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Nearly £500 million will be spent building more than 11,000 much-needed affordable properties across the country.

• Government backs pioneering project to build rooftop properties in London on the top of existing buildings.
• Further £497 million for housing associations to build more than 11,000 new affordable homes, including properties for social rent.

Nearly £500 million will be spent building more than 11,000 much-needed affordable properties across the country, Communities Secretary Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP yesterday (30 January 2019) announced.

The funding boost, which will help the government towards its target of building 300,000 properties a year by the mid 2020s, was announced at the London First Building Summit this morning.

The strategic partnerships, agreed by Homes England from Essex to Eccleston, will give the successful housing associations the freedom to spend the money on the developments where it can have the biggest impact.

Alongside this, homes will be built on London rooftops by the summer after Homes England agreed a £9 million funding deal with Apex Airspace Developments.

The properties – which will be built on five sites across the capital – are largely constructed off site before being winched on top of buildings, minimising disruption to residents.

The first of the homes will be completed by the summer – and in total 78 rooftop homes will be built under the three year deal.

Our revised planning rulebook encourages authorities to promote the use the airspace above existing residential and commercial premises for new homes.

Communities Secretary Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP yesterday said:

By providing targeted investment in affordable homes, and funding innovative projects to build rooftop properties, we are making our housing market work for everyone.

Our £500 million funding boost for housing associations will help them build thousands of extra affordable homes – including properties for social rent.

These measures are all part of our plans to deliver 300,000 homes a year by the mid-2020s.

Homes England Chairman, Sir Edward Lister yesterday said:

I welcome the new strategic partners who share our ambition to build better homes faster.

Our new ways of working with the sector means that housing associations can use their funding flexibly across their development programmes and respond quickly to local housing demand and a changing market.

The infrastructure upgrades being funded by government include:

Rooftop properties:

The government’s housing accelerator, Homes England, has struck a 3-year deal with SME developer, Apex.

Apex is a pioneer of ’airspace’ development where unused airspace above residential, commercial and public buildings is used as a location for new homes.

The funding will enable the offsite construction of the homes prior to transportation to each of the 5 sites.

These will then be lifted on top of existing buildings with a crane – resulting in minimal disturbance to existing tenants and residents.

The rooftop properties will be built in Tooting, Wanstead, Walthamstow, Putney and Wallington.

Further information

The Housing Associations to benefit from the funding – in the third wave of strategic partnerships – are: Bromford, Curo & Swan, Liverpool Mutual Homes & Torus, Longhurst & Nottingham Community Housing Association, Together, Walsall Housing Group, Yorkshire and Your Housing Group.

The previous wave of Strategic Partnerships were announced as part of the 2018 Budget

The purpose of the Partnerships is to give Housing Associations greater flexibility and boost delivery, by ensuring money can be allocated where it is need across multiple projects – rather than a case by case basis.

The rooftop properties will be built across five sites in the capital in Tooting, Wanstead, Walthamstow, Putney and Wallington.Apex expects the first three sites, comprising 32 homes, to be ready by summer 2019. Homes delivered will bepriced within the Help to Buy threshold to help support more people into home ownership.The project is being funded from the government’s £4.5 billion Home Building Fund.

Homes England is the new housing delivery organisation that has been created to adopt a more commercial approach to respond to the long term housing challenges facing this country. The new, expanded agency will play a far bigger role in investing in supply and intervening in the market to help deliver 300,000 homes a year by the middle of the next decade. For more information visit Homes England on Gov.uk

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