to 600 homes on council-owned land, Building reported.

Meanwhile a forthcoming English Housing Strategy, to be published by Christmas, plans to use the affordable house building programme to boost the flagging economy, Inside Housing reported.

The GLA pilot scheme is looking to identify 12-20 council owned sites and is seeking a number of contractors/developers and social landlords. A selection of developers is to attend a working group next week to discuss how the delivery of a generation of “new Georgian” housing can be funded.

The project, which is being worked up with David Lunts, the executive director of the housing and regeneration directorate at the GLA, has not yet received full GLA sign-off but contractor and consultant Mace has been engaged alongside Urban Initiatives, consultant Navigant and agent Lambert Smith Hampton.

The English Housing Strategy, which is being compiled by civil servants at the Communities and Local Government department at the request of the Liberal Democrats, will explore innovations around land use and funding to kick start house building.

Housing minister Grant Shapps has invited a number of large social landlords to a round table discussion at the CLG next week. A cross-government committee has also been established to scrutinise ideas for economic growth and it is understood that housing-related growth forms a key part of its work.

A spokesperson for the CLG said: ‘The housing strategy due later this year is still under development and so the exact contents are still to be confirmed.

‘However, ministers have been clear about the need to get Britain building together as one of a number of measures to encourage greater economic growth.’

• More than a dozen contractors, including Keepmoat and Wates, have been selected to work on the government’s £500 million framework to upgrade the housing stock under the Community Energy Saving Programme. 

The framework will be used by councils and housing associations to improve the energy performance of homes across the country, often on a street-by-street scale.