Developers queuing up to work on HCA schemes
Regional panels being set up by the Homes and Communities Agency to develop its sites look set to be heavily oversubscribed.
The HCA has received 132 submissions for places on the three panels, but there will only be between six and 12 members of each, and some organisations may sit on more than one panel.
The panel members will be responsible for the financing, development and marketing of homes on a range of HCA schemes, including the Public Land Initiative. This is a new development model announced by the prime minister in June, which is expected to deliver 1,250 homes – 500 of which will be affordable – over the next three years.
It will work by handing over public land to developers in exchange for a ‘deferred payment’ rather than selling land outright.
The delivery partner panel framework will run for three years, and be spilt between northern, central and southern regions. The HCA intends to draw up a shortlist of up to 20 organisations for each of the regional panels by the end of September, and then invite shortlisted bodies to tender for membership.
Panel members are likely to be appointed in late November.
Of the 132 expressions of interest received, the majority come from development and construction companies. Around a fifth are from housing associations, with a small number from consultancies and other organisations.
Sir Bob Kerslake, chief executive at the Homes and Communities Agency, said: ‘In the current climate it is crucial that we have a range of players on the pitch to deliver much needed new homes at an affordable price in places that people want to live.
‘The extremely high response we have had to the pre-qualifying questionnaire shows that there is real appetite out there, and the interesting proposals we have seen show that partners are thinking creatively about this.’
Around 30 local authorities have expressed an interest in the public land initiative.
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